A Visit To The Wye Marsh

Day Two and it's off to the Wye Marsh!

A 35 - 40 minute drive from Bass Lake Provincial Park is the lovely and scenic Wye Marsh which you can enjoy at length for a mere $12 . 

You start by parking the car and going into the Visitors Center where you find an array of gifts and souvenirs. In behind that is where you begin the self paced tour beginning with the  mini zoo, if you will, of turtles and snakes and frogs and such that are all native to the area. It isn't huge, but the tanks that are tucked in amongst the dioramas of stuffed birds and the murals do offer some interest. I watched as one of the employees hand fed some bugs to a large toad. 

From there you go through some glass doors out to the trails. I started in the Birds Of Prey section where there were large buildings that housed some beautiful eagles, hawks, owls and other birds. I didn't take any pictures of them because there was too much chicken wire and fencing up to get any good shots. I kind of felt sorry for them really. They were beautiful but I am sure they would have rather been flying around somewhere. Considering they were all bred in captivity though, they probably wouldn't have survived for long if I had staged an escape for them. So, they are still there for you to go and visit if you get the chance. 

I skipped the Bee House, intending to go to that at the end. As it turned out I was too tired by the end and I never did go to see it. I

Instead I headed over to the Canoe Dock. My parents are big canoe enthusiasts and I figured they would be interested in the canoes that were there so I had to go check them out. I am glad I did, because it was actually a pretty spot and there were lots of red-winged black birds hanging out there. 

Now according to the map you are supposed to back track on the trail to get to the next point of interest which was the Swan Treatment Centre. However, since I could see the Swan House from where I stood and being the rebel that I am, I just short cutted it across the grass and bee lined it to the swans. 

Around in back of the swan house was a balcony that over looked the marsh and off in the tree line, just barely in sight were the swans.

"How in the world am I supposed to get some good pictures if they are hanging out in the bushes like that?" I thought. Then I remembered that I had with me a cooler bag with some snacks and a pop in it. Amongst the snacks was some whole grain crackers. Of course! I will lure them out with the temptation of food. So crumbled the crackers up and threw them in the water. Sure enough, they started to come towards me  along with some of their little duck friends. 

It wasn't long before they were swimming around right in front of me and I could get a couple of fairly good pictures of them. 

Trumpeter Swans are originally native to Ontario, but over the last 200 years we almost lost them all and they became endangered. Harry Lumsden, a biologist,  began a provincial reintroduction program in the early 1980's to re-establish the Trumpeter swan in its former habitat and range. The Wye Marsh became involved in this program in 1989. The original captive breeding pair of Trumpeters at Wye Marsh were "Big Guy" and "Lady Girl". Big Guy and Lady successfully raised the first cygnet in 1990, and she became known as "Pig Pen". In 1993, Pig Pen and her mate became the first wild nesting pair of Trumpeters in Wye Marsh in over 200 years. So these pair in the picture are their  great, great, I don't know how many great, grand kids. 

Each swan is tagged with a yellow number tag. This is how they track and identify the swans to see how they are doing and where they are nesting. If ever you see a swan with a yellow tag, remember the number and go here to report your sighting: 

http://www.wyemarsh.com/conservation/swansightings.php

This will help them in their studies and conservation efforts. 

My sister, Anika used to have a house on Wasi Lake and one of these swans used to come to visit almost daily. They contacted the Wye Marsh and a conservation officer came out to see her and the swan and told her all about the history of that particular swan. It was pretty neat. That particular swan was named Miss Wasi, after the lake that she liked to frequent. She would visit all the neighbours on the lake and they would all feed her kernels of corn. 

I left the swans and headed off towards the boardwalk, passing some cat tails that were about twice as tall as I was. That's when I noticed all the signs saying "Do Not Feed The Swans"...oops! If I hadn't have been such a rebel and took the proper trail, I would have seen the signs. As it was I wondered why there were no signs stating this at the most logical spot...the swan house itself. Ah, well.... I couldn't take it back now. I just assured myself that it could have been worse. At least they were whole grain crackers and not bread or saltines or something. Plus I didn't give them much. Just about 4 or 5 crackers and that's all. 

As I head on down the board walk I spot a few Canada Geese taking a rest. It's September now so they are only a few of a great many I have seen and heard that have begun their journey south. 

There were not very many people at the Wye Marsh today. Only about 10 or so other people I saw the whole time I was there. So the geese were pretty comfortable just hanging out. 

You can only go just so far down the main board walk this year. The reason for that is because the far end is sinking and is under repair. I went as far down the board walk as I could but eventually had to turn back and take a different direction. I intend to head down to the Observation blind and have my lunch there. There used to be some view finders attached to the wooden structure there, but unfortunately when I got there they were no longer there. I guess it was because it was so close to the end of the season. 

An interesting thing about the Wye Marsh is that all over the place there are signs talking about the different types of birds and animals that you may spot there. Coincidentally, I had just recently passed a sign talking about snakes when I bumped into this little guy. This garter snake and I hung out together for a good 15 minutes or so. I would try not to scare him and I stood and waited for him to move. But he wasn't in a hurry, so he would move a little ways and then stop and smell things and sun himself. Then he would move a little farther. I took the opportunity to get a good picture. Eventually he got off the path far enough that I could pass by without spooking him and I continued on my way. 

After lunch I head back towards the Visitor Center. I decide to do so by going down the Muskrat Loop trail. There were signs talking about muskrat and otters. I was kind of hoping to see one of them but I knew that I probably wouldn't. It was still an interesting trail though. I guess at the end of the Muskrat trail is where they hold some of their programs for kids because there were some neat looking lean-to structures all over the place. 

There was also a little home made dam of some sort. It all seemed so Alice In Wonderland like. 

There were even some bizarre plants. I half expected this weird little mushroom thing to say "Eat Me" on one side of it. 

And that pretty much wraps up my trip to the Wye Marsh. I spent a good 3 hours or more there and really enjoyed it. The great thing was that by the end of it my back was feeling much better. Not perfect, but better. It's great what walking can do for you. 

There were a few trails I didn't go on and I missed the Bee House so, it might be worth making a second trip back one day. Next time I will bring binoculars though.

At this point I debated about which Provincial Park to go to next. Awenda Park was supposed to be near by here somewhere, but I wasn't completely sure where. Plus I wanted to be closer to that Magic Card Tournament for the next morning. So instead I decided to head back towards Orillia and check out Mara Provincial Park which is only about 10 minutes or so outside of Orillia.