DIspatch from Petrie #170, June 2026
It had rained a little overnight and was still heavily clouded over when I arrived at sunrise. No beavers were to be seen. However after walking 200 metres down the trail I heard a beaver tail “splat” behind me.
As expected no painted or map turtles were up on the various logs etc.. The snapping turtles avoided me. (More about that later)
Coming down Tweedle Road before the culverts an egret was in the reeds next to the road and just over the culvert two families of Canada Geese were heading towards me
The FOPI and City crews have been VERY busy restoring the trails after this year’s flooding. A good part of the Bill Holland Trail is now been “gravelized”. The trails have been widened, including the Beaver Loop.
The grass along the Turtle Trail is about 6 feet tall
Despite being there in the early morning, I saw no snapping turtles. I did find raccoon tracks in the sand at the end of Turtle pond, but no freshly dug up turtle egg nests. Signs of destroyed nests were in many locations as normal.
There were two spots at the very end of the Bill Holland Trail that looked very much like fresh nests. Both showed the swirls of the turtle’s hind legs filling in the hole, and the track of a tail dragging through the sand as she made her way back to the water. I advised FOPI volunteer about the nests in hopes the eggs could be saved before the raccoons find them.
Canada geese have made themselves to home through the island. As I have mentioned in previous Dispatches this is a “relatively” new development as we never saw any 20-25 years ago
One pair of geese were behaving oddly as they swam out into the river. One of them was swimming along with its head stretched out in front at at water level. It kept its head down for the entire length of time I watched it.
There were several great blue herons (I saw two at one time, so there was more than one😊)
I always like the rear view of a great blue with its monk-like hair cut
The downy woodpecker juveniles have fledged and are being fed by their parents out on various trees. There was one parent feeding a juvenile on the Beaver Loop. The juvenile was making itself heard at times. Unfortunately they weren’t in a good spot photographically – 25 feet up and on the edge of a tree. But I tried……
A cormorant took a time out from fishing
A song sparrow was singing happily and a flicker was digging out food at the side of the road
There was plenty of action in the marsh on the west side of Tweddle Road. I was surprised at how many unsuccessful dives the Tern made
An egret gracefully crossing the marsh. A tern caught in a mid-shake, it is flying upside down!!
As seen in the video, the tern was busy fishing. A sequence from a successful dive, but the sunfish was too big to eat so he had to drop it.
The last flighted animal – a morbid owlet moth. About ¾” across
Only one rabbit appeared
A red squirrel found some seeds left out for the birds
Young maple trees showing fresh growth
A lone jack-in-the-pulpit growing at the side of Turtle Trail (There was a second but it had been clipped off)
Anemones were still blooming
The milkweed was starting to flower
Dogwood, elderberry, bladder campion, dogbane, highbush cranberry
Carrion-flower with its ball-like flowers in bud.
The plant that has many artistic curlicue tentacles
Fleabane, bindweed/morning glory, wild rose (2x), ninebark (2x), fading blue flag
Yellow flag, yellow water lily, wormseed wallflower, bird’s foot trefoil, St John’s wort (2x)
The virginia creeper vines are very healthy
I spotted a few plants I hadn’t noticed at Petrie before – dog strangling vine.
It is a VERY invasive, fast growing vine that will take over very quickly if allowed to. It has to be pulled out by the roots to be properly dealt with.
The Fletcher Wildlife Garden has been trying to eradicate it for several years
Common toadflax (6″) and mullein (3′)
Sensitive ferns hold raindrops
Poison ivy camouflaging itself in amongst other plants, highbush cranberry fruit starting to grow
Either a house fly, or a face fly on a blade of grass
The birds the merlin app heard over my two and a half hour visit
