Early June is egg laying time for the turtles. The snapping turtles aren't hard to miss, the painted turtles aren't so obvious. We found two snappers digging nests and one looking for a spot. The eggs hatch in early September. (The black cloth fence is to prevent the turtles laying eggs in an upcoming construction site)
They remind me of walking dinosaurs
A good sized map turtle was sunning on a rock off shore in the Ottawa River, a place you don't frequently see them.
The bridge that replaced the old wood one has been in place for almost 3 months now, it was supposed to be open in April, but...... The ducks seem to have figured it and know how to walk down its high railings to partake in a handout from walkers standing at the firm;y fenced off bridge.
Guess I never thought about ducklings eating bugs, but these wood ducklings were certainly going after them, including leaping out of the water to catch on.
This duckling never did spot the unhatched dragonfly nymph that was hanging on to its breast feathers.
What we think were last year's hatchlings males were preening each other on a log
The geese seemed rather antzy to get to the river,
A kingbird was on its nest by the entrance to the trail, we've seen them nest in that tree before. Another, on the far side of the lake, was chasing flying bugs.
Meanwhile, an osprey was enjoying a fish breakfast in a distant tree
Mother raccoon was trying to get some sleep, but the kits were not co-operating much for her.
The bull frogs were making their share of noise
A fair number of flowers were blooming:
Purple flowering raspberry, bladderwort, yellow and orange hawkweed and stonecrop. The stonecrop covers the area where I find the nice frost on a -30°C morning.
