How to Identify

• Golden-buff back, and creamy or white breast with dark spots
• Dark eyes (no yellow) and no ear tufts

Did You Know? Barn Owls:

• Hunt voles, mice and rats around farmsteads, and in pastures, hayfields and grasslands.
• Will roost and nest in barns, silos, abandoned buildings, tree cavities and snags.  
• Don't hoot, but instead emit hair-raising screeches
• Are crepuscular, meaning they are active mainly at dusk and in the early evening hours.

Reasons for Population Decline

• Loss of grassland habitat in southern Ontario
• Predation of eggs and young by raccoons, cats and opossums
• Cold winters with deep snow

How Can You Help?

• Maintain and enhance grassland habitat on your property
• Place a nest box in or on your barn or silo (see website below for more information)
• Report any sightings to the Ontario Barn Owl Recovery Team by contacting:

Bernie Solymár
519-426-7124
solymar@nornet.on.ca
Check out the Project's website at:
www.bsc-eoc.org/regional/barnowl.htm

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Name: Eastern Fox Snake ( Elaphe gloydi )

How to Identify

• Yellow-brown with large brown or black blotches on back that alternate with smaller blotches on sides Belly yellow with black checkerboard pattern
• Large size,   adults are 91 – 137 cm long

Did You Know? Eastern fox snakes are:

• Not venomous Feed mainly on mice and rats by constricting it's prey Ontario's second biggest snake, growing to over 1.5 metres
• Found along shorelines (marshes and beaches), farmland, and woodlots. Also sometimes in hay lofts in barns.

Reason for Population Decline

• Habitat loss
• Persecution by humans

How Can You Help?

• Conserve wetland habitat Appreciate snakes and don't harm them
• Report any sightings to the Eastern Fox Snake Recovery Team by contacting:

Allen Woodliffe
519-354-4108
allen.woodliffe@ontario.ca
or  
Ron Gould
519-773-4745
ron.gould@ontario.ca

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Name: Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtle ( Apalone spinifera )

How to Identify

• The “pancake turtle” has a flat, round, leathery grey-brown shell and an elongated snout

Did You Know?

• There are less than 2500 adult spiny softshell turtles left in Ontario? It's long snout allows the Spiny Softshell Turtle to breathe while almost fully submerged
• Spiny Softshell Turtles ambush fish, crayfish and mussels by lying concealed in bottom mud

Reason for Population Decline

• Habitat loss and degradation Contamination of water courses by agriculture and industry
• Predation of eggs and young by raccoons and other predators

How Can You Help?

• Protect open, sandy shorelines and river islands Avoid disturbing nest sites, young and adults
• Report any sightings to the Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtle Recovery Team:

Scott Gillingwater
519-519-495-0400
gillingwaters@thamesriver.on.ca

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Name: Grey Fox ( Urocyon cinereoargenteus )

How to Identify

• About the size of a small dog and is grey, with a reddish chest and sides of the belly, and white underparts.
• Black-tipped tail (Red Fox has a white-tipped tail).

Did You Know?

• Grey Foxes can climb trees, almost as well as cats. Grey Foxes eat small mammals, birds and insects.
• In the spring of 1999, a den with new-born Grey Fox kits was discovered on Pelee Island - the first documented birth of Grey Foxes in Ontario.

Reason for Population Decline

• Unknown – Grey Foxes are found on Pelee Island, although there have been sighting occasionally on the mainland.

How Can You Help?

• Report sightings to:

Allen Woodliffe
519-354-4108
allen.woodliffe@ontario.ca
or  
Ron Gould
519-773-4745
ron.gould@ontario.ca

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To learn more about Ontario's Species-at-Risk visit these websites:

Natural Heritage Information Centre: http://nhic.mnr.gov.on.ca/nhic_.cfm

Royal Ontario Museum: http://www.rom.on.ca/ontario/risk.php

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources: http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/mnr/speciesatrisk/