The Birds And The Bees And The Flowers And The Trees

The next morning was warm and sunny in contrast to the cold of the night before. I could now see the set up of our camp by the light of the day. The site was nice and big. 

We were camped on site 40 in the Island Lake campground. 

The site is encompassed by  roads on 3 sides. You would think that this would make for a high traffic area, but it really wasn't. The tiny road on the north side was so small and un-used that it seemed more a part of our camp site than the road. 

However, I decided that I should not park my car in the middle of it, on the off chance that someone actually did want to use it. Instead I parked along the edge of the camp site. 

The cars may not have been using the road but a Compton Tortoiseshell butterfly was making use of it as its resting place. 

The bathroom was directly across the road from our site.  It was a typical outhouse style bathroom, but it was very clean and well lit. 

I did notice that someone didn't like the park toilet paper (on the right) and instead brought a roll of their own (on the left).  I  don't blame them because the toilet paper here is thin. However, it is much worse in other parks.  At any rate, the nicer toilet paper was appreciated by the rest of the campers. 

Even the sink area was nice and clean and had a soap dispenser and a mirror. 

There were "Boil Water" notices up in various parts of the park. However, not everywhere in the park had an issue with the water; only some places. 

As we were sitting and eating breakfast in the morning sunshine, we started to notice a lot of movement at our feet.  Apparently our site is situated on top of a huge ant hill. There were multiple colonies of ants of all shapes and sizes. There was a lot of ant activity.

We also noticed 2 or 3 Eastern Ant-Queen Kidnappers (wasps) flying around. They seemed to be weighted down by something. Upon further inspection we realized that they were weighted down by large flying ants. We were not familiar with the habits of the wasps so we were unsure if the wasp was being attacked by the flying ant in an effort to protect a colony or if the wasp was attacking the ant. Maybe a bit of both. There definitely seemed to be a bit of a struggle going on from both sides. 

Later on in the day I saw an Ant-Queen Kidnapper drag a motionless flying ant down into a hole in the ground.  Once I got home a few days later, I did a bit of research on the ​Ant-Queen Kidnapper.  There was very little on it except to say that "the nests are provisioned by winged queen ants".  
However, I did find information on a wasp that seems to be very similar to the Ant-Queen Kidnapper called a Beewolf. So, I imagine the information is very similar, only the Ant-Queen Kidnappers prey on ants instead of bees. It said "Beewolves, also known as bee-hunters or bee-killer wasps, are solitary, predatory wasps, most of which prey on bees, hence their common name. The adult females dig tunnels in the ground for nesting, while the territorial males mark twigs and other objects with pheromones to claim the territory from competing males.
As with all other sphecoid wasps, the larvae are carnivorous, forcing the inseminated females to hunt for other invertebrates, on which she lays her eggs, supplying the larvae with prey when they emerge. The adults consume nectar from flowers."

The Ant-Queen Kidnapper did not seem to be interested in any of the other ants, just the large ones with wings, which I guess are the queens.  

Carsten and I decided that it was a nice day to do a hike. Penny wasn't feeling up to it so she stayed behind. 
The hiking trail was up the road a bit and we decided to just walk to the trail head.  This gave us the opportunity to see a bit more of the campground. 

When we got near the comfort station the first thing we saw was a sign warning drivers to slow down. When I saw the sign, I laughed and said "Slow down for one-eyed green children and dogs!" 

At the comfort station was a little red library where you could borrow or leave books. We knew Penny would be interested in this so we made a note in our heads to tell her about it. 

On the large billboard outside the comfort station was a sign showing salamander boxes. I have never seen one of these boxes before so it was interesting to learn that they were made and around in the park somewhere. 

I got excited to read about the Annual Blueberry festival. Blueberries were at their peak of the season right now and all these events sounded fun.  But then Carsten pointed out that this festival wasn't even at this park, but at Esker lakes Park.  I was disappointed by this. 

Right beside it was a posting for the Discovery events that were taking place in this park. I was particularly interested in the Sunset Painting At Point Lake. 

We eventually made it to the trail head. The name of the trail we were hiking is called "Oh-Say-Yah-Wah-Kaw'

Right away we noticed some discrepancies in the description of this trail. 

On the trail map it said the distance was 1.5 km. However, on the sign at the trail head, it said that the trail was 2 km long. And if you look at the description on the Ontario Provincial Parks website it says that the trail is 3 km. Three different distances with no way of knowing which one was correct. 

The other thing that we noticed was the starting point on the paper map (indicated by a black diamond shape) was on the left when actually it is on the right. As well, the start and end points are at almost the same place, but on the paper map it makes it look like the two entrances are up the road from one another. Both maps were missing a small trail that connects both sides of the trail and creates a second loop. 

We discovered the connecting trail shortly after beginning the hike.  We took a quick detour to see where the side path led and it went to the lake and connected the two sections of the trail. We were surprised that this wasn't indicated on either of the maps. 

After enjoying the view of the lake for a minute or two, we decided to go back the way we came and follow the trail in the direction of the arrow as the trail was marked. 

Along the way we saw some interesting plants, like some Pelt Lichen and some Ghost  Pipes. 

We noticed a charred and burnt tree stump and wonder what had caused it. Was it the remains of a forest fire from long ago? Or had this tree been struck by lightning? No other trees in the area showed signs of being burnt; just this one. 

As I was walking a little moth came and landed on me. This pretty little hitch hiker is a Birch Leafroller moth. 

It did not want to leave so I had to coax it gently onto a nearby Birch tree. It blended in pretty good with the white and dark colours of the Birch bark. 

The trail was wide and well groomed.  This trail was an enjoyable one.  It was at about this point where Carsten and I stopped to listen and see the birds. There were so many birds here! Mostly small sparrows and vireos. But they were elusive and fast so i couldn't get one to sit still long enough to get  a good picture. If you want to do some bird watching this is definitely the place to be. 

Sometimes you had to be careful about where you stepped so that you didn't step on a small creature like a Spur-throated grasshopper.

Or a baby toad. There were quite a few baby toads on the trail. 

Or even some plant life such as this orange fungus. 

There were interesting old trees to see. 

Including a stump of a tree that looked like a beaver may have eaten. However, it still has a long portion of it standing in the middle of the stump. It was an odd looking stump and made you wonder how it came to be exactly. 

Eventually we came back around to the lake again. I looked along the shore hoping to see a turtle, but there were none. 

However, from a distance, we did see a Solitary Sandpiper feeding along the shoreline. 

Once you pass the lake, the trail leads back into the woods. This is where I saw a plant that I was not familiar with. Later I looked it up and fount it to be Stag's-horn Clubmoss. It may be a moss but it looked almost like tendrils of a pine tree. 

The description of the trail says that the last portion of the hike is a bit of a climb. There were a couple sections that were an up hill climb to some degree but it wasn't anything too terrible. 

Closer to the end of the trail was an information post. There were a few of these along the trail, all of which were dirty and hard to read and in need of a serious clean-up.  But this one in particular was the cleanest and easiest to read. I found it the most interesting because it told you how the trail got its name.  Apparently "Oh-Say-Yah-Wuh-Kaw" means "Sand Ridge". 

The last little bit of the trail went through a stand of birch trees. They were beautiful with the sun streaming down between them. 

The trail ended at the same place that it began, just a few feet over.  Now we had to walk back to our camp site and see what Penny was up to. 

As we walked back to camp we could see a couple of birds along the roadside. One Chipping Sparrow in particular came very close to us and landed on the ground nearby.  Then all of a sudden it took flight and headed straight for me!  I thought for a second that it was going to land on me. But at the very last moment it veered off and landed in a tree instead. It took me by surprise to say the least. 

When we got back to camp and told Penny about narrowly becoming a bird perch, she told us a bird story of her own. Apparently she had a bird that was being aggressive towards other birds in the area and had also dive bombed the netting on the dining tent.  I wonder if it was the same little sparrow down the road? Perhaps there is a nest in the area. 

After swapping bird stories we sat down for some lunch and then we played a new board game that I had just bought called "Bare Bones".  It's a great little game and easy to play. 

We spent the rest of the evening playing various board games until it was time to go to bed. The long hike and the fresh air had made us tired.  

We noticed that the whole park is a very quiet one at night. At least it was while we were there. When we were ready to go to bed at about 11 pm we seemed to be the last people still awake in the park. It was so quiet and peaceful here. We knew we would sleep well tonight.