DISPATCH FROM PETRIE,#148 JUNE 2024

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

The cottonwood poplar trees spread their seeds individually attached to a piece “cotton fluff” that drifts with the breezes turning the ground white. Sometimes piling up to an inch deep in places.

Some 25 years ago when I moved back to Ottawa and discovered Petrie, I don’t recall there being a Canada goose anywhere on the islands. While they have not over run the place like they have in some locations, there certainly are a number bringing up families at Petrie. The goslings in the last photo are old enough that their final colours are starting to show.

Only found one great blue heron on this visit, a very few mallards were in sight, a yellow warbler stopped long enough for me to catch a photo of it, a song sparrow was checking out Al Tweddle’s former flower garden, and there was a kingbird well off in the distance looking for flying insects .

Again, 25 years ago, I would occasionally see wood ducks on ponds deep in the woods to the west. This year I’ve seen a few in Turtle Pond, including this mum with 11 young ones. Hopefully she used one of the large nesting boxes put up by Bill Bower and the Ottawa Duck Club many years ago

We didn’t spot as many bull frogs as we saw in May’s visit, but they were a little more vocal this time.

A chipmunk was busy foraging for food on land, while a muskrat was doing the same in the water

While I missed the turtle egg laying by a few days, the evidence that raccoons etc had been fed was there for all to see.

A good number of painted and map turtles were sunning themselves on the cool morning so they could digest their meals. Some chose private islands.

It wasn’t until I got home and reviewed the photos of this group of map and painted turtles, that I noticed the garter snake sunning itself on the log close by the turtles.

The spring flowers were generally finished; the summer flowers were starting to bloom. Scroll over for ID.

Yellow waterlily

Yellow flag

Blue flag

Bladder campion

mustard

white bindweed

"rose" bindweed

“rose” bindweed

wild rose

crown vetch

tufted vetch

goat's rue

goat’s rue

fleabane

milkweed

swamp milkweed

birdsfoot trefoil

anemone

dogbane

blackberry

The ferns were getting quite big, the elderberries were forming but not coloured yet, poison ivy was growing well, as were the grasses

Fresh red coloured maple leaves were growing. The leaves on the right had been infested with maple gall mites

For as long as I remember, every year a line of young maple trees sprouted in the sand along the river shore at the west end. They never get more than 6-8″ tall it seems.