Author name: FOPI_admin

Dispatch From Petrie #163, October 2025 I arrived mid-morning on a overcast, very light showery day not expecting to find much […]

Dispatch From Petrie Island #162 In faint hopes of finding a beaver on land perhaps felling a tree, I arrived at

The Three Tenors, (actually more like Sopranos) Barn Swallows fledglings by the boat yard calling out for food.

Common Gallinule feeding baby

David White: Take Your Kids to Work Day at Petrie Island… Linda Simonds Moyle: Absolutely gorgeous. What time did you

Here’s some of my favorite moments from the month of July as I explored on both land and water. Special

Dear Friends of Petrie Island Members, We hope you’re enjoying the summer! Here are some important updates from the island:

Dispatch from Petrie island #161, Late June 2025 Last week of June, it was a heavily clouded, dull morning, but we

We’re excited to share that the flooding has fully receded from the island! While Muskrat Trail and the cycling bypass

Dispatch From Petrie island #160, June 2025 An unusual find at Petrie this morning (June 10/25) – a blind garter

Great blue heron making a meal.

Dispatch From Petrie #159, May 2025 Between the cool weather and the flooded trails, I hadn’t been down to Petrie

With lots of rain in the forecast, I decided to fit in a short paddle at Petrie Island. Right away,

Petrie Island – nice surprise as I was driving out this afternoon I came across this Common Gallinule. The common

I was thrilled to capture two river otters catching fish and eating them. They are so much fun to watch

I was chatting with Michael Ricco the other day about the most interesting experiences when at Petrie Island. I have

Yup, she’s flooded alright.

Yesterday we visited Petrie Island to find the bridge to the beaches closed due to flooding. We parked overlooking where

Some pics from today’s visit (May 6) – a pair of sandhill crane travelling through, a moorhen, turkey vulture cleaning

Let’s do a big shout out to the volunteers that maintain the 7 km of walking trails at Petrie. (

I just had an incredibly amazing experience today that I’m so grateful to have witnessed. I was visiting this but

Dispatch from Petrie #158, April 2025 With the quickening pace of spring’s arrival I visited Petrie twice in the first 

Dispatch from Petrie #157, March 2025 It was a solid cloud sky in the mid-afternoon but I heard the water levels

Went for a walk around the Islands the day before a large snowfall. Being mid-week, I seemed to be the only one there, except for the ice fishermen.

The picnic tables were welcoming; some covered in snow, others swept clear.

It was -15°C with a windchill of -25°C, but if you are dressed for it, it’s not cold. But dressing for it means you miss some photos while fumbling with mitts etc…..

It was a grey, low cloudy day. I wasn’t expecting to see much as things always quieten down in winter.

Coming down Al Tweddle Road, the marsh on the west side was frozen solid with brown bull rushes lining the shoreline.

Dispatch from Petrie #153, November 2024 Busy beavers, and muskrats ! With the unseasonably warm weather  at mid-November it seemed

Dispatch from Petrie Island #152, October 2024 An unusually warm late October morning brought out a good number of trail

Starting last year, a handful of volunteers and scientists began a yearly ritual of collecting turtle eggs on Petrie Island, a conservation area off the shore of Orléans, a suburban neighbourhood in east Ottawa.

The area is home to several at-risk species that might otherwise get gobbled up by predators due in part to increased urbanization.

The turtle guardians lovingly watch over the hatchlings in a lab, finally releasing the tiny vulnerable creatures back onto the island a couple months later. 

The hope — a huge gamble, really — is that some will make it into the one per cent of area turtles that reach adulthood, therefore helping the population thrive.

La tête en l’air, humant toutes ces odeurs nouvelles, la petite tortue ne bouge presque pas. Elle semble apprécier le moment. La rivière des Outaouais devant elle doit lui paraître immense, et pourtant, l’eau l’attire. Elle avance d’un pas, puis s’arrête. Elle hésite encore un peu avant de s’élancer complètement. Elle est de retour à la maison. Une petite tortue qui nage vers un poisson.

We have had a full and rewarding summer with the key word being “turtles”. We were able to secure funding

The sky was overcast, the temperatures had cooled down, and so it seems had the activity at Petrie the morning

We dropped by Petrie in the last week of August. 

Coming down Tweddle Road we spotted an egret, then a second egret and then a great blue heron  in the marsh on the west side of the road

With all the rain and heat in the last few weeks Petrie Islands, along with other areas in Ottawa, are very green and lush. Some trails are growing in. A number of plants seem ahead of themselves compared to other years.

Summer 2024 Dispatch (Le français suite) As summer begins, we want to thank our members. Your support has enabled to

Every year it snows in early June at Petrie. This year was no exception….

Birds, one in particular, beavers, muskrats, turtles, new growth….  It’s spring time at Petrie

It had been a busy month but hearing about the active beavers at Petrie I had to make a point of getting down. I arrived about 90 minutes before sunset and started looking for the beavers. 

Early afternoon, mid-week, and late February combined to present a very quiet visit. One ice fisherman on Muskrat Bay, two walkers and three chickadees who dropped by to say hello once.  The only noise was the quiet rustling of the ice flowing down the river rubbing against the grounded ice.

After the snow and rain of a few days ago I expected the river to be up a bit, but I found the Bill Holland Trail impassable with open, flowing water. I checked the River levels website and discovered it was some three plus feet over the normal summer levels.

I spent two hours in a winter wonderland at Petrie the day after freezing rain and some 4-5″ of snow. The trails and trees were all coated with snow. It would only have been better had it be a clear sunny day.

I didn’t get down to Petrie until the last week of the month, and it was the middle of the day when things are quieter. I noticed right away one sign that winter is coming…. the ice fishing huts were being lined up, and the muskie “lodge” was already in the water.

DISPATCH FROM PETRIE #141, SEPTEMBER, 2023 We visited Petrie Island late in the afternoon mid-month. The light was wonderful for

DISPATCH FROM PETRIE #140 A brief walk on August 24, 2023 produced some flowers, and other things, not seen on August 15th

DISPATCH FROM PETRIE #139 Dropped into Petrie Island this morning (August 15, 2023) for a brief walkabout and then watch

(Le français suit) Summer dispatch – August 2023 Hope everyone is having a good summer. We have been very productive

I started doing “dispatches” from Petrie 22 years ago. The dispatches, a summary of what I saw on visits,  were

(Le français suit l’anglais) This newsletter comes to you to share some of the challenges of our current period of

Al Tweddle was a great man. We became friends about a year after the Kennedy family first moved into Orléans.