24 December 2002 (Bill Bower)

I saw Jim's car in the parking lot when I arrived. Beautiful morning. Those tracks you saw, Jim, were Otter tracks in the snow. They prefer sliding in the snow to walking. They travel great distances but if you come across where they rest (lots of places but usually along the bank somewhere/under the ice) you will find scat and most of the scat will be made up of fresh water clams. A grey color but you can see pieces of shell.

Not sure what Jim heard. The closest thing I can come to is an ice fisherman doing a one-legger down a fishing hole and then being bitten by a Pike. Must have been before I arrived.

A great December 24th interrupted only by the occasional fish that took my bait and forced me discard gloves with handwarmers and freeze my fingers removing hooks and rebaiting. Much more enjoyable I suppose if I had fished with no bait, but then I wouldn't have fresh fish for Xmas dinner. Each to his own.

24 December 2002 (Jim Robertson)

The sun was just hitting the top of the trees as I drove down the hill from the Queensway. The "sunken" ice fishing hut has been removed, but another smaller one has taken its place in a slightly different location. There were 5 huts out on the ice at the bend in the road.

The mild weather over the last few days has caused more open water to develop at the causeway. The main river channel is no longer frozen over. It is now open water with broken ice pans noisily floating down the river. Noisily as the floating ice scraped and chaffed against other ice frozen to the shoreline.

I spotted what seemed to be two more beaver lodges in the marsh area. That brings the total to seven lodges that I know of at Petrie. The beavers in Turtle Pond are still maintaining a small amount of open water adjacent to their lodge. The beavers in the newly resettled "old" lodge along Beaver Trail have also opened up a small open water area for themselves.

Last night's fresh snow was full of tracks of all different sorts. The most interesting one though was some animal, with sharp-clawed 3" wide paws, that seem to be having fun sliding along in the snow. Where ever the ground was smooth, he seemed to take a run at it, and then belly flop and slide along the snow for 4-5 feet before taking another run. I found two areas with these sliding trails. Not sure what critter it might be. If it were the summer I would say one of the otters.

The only birds to be heard were a few chickadees and woodpeckers. There was a very loud repetitive "call" as I parked the car and started to walk along the turtle trail. It was coming from the south side of Turtle Pond. As I walked along the trail, the repetitiveness dropped off, and by the time I reached the Beaver Trail there was one last call. It sound like a mix of an catlike animal in distress and a heron "croaking" as it takes flight. I looked around but could find no source for the call.

When I left at 10AM, there were two cars at the Petrie picnic area and 4 cars at Crappie Bay for the ice fishing in open chairs out at the mouth of the Bay.

18 December 2002 (Jim Robertson)

The Aliens have landed !!!! The Aliens have landed !!!!

Well not quite. There are two snow people on the beach and a cousin of theirs out on the ice at the mouth of Crappie Bay.

It was cool, crispy morning with no breeze (until 9 am), everything was coated with a light touch of hoar frost. That gave a wonderful white glow to the trees with the rising sun backlighting the branches. Twinkling reflections from the frost were everywhere. Light vapour was rising from within two good size animal-dug holes. The resultant frosty crystals on the vegetation at the holes' lips were quite beautifully delicate, but in need of the sun's rays reaching them to be "picture perfect".

The half inch of so of snow that fell the other day has been packed down by human (and dog) traffic on the trail demonstrating the increasing popularity of Petrie through all four seasons. Off the trail, the snow told the stories of the many animals at Petrie. Various sizes of tracks from tiny mice dragging their tails to larger prints such as fox or marten (??) etc. The tracks interlace each other, and every now and then they obviously interlaced at the same time with a mouse providing a meal to a larger animal. Two sets of tracks converging and only one leaving the scene.

The beavers seems to be keeping a little area of water open around their lodge in Turtle Pond. It freezes over every morning.

As I drove down the hill from the Queensway towards the Islands, I noticed one ice fishing hut was sitting out on the ice in the shallow bay east of the road. Another smaller hut was out a short distance from shore at the bend before the sand operations. An hour later as I headed home, the hut out in the shallow bay had gone through the ice and was listing at weird angles. The water level has gone down about 4-6 inches since the ice was formed. So there is an air pocket under the ice which did not get a chance to become very thick. I found that out the hard way myself this morning, so be careful !!!

There was one woodpecker hammering away at tree, one crow and a red squirrel - not much else animal-wise in view.

12 December 2002 (Bill Bower)

Yeah! those crazy fishermen were out alright. I was down myself. Guess they like to live dangerously.

The deer had been around before daybreak but I didn't follow them. Looked like doe tracks. Fox was seen along with a small mink. I pileated woodpecker kept me company. All this was seen in and from Crappie Bay.

Just enjoying my fish-fry now. Caught over 100 fish and kept seven. My best day ever out there. Didn't try for Pickerel or Pike. It was a beautiful day even if no fish had been caught.

12 December 2002 (Jim Robertson)

The cold snap of last week froze most areas of open water including the main river channel. The only open water is east of the two large culverts at the causeway as well as a few small areas in the middle of the main channel. The ice is thick enough that there were three people ice fishing off Crappie Bay.

With no fresh snow, it was hard to sort out any animal activity, but there were tracks of small tail dragging rodent in many areas untouched by human/dog foot prints. There were two black squirrels around. The only birds were a few crows "cawing" off in the distance.

The "sighting" of the day though was a fox. I have assumed there were fox around, but in three years of regular/frequent visits to Petrie's trails I never saw one. This morning as I was walking east back to the car, I spotted a fox running across Turtle Pond , looking back over his shoulder at me. He had been snooping around the shoreline where the muskrats had a bank lodge in the summer of 2001 just west of the small culvert. There is only the one muskrat lodge in Turtle Pond, a far cry from past years. There are several though in the marsh area that now are visible with snow outlining their shapes amongst the reeds.

The large hole along the beaver trail is showing signs of "in and out" activity. I think the hole leads into the water below a small collection of branches on the shoreline. There were other freshly dug small holes by what I assumed were squirrels.

The high bush cranberries have not all been eaten, but I did find an area where many fallen berries had coloured the snow with red dye. I couldn't tell if the berries had fallen to the ground by human or animal activity.

The iced waterways have likely stopped the beaver damage until next spring. I "surveyed" two areas of beaver chewing. At the start of the main trail is a 35± foot section with only three trees (small ones at that) left between the trail and Turtle Pond shoreline. I counted 44 tree "trunks" (most 2"-6" in diameter ) that had been cut off. Further to the west, in one 50± foot stretch, 14 trees, with trunks between 9" and 18", were felled with another 4 large trees having had the bark removed all the around the trunk so the trees will not survive.

In an area that I heavily "patrol" regularly I found a 6" long turtle shell that had been freshly investigated. The shell was hollowed out, so some predator had a meal at some point. Why the shell suddenly turned up in this area and had been freshly investigated by a four footed creature, I am not sure.

26 November 2002 (Jim Robertson)

The main activity at Petrie these days is the beavers and their tree harvesting. While most of the still water areas have a layer of ice, the beavers are maintaining enough open channels so that they can continue to re-enforce their lodges and larders. There were two beavers out this morning at about 9:30am working as icebreakers keeping the channels open. (Of course the muskrats are taking advantage of the open water too !)

With at least five (and a miniature) lodges occupied, the trees are taking quite a hard hit. As mentioned before with the new lodge in Turtle Pond, the smaller trees along the main trail have, and still are, disappearing rapidly. The two occupied lodges in Muskrat Bay (the "new" one from last year, and the "old" one that was not used last year) are consuming the trees around the Beaver Trail, particularly the west end of it. There is another clear-cut operation just west of last year's clear-cut along the south channel past the end of Muskrat Bay. The lodge is on the south side of the channel and to say it is large is an understatement. The miniature lodge is just west of the "old" lodge on Beaver Trail. It could be a "doghouse" that missus beaver will send mister beaver to if he gets out of line on Superbowl Sunday.

There were a few ducks around and one sparrow, but surprisingly, I scared up a young heron that must have forgotten to fly south with the compatriots. Not sure what it is finding to eat.

With the leaves gone, the bird nests are more easily seen. There is a wasp nest high up in a silver maple, about 300 yards west of where the wasp nest was last year at the start of the Beaver Trail.

When I left the Island at 10:30am there were three other parked vehicles and a small motor boat breaking its way through the thin ice from Crappie Bay.

20 November 2002 (Bill Bower)

I was late this morning and probably missed a few things for sure. However, I was the first one back on the trail.

A large buck passed through the area in the early morning. I suspect it crossed from the Quebec side. The tracks were in the parking lot, then along the Turtle Trail, then over by the second cottage, then out the trail (on and off of it), then around those ponds on the south side and finally it swam across the south channel to the mainland. This all took place probably before sunrise. Judging by the stride and size of track it was a big'un.

Other tracks included otter (4 of them) (that's 4 Otter and not 4 tracks), beaver, muskrat, squirrel and a coyote (I think). I number of beavers had been out doing some more chopping before Xmas. Didn't see any Marten or Fisher tracks. I followed a set of tracks which I think were Coyote and they led to the shoreline facing the south channel. Along that shoreline there are a number of places where an animal can get up under the bank and remain warm and hidden. That's where this animal went, quite near an old beaver lodge. Obviously it was there when I was there but it could have been ten feet or more up under the bank.

The south channel is ice free and there were probably a hundred or more ducks in the area. Most were Common Mergansers but I also saw Blacks, Mallards, Common Goldeneye and Bufflehead. Didn't see anything out on the main river.

Anyway, looks like the early bird gets (to see) the buck and I was way too late this time.

17 November 2002 (David Villeneuve)

This morning as I was driving onto Petrie Island, just before the road turns west, I saw an animal crossing the road. It was the size of a house cat, with a tail as long as the body, and very bushy. Its legs were shorter than a cat's. It was kind of a cat-sized squirrel.

I don't recall minks or muskrats having such luxurious tails. Could it be a fisher?

Reply from Bill Bower:

In the past two weeks I have seen both a Marten and a Fisher in the Golden Lake area. The Fisher came to within about 20 feet of me before retreating (quickly). There is no mistaking a Fisher for a Marten or a house cat. It is quite large and would be over three feet from tip of nose to end of tail. When you see one in the woods or at a distance it will look totally black. The one I saw up close had brown on the face and neck/shoulders area but looked completely black when running through the woods. A male could weight up to 18 or 20 lbs. but a female would be smaller at something around 13 lbs. I would not describe a Fisher as cute, however, a Marten could be described that way. It would only be about one third the size of a Fisher and you can quite easily see the lighter colors on the face, chest and throat. Both are very active and travel considerable distances. Both have bushy tails

Martens eat mainly red squirrels and mice. I followed Fishers around last winter in the Mer Bleue area and they were eating mainly Muskrats, but also mice, rabbits and deer (although the deer was no doubt carrion).

There are Fishers for sure around the city and I have heard reports of Marten in the western areas. I suppose either could have made its way to Petrie Island. Maybe tracks in the snow will determine exactly what it was.

12 November 2002 (Jim Robertson)

The weather forecast said there would be some sunny patches today, well maybe there were some somewhere else but not at Petrie. This morning was very dreary with grey clouds abounding. With the leaves gone and the grasses/reeds/ferns etc all laying down (from the unseasonable snow of last week) the island looks quite barren compared to the summer.

The beaver are endeavouring to make it look all the more barren. They have been actively cutting the smaller trees along the shoreline at the start of the main trail; if they keep it up there won't many trees left between the trail and Turtle Pond. One spot in the back area has seeing many 12" trees felled, with more in the works. Two beavers were swimming home from a good night's work.

There are four easily visible active beaver lodges this year: two new ones in the marsh by the Bait Shop and in Turtle Pond along with two existing ones in Muskrat Bay. The Muskrat Bay lodges are the one built last year on the south side and a reoccupation of the lodge that they abandoned in the summer of 2001 on the north side. (We think the mink used it last winter.)

There are now four muskrat lodges in view, two by the Bait Shop and two in the reeds of Turtle Pond. The lower number of muskrat lodges seems to confirm the lower number of muskrat sightings this past summer. Just a normal fluctuation in population levels I assume.

There were three Canada Geese close to shore with another hundred or so bobbing on the water in mid stream of the main river channel. When the three close by geese flew off, the larger flock noisily lifted off as well, honking for several minutes

The pileated woodpecker flew by, and a few smaller woodpeckers were working on branches. A few chickadees and ducks were also around, but no herons. Guess the herons have finally left for points south.

31 October 2002 (Jim Robertson)

There sky was momentarily rosy with the rising sun lighting up the underside of the grey clouds. But as soon as the sun passed through the narrow band of open sky above the horizon we were left with a dull, cool morning with lots of frost in the open areas.

Most areas of still water were gelled: the marsh on both sides of the road was well covered with ice, Turtle Pond was 2/3 covered with ice, the west end being more heavily covered. The water level seemed to have dropped about a half inch overnight leaving ice along the shorelines white as the water fell away from it.

The beavers have continued to be very busy with many more saplings having disappeared, some large trees are being worked on. The silver maple mentioned in the last two dispatches has now lost three 12" trunks (it lost one last year too). Won't be long before all of it is down. There is a second nearby silver maple that has two trunks joined at the bottom to form a 36" base, the beavers have started working on it, but I would be surprised if they manage to bring it down.

There were lots of ducks around, mainly mallards and mergansers. A solitary heron was over by bait shop by the two muskrat lodges. Yesterday the heron was perched atop one of the lodges. A pileated woodpecker was working relatively quietly on old dead tree. Several chickadees were flitting about. At least they are not as pesky as the Mer Bleue chickadees who come right to you demanding a handout.

30 October 2002 (Bill Bower)

Found 17 species of birds including 7 species of ducks. Best sighting I guess was a group of 28 Common Mergansers at the twin tunnels. Goes to show that four eyes are better than two.

We did find a very recent "kill site" on a low branch where an owl had killed and eaten a Ring-Billed Gull. All that was left was the tail, legs and feet. Directly under the site was a large fresh owl pellet which leads us to believe it was the work of a Great Horned Owl. Not quite sure how it caught the gull but perhaps took it off the water surface during the night.

Lots of beaver activity towards the far end of the island, especially on the south side. Size doesn't seem to be a problem for them, or even a consideration. Take a few bites each night and eventuallty the thing will come down.

Nice find at the far end where a new species of tree was located. Looked something like a palm tree with one large "nut" under it. It was confirmed by the head of the Club's Interpretive Program who said, "Yes, that's a coconut all right." There was some chatter that perhaps there were two "nuts" under the tree, but due to other noise we couldn't hear exactly what was said.

Canal construction was in full swing when we returned, however, we managed to cross back to the mainland without getting wet.

All in all a good day at Petrie with progress on many fronts.

25 October 2002 (Bill Bower)

There were a pair of Wood Ducks on the one small pond at the rear of the island.

When I got back to my car, there was a Six-Spotted Fishing Spider on my car in the sun. (I hate spiders).

Did you know that when a beaver stashes food for winter (as they are now doing), the worst food is on the top. The best is always on the bottom. They will dive and take the good stuff down under and pile the garbage limbs on top as weight. Sometimes they will add more weight to the pile by putting the logs with no bark left on top. The pile could be up to three meters thick. They know that in the winter the top two or three feet will be frozen in the ice and they may never get to it. All the choice food will be readily available.

25 October 2002 (Jim Robertson)

Well, the beavers resolved the problem of the large tree trunk that was hung up in amongst branches belonging to a neighbouring trunk of the same tree, they brought down the other trunk. Problem solved!! The area they attempted to clear-cut last year is being left alone this year and they are attacking another area about 30 yards to the west. They have also done an extensive thinning job along the trail starting from the interpretative cottage and points west. The new lodge in Turtle Pond is covered with freshly acquired branches and their leaves. There is a new lodge (or what looks like a lodge) being built in the marsh to the west of the bait shop. Two muskrat lodges have appeared in the shallows to the SE of the bait shop.

I am sure Bill Bower will expound shortly, but today seemed to be duck day at Petrie. I haven't seen as many ducks there for a long time. Bill says they will be there until freeze-up. The herons were few and far between. One was by the bait shop and another towards the end of Muskrat Bay.

There was lots of frost and fresh ice. The west ends of Turtle Pond and Muskrat Bay were lightly frozen over as were other areas of shallow water or water densely populated by leaves or reeds. The many rose bushes in one area were nicely rimmed with frost.

The water level was very low, lots of stumps sticking their heads up above the water.

Someone must have a disagreement at home and decided to sleep the night in his frosty car at Petrie. He was still fast asleep at 9:45am.  [Ed: Could this be the Queensway Sniper?]

21 October 2002 (Bill Bower)

Nice brisk morning at Petrie for sure.

Water level is up a bit but not to last fall's level. There were actually some Wood Ducks in those small ponds next to the South Channel.

Turtle activity has just about ceased, at least above the water surface.

Robins are still hanging around in substantial numbers. I did get a nice view of a Red-Tailed Hawk while on the Beaver Pond.

Speaking of beavers, they have been busy. I was wondering why it was so easy to see out on the Turtle Pond. The "brush-hogs" have been at work. Some very nice trees have been marked for cutting, including a large maple just before the picnic table on the path.

There was quite a convention of Juncos and White Throated Sparrows in one spot next to the four sand piles off the Muskrat Trail. Then I realized they were after the grass seed that Al had spread around. Hope there is some left to sprout.

14 October 2002 (Jim Robertson)

The yellow in the trees was a dull glow in the pre-dawn light as you drive down the hill from the Queensway this morning. There was no fog - the wind was too strong - but it was cold enough to form frost and freeze the dew drops in some of the grasses at about 7:30-7:45am.

The sun hit the trees on the Quebec side with nice soft light with the sky above them being a soft pink. By 7:30 the sun was up high enough to be backlighting some trees on the south shore of Turtle Pond. Last year there were two particular red/orangey trees that the dawn sun shone through beautifully. The sun tried to do its best this morning, but one of the trees is still green and the other is greenish-yellow. Maybe give it a week ?

There seemed to be lots of crows around about; what few ducks there were seemed to be hunkered down in the warmer water trying to avoid the brisk cold breeze. Two herons were more hunched up keeping warm than fishing for breakfast.

The beavers, after about 2 weeks of relaxed chewing, managed to bring down a large trunk on one silver maple, unfortunately for them the top branches have it hung up in the remaining trunks. There are enough small branches with leaves to fill a good sized winter larder hanging on the stranded trunk; guess another tree will have to come down to make up for it. Many more small saplings have disappeared by the start of the main trail. Looks like they ended up at the new lodge.

We might have a new cat at Petrie. The third one I have seen in two years. This one is a tabby cat, shy as usual.

The ferns on beaver trail are now all flattened and dark brown. The area looks completely different than it does in the prime of the summer.

Some of the rose hips are so bright a red colour that they look like cherry tomatoes.

11 October 2002 (Jim Robertson)

It was a very quiet foggy morning at Petrie, the only noise was the sound of the sand ops working full out stockpiling sand and loading 18 wheelers with sand/loam mix for golf courses.

There were no birds around until at least 8am, and then only a few. I saw only two herons and perhaps a total of 10 ducks. A couple of shotgun blasts brought a skein of geese over, through the fog, from the Quebec side. A solitary hairy woodpecker was working away on a tree.

One young raccoon was up past curfew, I found him scurrying along the shoreline on the Beaver Trail. Most of the butternuts that were on the ground along the Beaver Trail have been gathered up by either kids, or the many black squirrels.

The beavers must have been spurred on a little by the two mornings of frost; some small saplings have disappeared at the start of the main trail, and three 6-10" trees have been brought down in the last few days. Another 2-3 larger trees are close to coming down. There seems to be a new beaver lodge on Turtle Pond's south shore. No signs of any muskrat lodges, but it is early for them.

There is a good size crop of late blooming evening primroses. Some of the trees have dropped their leaves, some red and yellow trees, but still lots of green trees. Some of the moss in the turtle nesting area is finally showing some green colour. All summer it has been quite parched.

Lots of Butternuts and Bitternut Hickory nuts on the ground this morning. I don't want to say it was windy but apparently a flock of Canada Geese left Ottawa last night and when last seen this morning they were still heading south but were located just over Labrador City.

4 October 2002 (Jim Robertson)

The daily checks of the two painted turtle nests continue with no luck. Maybe a few more days of checking, then I will assume they are will not emerge until next spring.

Over the past few days the sound of the shotguns from the Quebec side have lessened. Saturday and Sunday, the first two days, sounded as though there were war exercises going on. No early morning fishermen were evident on Sunday, they must have gone to join the hunting parties.

Several skeins of geese fly over each day (but nothing like the number you see in the west end of the city) but there is no noticeable increase in the population, or varieties, of ducks. As Bill Bowers mentioned, there were a lot of birds on Thursday. The herons have not changed their patterns much yet and the spotted sandpipers are still here. A kingfisher has been on the phone wire by the bait shop several mornings just before sunrise. There was stubborn mourning dove playing a game of chicken on the causeway one morning; it would not move for my car. I had to drive around it.

One morning presented a myriad of tracks on one of the westerly beaches. Raccoon, mink/weasel and fair sized bird tracks were all overlapping in the wet sand. The beavers are continuing to chew away at trees; there didn't seem to be any new ones brought down, but there are one or two close to the "timber !!" stage. The squirrels can't be too hungry as there is one area on the Beaver Trail that is covered with fallen butternuts but no animal seems to cleaning them up. Talking about squirrels, it has been several weeks since I have seen any red squirrels on the Islands.

There were a few more fresh morning glory blossoms Thursday, along with more bread and butters. Finally a few common sunflowers decided to bloom just north-west of the causeway next to the bicycle trail. They are standing about 6-7 feet tall. There are no where near the same numbers as in prior years.

One morning produced about a variety of 10-12 mushrooms on one of the sand dune areas. About half the mushrooms' "hats" were 5-7 inches across.

3 October 2002 (Bill Bower)

I went down at 1:30 p.m. and had a great afternoon. Found 23 species in about an hour and a half. Best sightings were Rudy-Crowned Kinglets, Winter Wrens, Brown Creeper, White-Crowned Sparrows and one Junco (another sign that cold weather is coming). I found all five species of PI Woodpeckers just standing in one place on the Beaver Trail (Pileated, Downy, Hairy, Common Flicker and the Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker).

A couple large flocks of Canada Geese got confused, crossed the river heading south and then turned and returned to the Quebec side (must to the delight of the Quebec hunters).

27 September 2002 (Jim Robertson)

I took the attached shot this AM. I knew the spider had been in a particular flower last Wednesday and sure enough he was still there.

Not many of my shots from Wednesday worked out, so I thought I would try again, despite it being heavily overcast with a good breeze blowing.

As I was setting up I spotted a fly land 1/2" away from the spider (a golden rod spider) so I quickened my pace and shot from further way than I would have liked (The attached is a crop of the shot) The shot ain't perfect, but the wind was blowing, it was not bright, the spider was advancing slowly towards the fly - that is my story and I am sticking to it.

The next shot was not the fly caught by the spider, but unfortunately the spider's front legs waving in the air with no fly in sight.

20-25 September 2002 (Jim Robertson)

I have continued to check turtle nests for hatchings daily, but no luck yet. At this rate they might be planning to stay in their nests until next spring. There are still a good number of turtles basking on logs around the island's waterways as Bill Bower points out.

Many of the turtlehead blossoms have disappeared this week. I suspect the rabbits have decided they are very tasty and helped themselves. The jewel weed is nicely dotted with dew each morning; there are still a few bindweed and chickory blossoms. More and more of the tiny asters are appearing, along with the deep mauve larger ones.

There have been two misty mornings this week, one day had 100's of spider webs along the trail to go with the dew. Unfortunately that day did not see the sun burning off the fog, so there were no nicely lit backlit webs.

The beavers have been continuing to work at a relaxed pace in bringing down trees or stripping branches off already downed ones. Neither beavers nor muskrats have been visible during daylight hours. Although on Wednesday the trail crossing at the end of Muskrat Bay had three paths of quite wet sand showing where beavers had recently crossed, one dragging a branch along with it. A rabbit was around for a few days on the main trail. He did not seemed concerned that I was sharing the trail as he let me get to within about 10 feet of him.

The heron have not been consistent on their morning arrival times, but one patiently posed for three photographers Wednesday morning on a stump at the small culvert. He was doing an anhinga imitation, standing there with his wings held open to the sun's warming rays. After about 20 minutes he decided his privacy had been invaded for long enough and slowly sailed off to the west. A woodcock appeared, on two separate days, along the Muskrat Trail. (Likely the same one that Bill reported seeing.) One morning produced a flycatcher on the trail as well. Wednesday saw several skeins of geese flying high off in the distance. They had better keep flying high as hunting season starts soon.

With Turtle Pond now being sealed off at both ends (a small beaver dam at one end, culvert above the water level at the other), no fresh water is making its way in and the surface is getting rather scuzzy.

19 September 2002 (Bill Bower)

Well we finally hit the jackpot (speaking about chelonians of course). All it took was many days of looking, a few tiny marks in the sand (tail drag marks), a couple house flies, et Voila! Don't ask about the flies.

It was a snapping turtle nest on the far (west end) sand dunes and it held about 30 eggs. About 6 young had already made it north into the main Ottawa River. There were 20 live hatchlings.

I called Jim (home resting after an early morning excursion to Petrie) who called Gwen and the competition was on. At last count each had taken over 200 photos, which works out to over 20 per subject. Human babies a couple hours old don't normally get that kind of attention. I didn't know there were so many angles to getting good shots of turtles. My photo equipment limits me to just taking shots of larger subjects, so, I took 4 pictures of the photographers taking photos of the 20 somewhat cooperative, but much smaller, hatchlings. No pun intended of course.

All I heard during the shoot was, "Darn, out of film again", "Move your foot, it's in my shot" and "Have we lost any turtles yet".

Anyway, a good time was had by all. The entire family was then strategically placed in the Turtle Pond to avoid future contact with raccoons, Great Blue Heron, and large bass, pike and carp (I hope). Can't wait to see the photos. By the way, how do you select which ones to keep when you have 200 to start with?

Nice to have a success story amongst the many, many all eggs and hatchlings eaten stories.

I recorded four species of turtles at Petrie this morning (Snapping, Map, Painted and one beautiful Red-Eared Slider). About 35 in total.

15-19 September 2002 (Jim Robertson)

I have been going to Petrie daily this week in attempt to find freshly hatched turtles. I have not found any hatchings, so either it is not quite the right time, or the raccoons and skunks looked after all the eggs when they were laid in the summer. (Just as I was sending this to the FOPI webmaster Bill Bower called me. He was two hours behind this morning, but he found 6 hatched snappers and 15 others that had not dug there way out yet. And it was in area that we checked closely. You have to get your timing right !!!)

Sunday Morning, Sept. 15

There must have been an all night fishing trip as there were three vehicles in the parking lot this morning at sunrise. You could tell by the washed out tire tracks that they had been there overnight. Too bad two of the three parked sideways, one with a very long boat trailer, so as to block a third of the parking lot.

The mural on the interpretative cottage is coming along very nicely, it'll look great when finished !!!!

It was a very wet morning with drizzle that soaked the grass - and my pants and boots. The herons were very noticeable in many areas along with a few ducks. A muskrat was busy eating water reeds by the Beaver Trail until it spotted me watching it, at which point it zipped into its bank den. There did not seem to be any beavers swimming about, but there was fresh chewings on an ash tree in a back area that they worked over in last fall.

The third dead star-nosed mole I have seen this year was on the Muskrat Trail. Not sure why they come out to the trail and die of natural causes, but apparently is it quite common.

Monday Morning Sept. 16

A heron was at the usual spot on the north side of the narrows, but this was 45 minutes before sunrise. I hope he had bright eyes to see his prey ! A kingfisher seemed to be noisily watching the heron and doing fly-bys. Perhaps it thought it owned the fishing rights.

Looks as though there might be another beaver lodge going in on Muskrat Bay as there is a large new bare spot on the shoreline. It might be the end of a trail to the water, but it seems very wide. I will have to keep an eye on it.

The damp sand by Duckweed Pond was just covered with raccoon tracks - they must have been very active during the night. Hoping for turtles to hatch in nests that they missed in June and July ??

As I left for home, there seemed to be no herons in the marsh on the west side of the road, but there were several on the east side.

Tuesday Morning, Sept. 17

It was a fairly cool breeze-less morning with a gentle mist rising 2-3 feet off the water. When the sun came up it sent shafts of golden light through the trees into the mist. Each day seems to bring more colour in the trees - fall is coming (so is winter - I saw a truck with a snow plow mounted pull into the city yard at the Queensway when I left).

FOPI should think about naming the parking lot after Tim Horton's. Some mornings the lot is well littered with Tim Horton's coffee cups and the teenagers seem to be enjoy making dough-nuts in the lot by spinning their cars in circles through the loose sand.

There were noticeably more birds around this morning. The early morning was full of chirpings, calls etc. Perhaps flocking to head south ? But they seem to have not found the buckthorn berries yet, nor the dogwood berries that are turning white. The highbush cranberries are still full of red fruit, but those do tend to last into the winter.

While a rabbit is usually at the start of the Muskrat Trail, there was one down by the start of the main trail this morning. The floods in May/June must have really upset the rabbit population as in prior years I would often see 10-15 or more rabbits each morning, this year maybe one every second visit.

A beaver and a muskrat were out foraging in the reeds of Muskrat Bay. The beaver are continuing to cross the trail at the end of Muskrat Bay as they have done for this summer and last. This year however there is no trail out of the small pond towards the river. Makes you wonder why they are crossing the trail.

The buttonbush is still blooming (It got a late start) and there are a few bouncy bet blossoms around along with the odd evening primrose. The Turtlehead is relatively profuse with more blossoms each day. They seem to grow just enough to get their heads above the surrounding vegetation. Some plants are 6 feet tall, some are only 12" high.

Walking back east along the northern beaches I found about 50 feet of perfect heron footprints about 3 feet offshore. There were no signs of it having changed its pace to have a snack.

Wednesday Morning, Sept. 18

There was at least one heron that must have felt he was amply fed this morning. He spent a good two hours 12 feet high above the water on branches of fallen trees. While I did not watch him for all the two hours, whenever I did check he had not come down to the water, but would move between three branches from time to time.

Once while watching the heron, a beaver slipped into the water from one of the animal trails, he must have spotted me as he did not appear again swimming around.

A small skein of Canada geese flew over, followed by another group of unidentified geese. Their silhouettes were different than the Canada geese, but I don't know my birds enough to know what type of geese they were.

The bear's paw fungus on the Beaver Trail seems to be slowly turning its usual white colour from the light orange. It is not as large as the ones were there last year.

The woods were full of chickadees this morning. I had not heard so many for a long time. I scared up another woodcock/snipe. Might have been the same one I saw a few days ago, but it was in a completely different area today.

I noticed a woolly bear caterpillar walking along the trail this morning. They are not rare or even uncommon, but it was the first caterpillar I think I have seen all year.

Thursday Morning, Sept 19

It was a very quiet morning today, so quiet in fact that the person who appeared to have slept in his car overnight in the parking lot was still asleep when I arrived. But the quiet of the morning was in contrast to what must have been a more active late evening. In the parking lot was an area of black dirt, burnt tires and melted metal. Obviously there had been a very intense car fire.

There were no herons or other birds for about an hour. Finally the flickers, robins, and herons showed up, but in lesser numbers than normal.

Without going into detail, there was a very fresh "kill" on the trail, a rodent had suffered its demise likely shortly before. Likely the predator was scared off by the sound of human foot steps. Usually this aspect of nature takes place out of sight of humans.

A good sized fish jumped out of the water in Muskrat Bay. There must have been an inviting looking insect flying by. A family arrived later and set up chairs etc. while they fished. They seemed to have good luck pulling in one largish fish and several other smaller ones in a relatively short time period.

Someone had ignored the "no bicycles" sign (not the first time), but this time the cyclist had been well off the trail in the back areas of the island. The island is too fragile to take much of that !

By 8:30am there were 7 cars in the parking lot, a sail boat out in the river along with a speed boat. Several people were on the trails. All of this on a weekday !! Maybe everyone came to get ahead of the rain expected this weekend ?

15 September 2002 (Bill Bower)

Saw about 20 turtles including 1 Slider and 1 Map turtle.

Had some great entertainment back on the Beaver Trail, involving one Merlin and two Bluejays. [The Merlin is a type of falcon -- Ed.] The Bluejays would bother the Merlin until he would attack them. They would twist through the trees and sometimes you could hear them striking the leaves. Sometimes there would be less than two feet between the chaser and chasee. The Bluejays would even go sit on the same limb as the Merlin or drift slowly by. The Merlin would never disappoint them with its sudden attack. I probably watched twenty-five or more attacks. Some crows dropped by as they could hear the hawk, but got bored and left. A Mourning Dove and a Flicker also flew in and landed in the open. I thought the Merlin would go for them, both easier targets, but it never attempted a kill. When I left they were still at it. It was move like a game than a serious hunting situation. I have seen this before with the Bluejays staying just far enough ahead so the Merlin couldn't nail them.

12 September 2002 (Jim Robertson)

Fall is approaching !!! 
The leaves are starting to turn a little - even on the healthy trees, many virginia creepers are a bright red, the Hawthorn trees are laden with their berries, the Jack-in-the-Pulpit seeds are bright red, the grapes are a nice deep purple-blue, the high bush cranberries are ripening nicely, there were about 30 Canada geese swimming as a group in the middle of the river, and lastly, the spiders had been out practising over night. 
There were long single strand spider webs all along the trail this morning (why do I have to be first one down the trails ???) and a few nicely shaped circular webs amongst the ferns. There was a fair bit of dew on the grass but very little dew on the webs, in a few weeks it should be a completely different story. 
The beaver brought down a large tree in the last day or so, and have started working on another. No sign of a new lodge being built so perhaps they are working on the old lodge or starting a larder. Seems early for that, but maybe they know something we don't. There was a good sized branch on road next to the Bait Shop from a large willow tree - don't know what brought it down, it certainly was not the beavers. 
There were a few herons looking for breakfast and several beaver out for morning swims. I didn't see any muskrats though. One pileated woodpecker was hammering away on a trunk, several flickers were checking out trees as well. A kingfisher was working most of Turtle Pond for his morning meal. A couple of wood ducks flew up from the west end of Turtle Pond, there were other ducks about as well. 
There are quite a few Turtlehead flowers in blossom, many are quite low, but there are some tall, multi-bloom plants. The orange jewel weed (touch me not) are blooming in a few areas. The cardinal flower is essentially finished, but there were one or two stragglers still flowering. 
It is still early for turtle hatchings, but it looked like the raccoons had been out during the night checking out the nesting grounds. They had dug several test small holes throughout the area. 

Saw the Osprey over the back channel fishing. Saw Woodies and Mallards across from the bait shop on the way home. Duck numbers will no doubt pick up once the hunting season opens in adjacent areas. Doesn't take them long to find the save waters.

29 August 2002 (Jim Robertson)

I went down to Petrie tonight to get some sunset shots. I needed to replace some shots from last year when I managed to cut off (photographically speaking) someone's head in the sunset. Turned out it was a very nice sunset and an obliging couple endured my taking a series photographs of the sunset, with their silhouettes in the foreground, for about 20 minutes. They were so obliging they did not tell me they were being eaten alive by mosquitoes until the very end !!! SORRY !!!! 
The mosquitoes aren't there in the morning and I guess I was too busy photographing to notice the pesky insects. 
While the sun was going down a young raccoon appeared and boldly went where man had gone before, the picnic tables and the leftover scraps. As long as no one moved threateningly he was quite content to eat while people watched him. He only retreated to a tree a couple of times. 

When I left there were a number of cyclists arriving for a picnic. Looked like a local group.

27 August 2002 (Jim Robertson)

You almost needed a jacket this morning. The sky was a light rose colour with the sun still below the horizon. As much as the coolth was nice, the best part was that there were NO mosquitoes ! There was already a car in the parking lot when I arrived at 6am. A new-to-Petrie photographer was out exploring.
Two herons were in the marsh fishing for an early breakfast, both were quite close to the road. A few other herons in Turtle Pond flew off noisily protesting our presence. On the way back to the parking lot one posed nicely in the marshy grasses just west of  the interpretative cottage for three photographers who shared a single, very nice, long range lens. Other than the herons, there was a scarcity of birds - the pilated woodpecker was heard, but not seen, a few sparrows and about 5 ducks flew up. There was a kingfisher and two spotted sandpipers about as well. I am sure Bill Bower, who showed up for the next shift (a little late this AM), will report on many more birds as he can find them, I can't.
The fall asters are coming along nicely, there are still one or two anemones and a few evening primroses blooming. The purple loosestrife and golden rod are starting to fade, as is some pickerel weed, but the arrowhead flowers are still blooming strongly. I thought the beavers had chewed all the buttonbush shrubs at the end of Muskrat Bay, but I noticed a good sized clump of them this morning. There were a few buds, a little late for them to get started ! Still only one turtlehead plant in bloom that I could find. It has 7 groups of blossoms on it. The cardinal flowers are still blooming.
There are a few trees starting to show a few signs of fall colours, but two of the trees were not healthy. A number of clumps of grapes have turned purply-blue.
There were no beaver, muskrats or rabbits this morning, but the beavers have been active. There is a tree, blown down a few weeks ago, across the trail at the end of Turtle Pond, the beaver have been chewing its bark and it looks as though they have a 6 foot section of it out in the pond all nicely cleaned up. There is also a poplar tree nearby that has had some intermittent chewing on it recently. The usual beaver crossing at the end of Muskrat Bay was joined by a second track this morning. There was one red squirrel in the back woods and one grey squirrel up in the picnic area.
Not many mushroom/fungi so far this year, but there were 3 fresh mushrooms, 2-4" in diameter, that looked like human ears filled with red current jelly.
An early visiting family headed down the trail at 8:45am.
On the way home at 9:15, two city vehicles were working on grading the road in from the Queensway. Always appreciated !!!!

19 August 2002 (Jim Robertson)

The sunrise, at a more civil hour of 6 AM, was not particularly of note, but it did provide some nice early morning light on the river's Quebec shoreline as well what few high-rise buildings can be seen to the west. 
While the parking lot was covered with raccoon tracks, there were no raccoons sleeping in the garbage cans today, but they sure did a good job emptying one can during the night looking for snacks. A raccoon was walking quickly along the south shore of Turtle Pond. I had not seen many, if any, muskrats or beavers this summer, but there was a muskrat working the weed beds at the narrows, and two tail flapping beavers at the west end of Turtle Pond. I found a third beaver dam where they had been trying to retain the flood waters this spring. There seemed to be only one rabbit around, I guess the flooding hit them quite hard. There was a new (to me) grey cat keeping ahead of me on the trails. A dead star-nose mole was on the beaver trail this morning. That is third one I have found in that general area over the past year. 
The usual flock of gulls was over the marsh as you come down off the Queensway. There were not many birds around, although I did spot a pair of pileated woodpeckers working on an old tree down by the meadows, the oft-seen owl did not make an appearance however. I also spotted a very grey looking woodpecker with a few black and white bars working on another tree. There were about 10 ducks in Turtle Pond's western end. They were very skittish so I could not get very close, but they seemed to be brownish-grey with white cheeks. Young buffleheads maybe ? While I sat waiting for the elusive green heron to appear (it didn't) a small scan of elongated geese-like birds flew over in a loose V shape. They were silently gliding as much as flapping their wings. Not sure what type of birds they were. 
There were at least two blue herons in Turtle Pond, plus one at the narrows where I had not seen one for while. (There used to be one there most mornings.) I scared up a young blue heron while walking along the trail by Muskrat Bay. I was busy looking at something else as I walked along, it must have been intensely fishing as we surprised each other when I was about 15 feet from it. Three blue herons were on the north shore at west end of the Island. At least six blue herons were in the marsh when I left at 8:30 am. 
The long-jawed orb weaver spiders have been busy spinning their webs in the tall canary grass. There were few mosquitoes, which in turn meant fewer dragonflies. While I miss the dragonflies, I do not miss the mosquitoes. 
Some evening primroses are still blooming (no primrose moths though), the blooms on broad-leafed arrowhead plants are very profuse. Maybe they liked the flooded conditions as well ?? I only found one turtlehead flower in bloom, maybe more will come along shortly. The cardinal flower is in full bloom. The yellow loosestrife is finished, but the purple loosestrife is still doing well, as is the pickerel weed and (spotted ?) joe pye weed. One area of wild roses is well populated with bright red rose hips. Most of the bull thistles have gone to seed. The burdock at the narrows is very dense. It is not an area I will venture into in a few weeks as the burrs will be ready to attach themselves to any clothing that walks by. While the burdock was there last year, they were first year plants and did not grow tall and produce burrs. They are making up for it this year. 
Willows seem to be invading the sandy area across from the main turtle nesting spot. The willows are growing very quickly along the water's edge and there are many willow saplings well back from the shoreline. There are a few grapes trying to ripen on the grape vines. I found one very nice clump of high bush cranberries. 
The water is now down over one and a half metres from its peaks in June and May, but it is marginally higher still than its low point last year. 

14 August 2002 (Bill Bower)

I made it out early this morning (early for me that is). Very hot even at 8:00AM. Two garbage cans contained live garbage. The city guys were there picking up and one of the raccoons refused to leave even when the can was upside down and everything fell out. I guess he has spent so much time in it he thinks it's home. Someone added to our coon population as I was leaving later. Just what we need. 

Lots of Great Blue Heron around as Jim mentioned. There were a few Wood Ducks at the back end of the Turtle Pond. Black squirrels were hanging upside down on the shady side of the trees trying to pick up a breeze. 

Too hot for turtles. Only saw eight of them. 

I've been watching a nest of Eastern Kingbirds just past the cove near the picinc table. This morning a couple of them were out of the nest and in the trees by the water. While I was watching them I discovered another nest directly over the path at the same location (about 15 feet up). There are at least four birds in it but no female showed up to feed them while I was there. Probably too hot anyway. Not sure what they are but they do have color. Either Orioles or Cedar Waxwings I think. The nest looks something like an Oriole nest but it is squished down on another branch. Seems late for them. Keep your eyes open Jim and maybe we can get a positive identification. 

A lady was there this morning, in the heat, painting a water scene. I watched her for awhile. Looked great to me. My best sighting this morning was a guy and a girl in a rowboat. He was fishing and she was rowing. Now you can't beat that. 

8 August 2002 (Jim Robertson)

It was a nice cool morning with a gentle breeze blowing, quite a change from last week. Again, not a whole lot happening. No raccoons in the garbage can, one turtle basking at 8 am. There were one or two herons along the trail. A hummingbird was flitting about at the main turtle nesting area. 
The moths I mentioned in the Aug 1st dispatch are primrose moths. I found one this morning on an evening primrose again, but no others. 
There did seem to be a few more ducks around than normal, maybe I was just there earlier in the morning than normal and they had not gone off to hide yet. The arrowhead has started to bloom, particularly along the muskrat trail. I noticed the yellow loosestrife has spread a little as there is one on the Beaver Trail, last year I only saw them at the end of Muskrat Bay. There was an inordinate amount of poplar seed fluff on the ground at the west end of Turtle Pond. 
On the way back to the Queensway, I drove slowly by the marsh on the west side of the road. I stopped when I spotted two blue herons off in the distance. Then as I looked more closely, I counted eight (!) herons in various locations throughout the marsh. Three were relatively close, one of which was drying its wings anhinga-style. Had not seen a heron doing that before ! 

3 August 2002 (Jim Robertson)

It was a nice cool morning (cool compared to the last two weeks) which left lots of dew on the grasses. While it looks nice, it provided an unwanted chest high soaking walking through some of the tall grasses on the back trails. 
A car arrived in the parking lot at 6:15 am. It was occupied by three giddy young ladies. Not sure why they were up at that hour and what they were doing down there, but they left shortly after. 
There were two of Bill's rocky raccoon friends in the garbage can this AM, guess the family is slowly breaking up as each member slowly strikes on its own. There were two blue herons around this, one was very vocal - not sure what the problem was. A solitary beaver was taking a "late" morning swim in Muskrat Bay at 7:30 am. 
There were three boats moored off Petrie's shores. A cabin cruiser and a large sailboat, on the river side, and a houseboat in the south channel. Not a creature was stirring in them. 
A couple of mountain bikes had been down the trail riding past the small no bikes sign. The large tree trunk that floated in across the trail during the floods did not deter them. I know as a kid I liked to ride along side the river on narrow trails, there are trails along the North Service Road that are good for that, but the wildlife/nature trails at Petrie should be reserved for two and four footed traffic. It would be good to have a gate at the start of the trail that would allow people through, but deter bikes. Other city parks have them. 
The beavers (?) had recently crossed the trail at the usual spot at the eastern end of Muskrat Bay as evidenced by the very wet trail in the sand. Maybe I need to get up earlier to really know for sure what is crossing the trail. 
When I got back to parking lot there were two orioles flitting about in the trees, haven't seen them for a while.

2 August 2002 (Bill Bower)

Beautiful morning at Petrie. Checked the garbage cans first but all had enough garbage to allow the animals to escape.
 There were some Wood Ducks around and a number of Mallards out on the stumps on the north side. Also Great Blue Herons, Spotted Sandpipers and the Kingfisher. 
 Best bird sighting was another Eastern Wood Pewee. Some of the Yellow Warblers aren't really the "Yellow Warblers", they are females and juveniles of other species that are very hard to identify. 
 Only saw about ten turtles and not many out basking. One interesting sighting was an adult Red-Eared Slider on the anchored floats along the Turtle Trail. This is the first one I have seen this year. There were four adults there in the summer of 2000. I though maybe we had lost them but obviously they have survived, or at least one has. 
Fishermen were out in numbers and obviously a few kids were catching fish for the first time (judging by the excited screams). I noted two gar-pike near that old beaver house along the trail. Sometimes they are right up on the surface of the water.

1 August 2002 (Jim Robertson)

Another humid sultry morning, two blue herons were off in the mid distance fishing for breakfast in the marsh. A beaver was out for a swim by the large culvert, first beaver I have seen for a few a long time. 
Bill's friends were in the garbage can again - three racoon kits. They were quite comfortably settled in for a day's sleep amongst the garbage. They did not seem to mind being stared at, or having their pictures taken. We carried the tin to the edge of the woods and tipped it over gently. They took off in a hurry. We figured that was better than have garbage piled on top of them during the hot day. 
Two carrion plants have reappeared where the 5 or 6 disappeared earlier this year. There are a few buds on them. 
There were 5 small pink moths on one small grouping of evening primrose. I am not sure what types of moths they were. Two blossoms had two moths each, one had one moth. While photographing them a augochlora green metallic bee (I had to look that up !!!) flew in to collect pollen from the blossom, the moths did not even move for it. 

29 July 2002 (Jim Robertson)

It was another hot muggy morning. There were six gulls flying around in a group in the marsh, They seemed to be busy catching insects on the fly. 
There were a few rabbits and ground hogs, but no muskrats or beavers. The crossing spot at the end of the trail was still very wet, so there must have been turtle or beaver crossing 30-60 minutes before I got there. (It was virtually dry when I crossed it on my way back 20 minutes later.) Two blue herons were out looking for breakfast . Once again, I managed to inadvertently chase down the trail. There were three female mallards on the stumps in the water at the small culvert. A couple of downy woodpeckers let me get relatively close to them. 
I found two "new" beaver dams. The beavers must have been trying to dam up the flood waters. One dam is about 25-30 feet long, the other about 15 feet. There is a small area of 4-6" deep water between the two dams. The main bodies of water are now at least 200 feet away and about 3-4 feet lower than the dams. 
A few of the bull thistles have started to bloom, they seem to have stopped growing vertically. Some of the Canada thistles have reached the seed stage. The gold finches were busy gathering the fluff for their nests. They will be laying their eggs shortly. I have been told that their eggs hatch, the chicks fledge and leave the nest within 30 days. 
There are still a couple of anemones blooming. Burdock has started to bloom, sure seems to be a lot it in some areas. The Canada tick trefoil has spread as well and is starting to show some colour. Many of the sumac have nice red fluffy seed plumes forming at their peaks. A few turtlehead plants are starting to form buds. 
As starting to bloom are: marsh hedge nettle, white sweet clover, mullein, phlox, virgin's bower, pickerel weed, morning glory/bindweed and spotted joe pye weed. There is less purple loosestrife than last year, I assume due to the three floodings. Maybe the remainder are still developing and will put in an appearance later. 

22 July 2002 (Jim Robertson)

I just missed the eerie orangie-yellow-green colour of the sunrise light this morning as showers were working their way east. By 6:30 am the light was more normal and the sea gulls circling in the sky reflected the sunlight against the dark grey clouds moving in from the west. 
Unwittingly I "chased" two blue herons west from the marsh, down the main trail and then back east as I came back to the car park an hour later. They never allowed me to get close enough for a photo though. 
I sat waiting for a green heron to appear at the end of Muskrat Trail. One had made an appearance there Sunday, I was hoping it might return. No luck. A downy woodpecker worked above me for the 30 minutes I sat there. There seemed to be many more robins around this morning. Maybe all the young ones have fledged and there was a last family re-union ? Lots of warblers, flickers, red-winged blackbirds, goldfinch as well. I have never seen so many mourning doves at Petrie as there were today. 
The dragon flies were having a field day with the mosquitoes who were loving the tall damp grass on a muggy morning. There seemed to be a lot of horse flies around as well. A single white admiral butterfly, somewhat the worse for wear, was flitting about. 
I disturbed a mallard family, mum and 7 near full grown ducklings, on one of the western beaches. They swam off into the main channel. 
A few sumacs have started to show their red fall coloured leaves. Thankfully I found no others. 
The beaver trail is very overgrown with very tall (wet) grass, you almost have to know where the trail is to get through. There were no beavers, or muskrats around so I got a wet pair of pants for nothing. I did spot two well fed ground hogs scurrying off through the underbrush. 
The yellow loosestrife is out, not as much as last year though. There is no sign of the button bush, either the flood or the beaver got them I guess. There is quite a patch of wild roses blooming in one spot. I spotted one turtle head plant, about 5 feet tall, there are no buds yet. 
The squirrels will be happy to see that some small acorns are forming on the oak trees. 
While some ferns are showing the stress of a lack of water, there were a few newly emerged ferns in some of the heavily flooded areas. They were still in the fiddle head stage. 
There were two small turtles basking on separate logs, it is late in the season to see many "baskers". 

20 July 2002 (Jim Robertson)

I usually avoid Petrie in the daytime, but for various reasons I was down there in mid/late afternoon on Saturday. Unlike the early AM when it is very quiet, there were 67 cars in and around the parking lot, all the picnic tables were full, interesting smells emanating from the many BBQ's etc etc. The beach, both the sand and water, was very active. 
I walked over to the Sand Operations and it was quite busy with "trespassers". There were 35-40 boats pulled up on shore with their occupants sitting on the sandy beach talking, drinking, and listening to loud radios. A few were in swimming. There were at any one time another 10-15 boats going by in the river. 
There were a few people down on the trail, but not many. There is not much activity of any sort on the trails in heat of the day. 

16 July 2002 (Gwen Williams)

Early this morning I went to Petrie Island for a short while. On arrival a guy pulled up in a SUV and released an adult raccoon (from a live trap) near the Turtle Trail sign at the end of the parking lot. He muttered "He'll be better off here" and left. I guess there will be some turf wars there tonight! And who knows how many orphaned kits elsewhere... 
I then heard a strange cry coming from the direction of the sand hills and decided to investigate. Turns out it was a young raccoon who had toppled into one of the big blue garbage drums and could not get out. After a few quick snaps of him in his predicament, I turned the drum on its side and gave him some room to escape. He chose to climb the nearest tree and pose for me in the warm early light! When I left the island a couple of hours later he was sleeping in the same tree - I hope he finds his family tonight. I saw another raccoon family at the end (across the water) of muskrat trail but they were not so easy to photograph. 
I also got a few nice pics of a squirrel on a dead tree limb on that trail. I did not see any Blue Herons except in flight at a distance but while watching some small birds on the trail I heard some noise in the adjacent bushes and saw what looked to me like a weasel on the ground. He flipped his body into an upside down U shape as he disappeared when he saw me. 

14 July 2002 (Jim Robertson)

I went down at noon today to take some shots for a new Petrie slide show. The conditions were not that good as the high overcast from the morning had moved on leaving bright sunlight and dark shadows which is not ideal for photographing. 
Unlike the early mornings, the Island was hopping. The parking lot was full, with the overflow out onto the side of the roadway. All the picnic benches were claimed with many interesting lunches being served. The beach area was very active with people on the sand and in the water. Kids were busy playing on the playground "equipment" and in the sand area away from the beach. 
There were not a lot of boats around, but there was a steady stream of power boats in the mid channel, sea-doos, relatively close to shore and a fair number of canoes and kayaks sliding through in the many waterways, channels and bays. 
It was not a particularly good time to be going down the trail, but there were 3-4 groups for a total of about 15 on it. One family was looking for basking turtles, I suggested it was getting a little late in the season, and the day, to see the mass sunning. But I was able to find a bird's nest with three eggs in it hanging in a dogwood shrub about 3 feet off the ground right on the trail at the narrows. At least the kids got to see a little bit of interesting nature ! 
The white water lilies are out. It is strange to see them on top of matted rafts of weeds. A lot of the water plants had to grow extra "high" to reach the surface of the water during the floodings, now that the water has receded, the long stems of the plants have turned into floating mats. 

12 July 2002 (Bill Bower)

Well not that early, but earlier than Jim (for a change). Only saw about 10 turtles in the water including one large Snapping Turtle near the Beaver Trail. No new nests discovered. I don't think we will find much more nesting activity until September or even October this year. Then we might see some hatchlings leaving the nests and heading for the nearest water. Lots of birds around but nothing too exciting. I did find a family of Orioles and another family of American Redstarts (Warblers) near the sand dunes. Some Robins and Cedar Waxwings were fighting over red berries in that same general area. There weren't many to chose from, so then it looked like they were sitting around waiting for the green ones to ripen. Some large fish were jumping which I took to be Bass. One fisherman thought I was throwing rocks. He must be new to the sport. Took some pictures of a Mourning Cloak and a Northern Leopard Frog and that was it. 

11 July 2002 (Jim Robertson)

Another morning with not a whole lot happening. There was one heron around, he finally posed for a shot on the way back from the end of the trail. I met another photographer who had photographed some green herons not too long ago at Petrie. They were in the bay by the bait shop. Guess I had better keep my eyes open !!! 
There is a newly blown over silver maple tree blocking the new trail that was roughed out last summer. With the flooding this year, no more work has been done on the trail and it is not easily passable. 
The Osprey flew over, relatively low, with its mouth full with a good sized fish, but it was gone before I get the camera ready to shoot. There were lots of sandpipers and several killdeers. 
No new turtle nests, the painted turtle nests in the parking seem that they will make it to the fall as the raccoons still have not found them. 
Flowerings to add to the list: 
Queen Anne's Lace. Bird's foot trefoil is carpeting everywhere. A few morning glories have bloomed. Chickory is around, not a lot of it. Purple loosestrife is starting, I have not seen any yellow loosestrife, but it was badly flooded. Dogbane is more prevalent. Tall meadow rue. Some common wintercress is still blooming. The goat rue has really taken over the high ground at the trail narrows. Sweet white clover. 
There were only two turtles sunning themselves on logs.