u/niagara-nature

My wife and I had a mini vacation of a few days exploring the Highway 60 corridor in Algonquin Park. We had exceptional luck! We got to see almost all the large animals most people hope to see in the park; we just didn't get to see a wolf this year. I hope you enjoy this little photo gallery of our vacation.

notable animals we saw: (not all have photos)

• american black bear
• moose
• river otter
• red fox
• northern waterthrush – new lifer!
• red crossbill – new lifer!
• solitary sandpiper — new lifer!
• wood ducks — first time I spotted in the park
• scarlet tanager — first time I spotted in the park
• hermit thrush — just one of my all time favourite birds
• common yellowthroat — one of my favourite warblers. Witchity witchity witchity!

I was beyond thrilled to find THREE river otters hunting in a small weedy lake in Algonquin Park (Ontario, Canada) on August 15 2026. I've long loved otters but never had an opportunity to photograph them until these three gave me abundant opportunities.

I'm guessing these three otters were either siblings or a mated pair with a child still hanging around... while one of the otters seemed to keep a little distant from the others, the other two were always close and they'd chirp at each other every once in a while. Simply enchanting to hear them communicate like that (plus the odd nasally snort/bark when something was irritating them).

I watched these three otters for over an hour while they swam and hunted. There's nothing quite like watching an otter dive, tail thrust up into the air, and then seeing it resurface a moment later with its next meal. Cromch cromch cromch… otters look like they enjoy food *so* much. They're voracious hunters and eaters!

I hope you like my photos! Thank you for checking them out.

I had a lovely encounter with this wild fox early yesterday morning (August 16 2026). He emerged from the forest and was trotting along Highway 60 in Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada. Occasionally he'd detour into the ferns alongside the road but he'd always come back out and follow the shoulder for a bit. I followed him at a distance for about a kilometre I'd wager, and eventually he disappeared into the pine forest, safely far off the road.

It was very interesting watching him go in and out of the shadowy woods. He all but disappeared when not in direct sunlight — except for the white tip of his tail, which was still visible and bobbing about like a will o' the wisp.

Hope you enjoyed my photos!

On the way to Lake Opeongo. I always stop when I see frogs on the road.

He directed Leap Day William!!!

Now we’ve got a busy day, put on your wigs or your bald caps.

Just a heads up to the hikers, cyclists and nature enthusiasts that Short Hills is currently closed. There’s no timeframe for reopening.

We spotted or heard 29 different birds during this morning's guided bird walk on Merritt Island! Overall a great walk, with an excellent start — we got to see a pair of Ospreys hunting near the East Main Street bridge. One was hovering in place over the parking lot by Cross Street. So cool to see these neat birds of prey right here in Welland.

A few other rare sightings included a pair of Belted Kingfishers, a Caspian Tern, and an Eastern Kingbird.

My next guided walk is August 30 at 7am – registration as always is free, if anyone would like to attend! Sign up at https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/guided-bird-hike-at-merritt-island-august-2026-tickets-1989345640362

Come on out and enjoy birding! Newcomers are always welcome!

List of birds we saw or heard (confident identifications only)

• Canada Goose
• Mallard
• Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)
• Mourning Dove
• Chimney Swift
• Ring-billed Gull
• Caspian Tern
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Osprey
• Belted Kingfisher
• Downy Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)
• Eastern Kingbird
• Eastern Warbling Vireo
• Blue Jay
• American Crow
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Barn Swallow
• White-breasted Nuthatch
• European Starling
• Gray Catbird
• American Robin
• House Sparrow
• American Goldfinch
• Song Sparrow
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Common Grackle
• Northern Yellow Warbler
• Northern Cardinal

Merlin picked up a few others including a Cedar Waxwing, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and a Carolina Wren and none of those would be unusual but since i didn't hear or confirm myself I haven't included them in the list.

Don't worry, it'll grow back!

Had this wonderful model of an Eastern Grey Squirrel today during my bird walk, and I just couldn't resist getting a few photos. Merritt Island, Welland, Ontario, Canada — July 26 2026.

There are a lot of squirrels in this park; most are Eastern Grey (a few are the melanistic variety) and there are a few American Red Squirrels. Even though they're quite a bit smaller, the Red Squirrels run the show; I saw one chasing a melanistic Eastern Grey from its favourite tree today.

I was so happy to spot this pair of Hairy Woodpeckers today in Short Hills Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. I've seen and heard Hairies there fairly frequently, but I've never seen two interacting like this. The one a little higher up the tree was hammering away every once in a while, and calling gently to the other one. Sometimes the other one would answer back with a similar nice call. I listened to them for about 10 minutes before finally spotting them. Eventually they split up (the last two photos) but it was a really nice, enchanting little encounter.

Edit: shaped more like a tibia I think, maybe white-tailed deer fawn.

I found this kind of gristly bone while hiking. I could smell it before I found it. It looks like it’s from a relatively fresh kill; there were small bits of flesh that still looked pink and fresh scatttered around, and while there were flies, I didn’t spot any maggots yet. There was evidence of a struggle - trampled vegetation and a few other spots where little chunks of meat were still sitting in the sun, attracting flies.

I’m in southern Ontario, Canada in a small provincial park (Short Hills) and it has a large deer population and the area is also known for coyotes. So I’m guessing this may be one of the larger bones from a fawn? It was also in a fairly open clearing where I’d expect to find cottontail rabbits. I thought it might fit the size of a cottontail femur. I’ll research this more after my hike but I’m not having much luck “out in the field”

I looked around but couldn’t find more parts or fur that would help in identification.

Here’s a Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) showing how they got their name. We’ve got a pretty high population of Gray Catbirds in Niagara, and you’ve probably heard one at some point when walking around. The thing is, they like to call and sing while hidden — you’ll often hear these weird sounds coming from dense, brambly bushy areas overgrown with wild grape, Virginia creeper and staghorn sumac.

Catbirds are in the same family as the Northern Mockingbird and Brown Thrasher, two other mimics we also have in Niagara. The catbird, though, is far more abundant.

They mimic other birds, so if you’re using the Merlin app to identify birdsong, you might find that Merlin gets fooled once in a while by a catbird.

I hope you get to see one of these chattery birds while you’re out in Niagara! Listen carefully next time you think you might hear a cat meowing — it might just be a catbird!

This was photographed over the weekend at Short Hills Provincial Park.

Swamp Milkweed Beetle, pretending to be an orb of some kind. Photographed today in Short Hills Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada.

I was so fortunate to find a bunch of these awesome mantidflies (Climaciella brunnea) today in Short Hills Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. Every year I go hunting for them on milkweed blossoms and I found more in one day this year than I did in all of last year. I just think everything about them is so cool – their odd life cycle, their mimicry, their cool raptorial forelegs… I could go on.

Anyway, I hope you like the photos I took today! Have you ever seen one of these cool mantidflies?

This is the amazingly cool Brown Wasp Mantidfly, Climaciella brunnea. Every year I go hunting for these amazing insects, and today I got super lucky and found almost 10 of these awesome insects amongst the milkweeds in a bluebird meadow in Short Hills Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada.

It was a bit tough amidst the heat, thistles and ticks trying to get video, but I still wanted to share a little of my encounter. I was so stoked to see so many mantidflies – in past years, seeing two or three was my total for the year!

You may ask why I titled this the "improbable" Mantidfly, but the why of that is what makes them so cool. In the larval stage, mantidflies wait for a spider to pass them by. Then they hitch a ride on the spider. If the spider happens to be a female that spins an egg case, the mantidfly larva will sneak into the egg case as the spider is spinning it. Then, safe in the silk enclosure, the mantidfly feasts on spider eggs. There, the mantidfly pupates, and emerges as an adult.

And what cool creatures the adults are! They look a bit like a cross between a praying mantis and a dark paper wasp (or other wasp in the Polistes genus) — they have the raptorial forelimbs of the mantis, and the colouration and general shape of the wasp. But they can't sting and they're totally harmless.

I often find them on milkweed, as they seem drawn to it. Perhaps it's that milkweed often attracts lots of insects, some of whom get stuck on the pollinia that the milkweed produces. Those stuck insects must prove an easy meal for the mantidfly. I've occasionally seen mantiflies with pollinia stuck to their feet — they must be strong enough to free themselves from those sticky pollen globs.

If food is scarce, like some other predators such as the ambush bug, the mantidfly can also eat a little nectar from the milkweed plants. However, that doesn't provide the complete nutrtition they need.

So, why improbable? Well when you think of everything about them — the mimicry (false aposematic colouration), the convergent evolution of the mantis-like forelimbs, their cool dietary options, the fact that to even get to adulthood they need to happen upon a female spider who happens to be about to create an egg case... I think the odds are against this odd but amazing little creature.

Sorry for the novel, but I just had to share cool facts about these awesome insects!

It was very windy, sorry! But I got a nice surprise when I got home from work today. This monarch butterfly discovered the patch of milkweed in my garden and laid and egg! She refueled with some milkweed nectar then flew away for more adventures… and to find more milkweed for eggs I hope!

Now my wife will tolerate the milkweed in our garden and we get to watch a little monarch caterpillar grow up!

Candy-striped leafhoppers… or candy-striped pee flingers?

Next time you're hiking and think it's raining, you might want to take another look. These two leafhoppers are two feeding on a plant stem – and you can see these bugs have evolved some specialized machinery to fling their waste away! I've slowed the video down a bit in one spot so you can see them literally fling their pee away.

I also added some sound effects later on so you can hear how frequently they're doing this. The video is not sped up. Amazing — and kinda gross at the same time.

Photographed in Short Hills Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

I had a delightful time photographing this Bold Jumper (Phidippus audax) in Short Hills Provincial Park on June 20. I didn't realize it at first but there was another Bold Jumper just out of frame in the first picture – secure in a little woven web between the milkweed leaves. I'm not certain but I'm suspecting that's a female that this male was approaching?

At first I was photographing him under the growing milkweed blossom. He climbed onto my hand while I was trying to position the milkweed to get a photo, which was pretty neat! I left him alone after that and came back later, after a quick thunderstorm rolled through the area, and that's when I found him in the first photo, with his little front legs up in the air.

Look at this little kit’s grabbies

Spotted this evening in short hills provincial park, Canada

I just had an awesome evening encounter with a beaver family in 12 Mile Creek in Short Hills Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada.

I first spotted the kit swimming slowly upstream. It was paddling about and munching on leaves and branches, completely unconcerned with me. After about 45 minutes on its own, one of the adult beavers arrived, and I saw the sweetest little reunion. The kit started chirping and cooing softly, and the kit and adult circled each other, swirling around kind of, and the kit climbed up onto the adult and gave it sort of a hug. Such a beautiful moment to see!

The adult and kit moved back downstream; the kit disappeared into the bank while the adult started gathering food from the riverbank, actually climbing up out of the water. The other parent also made an appearance, adding a branch to the dam (of sorts) in the creek, and then swimming further downstream for destinations unknown.

I got to enjoy this for over an hour, and then the fireflies started coming out, and i went home.