Lake Huron’s coastal dune systems provide habitat for a variety of birds and mammals.  Raccoon and Red Fox are not uncommon—especially when the Sand Cherries ripen.  Raccoons have also been known to dig up and eat turtle eggs incubating in the dry, sun-baked sand.  Mink and muskrat may be found in the vicinity of dunes, being attracted to the food provided in dune wetlands and nearby beaches.  Bats emerge at dusk to feed on flying insects over the dunes, with Red Bats and Ontario’s largest bat, the Hoary Bat, being common at the dunes of Pinery Provincial Park.  

Porcupines, Eastern Chipmunks, Eastern Cottontail rabbits, Snowshoe Hares, White-footed Mice and voles may also be found foraging for food in the dune habitats.  The Prairie Deer Mouse, uncommon and local in Ontario, is an inhabitant of the dunes in the Pinery- Port Franks area.  White-tailed Deer also occasionally browse on dune vegetation.

Lake Huron forms a barrier to many migratory bird species, and as a result the birds follow the coastline in their annual north-south journeys.  In spring and fall, large numbers of warblers, sparrows, finches and other songbirds congregate in the backdune vegetation.  Migratory songbirds take advantage of sheltered areas in the lee the foredunes to feed on the abundant midges and other insects, particularly during spring migration when other food sources may be scarce.

Few bird species are resident on the dunes, although Spotted sandpipers build nests in backdune areas, which offer greater protection than the exposed beaches where they feed.  Bank Swallows nest in large colonies on dunes in the Pinery – Port Franks area, excavating their nests into the steep, eroded banks of blowouts—areas that are very difficult for predators to access.  Song Sparrows, Savannah Sparrows and American Goldfinches feed on the seeds of dune plants, both during migration and breeding season. 
One of the most endangered bird species in Ontario and Canada, the Piping Plover, formerly nested in dune-associated habitats on Lake Huron, but is now extirpated from the region.  It last nested in the Ipperwash area in 1953 and at Carter Bay on Manitoulin Island in 1970.  Piping Plover also formerly bred on the vast sand beaches of Oliphant and Wasaga Beach.  It is hoped that recovery efforts for this species will one day result in its return to these areas.  The provincially uncommon Prairie Warbler has also been known to nest in dune habitats at Wasaga Beach and Pinery Provincial Park, where it prefers dune shrublands with sparsely scattered trees.

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Author of www.pitchersthistle.ca: Jarmo Jalava, 2005

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