McDonald Island Ontario

[McDonaldIsland]

Just wanted to say hello. We purchased McDonald Island in Otty Lake Ontario just about a year ago. Three beautiful acres, at least 2 deer, a beaver and as we found out a few weeks ago one very large snake. Right now it has an old shed and an outhouse but we are putting a cabin up in the spring. After life in the city, there is nothing better than relaxing at night in front of the fire.

Regards,

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McDonald Island Ontario

[Renee Redmond]

Welcome to the forum!

Your post made me wonder how the deer came to live on your island? Could they have walked over from the mainland when the lake was frozen? Are they a male and female? Enquiring minds want to know... lol.

[peacepunk]

Hi McDonald Island,

I think its great when actual island owners join the forum, they always have great insights for us dreamers. I would also like to know how the deer got there? Has there been any difficulties adjusting to living on an island, after leaving the city?

[Bailey]

I agree with peacepunk. Its always great to have more actual island owners on the forum. The forum is largely composed of two groups of people: dreamers and planners. The dreamers are hoping in the future to own an island, and the planners are currently working on buying an island. Therefore its always great to have owners on the site because they are full of useful tidbits.

[peacepunk]

Hey bailey,

I recommend checking out the new posting by monkey girl in the island living forum. I just read it and it provides an excellent overview on what living on an island in Canada is really like.

[Monkeygirl]

I have all sorts of wildlife on our island (North Channel, Georgian Bay, Ontario, Canada), from time to time. Most of them swim there.

One corner of my cottage is all windows. I was working on my laptop one day, and something caught my eye. I looked up, and there was my dog happily chasing a beautiful fawn. (I'm sure the fawn wasn't so happy, though.)

Knowing it would head straight for the water, I rushed out behind the cottage, down the hill, and towards the shore, in time to see it swimming to the mainland. I watched as it scampered up the shore and into the woods. Presumably the mother was nearby, and collected it later.

We see deer swimming relatively often. One day, we actually had to divert our path in the boat, or we would have hit a mother and 3 fawns, swimming out in the channel. We slowed to a stop and just looked on in awe.

There are moose on the mainland, but never on our island, to my knowledge.

We have our share of black bear visitors. They're quite reclusive, so they run off if they hear humans. One day, I was sitting on the dock, chatting with one of the workers hired to help with the renovations, and I noticed a bear about to step off the southern point of my island, and swim to the mainland. I ran to get my video camera, and captured its exit from the water. (It's pretty far, so it wasn't very good footage.) We occasionally see bears swimming from island to island. (The wild blueberries are plentiful in summer, and delicious! So are the wild raspberries!)

We've had minor damage due to bears. One was trying to get into the cottage when we arrived. It heard us and ran off. It only did a small amount of scraping damage. What was interesting was how high up it was able to reach. Black bears are not exactly huge. They can range from 100lbs (i.e. smaller than my dog) up to 300lbs. ...But the big, 300lb males aren't the ones we commonly see.

There are all the other usual critters, too. Squirrels, mice, moles, and what not, which undoubtedly live on our island.

There are loads of beavers (but they only venture onto the island for the occasional tree - maybe 5 in the past 40 years). Beavers can give you a heart attack, if you didn't notice they're there. If they see you first, you can expect a loud kurplunk noise (that sounds like a large boulder has been thrown into the water). That's a beaver, slapping its tail down on the water to warn the other beavers there is danger. We were just at the island this past weekend, and ran into boat trouble that delayed our depature from the mainland until after dark. (The motor just didn't want to turn over.) In the dark, I walked down the dock at the marina, towards our boat, and was startled by a loud beaver tail slap just a metre or so away. It takes a few years off your life, at times.

We even have a porcupine, which we presume swims over from the mainland. I found it in a tree, one day. (Okay, my dog found it.) It might live on the island, but who knows? I haven't seen anything that looks like a den that's big enough.

There is something big enough to do some damage, though. It's probably the porcupine. I left garbage out one time, and something really hauled through it. Not like squirrels, that take little nibbles. Then, when a large grouse was found dead, I put it out near the back of the cottage, and placed our motion detectors around it. I hoped they'd go off if a predator came to get the carrion, and I could see what it was. All night long, no alarm. Then, around 6AM, off went the alarms and I rushed to the window. Nothing. The bird was gone but there was no sign of any predator. Puzzling...yet fascinating.

We have all kinds of fabulous snakes. Mostly there are water snakes and unbelievably gorgeous green grass snakes. I catch the grass snakes when I can, and marvel at them for a few moments. It's so terrifying when I'm cutting the lawn, especially using the weed wacker. It seems to sneak up on the snakes, in particular. I've harmed a few, and it breaks my heart. Thankfully, nothing has died yet, but I think it's only a matter of time. (We put in a lawn about 3 years ago. That entailed hiring a barge to bring out the loam, the topsoil, the sod, the front end loader, etc. We L-O-V-E our new lawn, despite the additional maintenance it requires - and the fact we then had to install an automatic sprinkler system. But there's a point when one wonders if the $14,000 price tag makes sense.)

There are salamanders and newts. There are green frogs, brown toads, and giant bullfrogs. There are even tree toads, which are hilarious when they sometimes stick themselves to one of the windows.

There are so many birds, I couldn't possibly list them all. There are breathtaking hummingbirds. All kinds of woodpeckers, including the the huge pileated woodpeckers. Herons. Assorted raptors. And all the usual suspects (seagulls, loons, cormorants, sparrows, ravens, etc.)

We installed a bat box. (Bats eat a large number of mosquitos, so we're thrilled to have them around.) Dragonflies run the gamut of sizes and colours.

(Annoying insects include black flies [spring], mosquitos [July & August], and deerflies [spring to fall].) We don't have a huge problem with biting insects, but they are around. Screens on doors and any windows that open, and around the gazebo, pretty much make it a non-issue at dawn and dusk, when the mosquitos are out in force.

The fishing in that area is allegedly epic. (I'm vegan, so I don't fish.) But I do feed the fish off my dock. They're adorable. When I give the signal, 20 or so small fish jostle for position; then quickly gobble up the food almost as soon as it hits the water. While I generally don't agree with feeding wildlife, I just love feeding the fish that live under our dock.

There are terrific plants, too. I always look for the lady's slippers that come out in spring. The velvet moss is like an incredible natural carpet. It's so soft against bare feet. As I mentioned already, the blueberries are common, and quite desirable. Most summer visitors take home a dish of freshly-picked blueberries they proudly announce come from our island.

I would love to start a vegetable garden, but apparently that's just asking for trouble. It attracts wild animals, not all of which will stop at eating my vegetables. Same goes for composting. I compost at home, so I'd love to do it there, but that just attracts animals that will then, likely, look for more sources of food...say...in our cottage. Since we're usually only at the island for maybe a total of 20-30 days per year, it has to be pretty self-sufficient, without us. The addition of the sprinkler system helps a lot. But it still needs to be left pretty natural/low maintenance.

I bet more equatorial islands have very interesting florae and faunae. Lizards and snakes must come in all shapes and sizes. The birds must be very interesting. And the marine life must be truly exotic.

[peacepunk]

Wow! I had no idea that Canada had so much wildlife...well at least in that area. The way you describe your island, it almost sounds like a Garden of Eden. Coudos to you for taking steps to protect, and not interfere with the wildlife that you share your island with.

[Monkeygirl]

I'm a bit of a nature buff.

Ironically, I live in a beach house (Lake Ontario), and have an equally dazzling array of wildlife around my home, too...albeit not an island.

(Yeah...I know. We deflect the usual remarks by focusing on our dog. We sarcastically point out what a "difficult" life she has: living at a beach house, and spending weekends on her own private island. Yup. Tough life.) (wink)

Much to my dog's delight, there are rabbits in my yard every day. I watch the gulls and the cormorants fishing, just offshore, just about every day. In the spring, huge carp breed just offshore. It's fascinating.

There are loads of Canada Geese (naturally). There are ducks, too. I love watching the hummingbirds come up to the window and hover. And every time I see this particular sight, my heart practically bursts...There is a flock of up to 20 swans that often "park" offshore. They're just as beautiful when they're flying by, just skimming the surface of the water. At night, it's as though they're internally lit. They reflect every bit of light, making it seem like they're glowing.

I see deer, almost every morning. I frequently see a wild turkey mother with about 12 offspring, walking down the road. (They aren't the least bit fased by cars, either.) I saw the (mostly-black) male walking with them, about a week ago.

Tragically, there is probably at least one raccoon killed by a car every day, on one of the local roads.

There are foxes, and I even spied a coyote on the golf course down the road, about a month ago. (There are lots of foxes and coyotes in this region. I just don't see them regularly.)

A once-in-a-lifetime experience happend to me last week. I noticed a blue heron just standing near the oncoming side of the long country road that takes me into the city. I slowed as I neared, trying not to disturb it. But, once I got very close, it decided to take off. Since the road is bordered by trees and shrubs, the heron took off following the road; running, at first, 'til it had enough speed to become airborn. I matched my speed and drove at least 100', if not more, with this heron flying alongside my driver's side window. I'll never forget it. I was looking right into its eye while it was flying.

Every day that I'm home, from spring 'til fall, I spend some time just sitting back and watching the sailboats in the distance. Some are obviously from the nearby marina, and some are off in the distance, and probably coming from the U.S. When I'm really lucky, I get to see a few tall ships. In clear weather, we can see the smoke stack of some American industry (although I haven't tracked down exactly what or where). (That's New York State, across the lake from us.)

I know that's a little off topic, but I really enjoy observing the florae and faunae of my surroundings, whether it's on my island, or at my home. It's one of my favourite pastimes.

[Monkeygirl]

Oh, peacepunk...

I just noticed that your location is listed as "Cape Town". That's ironic, because my husband and I plan to move abroad in about 5 years. (He's Dutch and I'm Canadian.) One of the countries on the potential short list is South Africa. We're still just in the discussion stage, though.

Do you have any comments or recommendations? Naturally, we'll visit long before we make up our minds but, people keep cautioning us about living in South Africa. I'm wondering if they're trying to be helpful or if they're just perpetuating an old stereotype?

Any thoughts?

[McDonaldIsland]

I haven't seen it myself but my neighbors have all said that they see the deer swimming to and from the island. What I saw a few weeks ago looked like a fawn and mother. The mother and I scared each other earlier in the summer when she came running by me while I was wiring solar panels. I think that we both jumped 5 ft! While clearing land for my cabin site I found an area where you can tell that they bed down. I hope that the cabin construction doesn't scare them off for good.
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McDonald Island Ontario