After the drive from the Tom Thomson Art Gallery (the TOM) in Owen Sound and the flat tire along Highway 400, I was a just a bit tired. I felt though that there was a need to make the most of the stay at Killbear Provincial Park. I headed out to the Lighthouse Point to find something to paint. The Sentier Lighthouse Point Trail took me to an automated beacon. The light was no substitute for the Imperial Tower of Chantry so I painted the surrounding landscapes instead. I set up on the rocks and started to paint. There were a lot of visitors. One lady jumped out of her skin after seeing a “huge snake that looked like a cougar”. I suppose that the eastern fox snake was equally terrified.
The eastern fox snake is endangered. The populations are doing well on the inaccessible rocky islands offshore in Georgian Bay but apparently these snakes leave their island sanctuaries for the mainland to select breeding sites. They often swim 10 kilometres or more in straight lines in order to mate. Once on the mainland, these long snakes are susceptible to humans. After mating they return to their island homes.
The Massasauga rattlesnakes are also having a tough time with 27 snakes being killed on the roads within Killbear in 2005. Reptile fencing and road underpasses were constructed to guide the snakes and so far in 2017, only two snakes have died on the roads. Rattlesnakes need the rocky outcrops but also the marshes where they hunt their prey.
This view to the northwest showed the expanse of Killbear Provincial Park. It is really a series of sandy coves on a large granite ridge. It has a very interesting history as summarized by the plagues which I photographed.
The eastern fox snake is endangered. The populations are doing well on the inaccessible rocky islands offshore in Georgian Bay but apparently these snakes leave their island sanctuaries for the mainland to select breeding sites. They often swim 10 kilometres or more in straight lines in order to mate. Once on the mainland, these long snakes are susceptible to humans. After mating they return to their island homes.
The Massasauga rattlesnakes are also having a tough time with 27 snakes being killed on the roads within Killbear in 2005. Reptile fencing and road underpasses were constructed to guide the snakes and so far in 2017, only two snakes have died on the roads. Rattlesnakes need the rocky outcrops but also the marshes where they hunt their prey.This view to the northwest showed the expanse of Killbear Provincial Park. It is really a series of sandy coves on a large granite ridge. It has a very interesting history as summarized by the plagues which I photographed.
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