An unusual find at Petrie this morning (June 10/25) - a blind garter snake. I thought it just had it's eyelids shut (or something like that), but on looking more closely, it was blind. The blue is thick cataract-like and lasts about a week as the snake sheds its skin. The tongue flicking in the video is normal behaviour for the snake. The tongue is used to sense it's surroundings.
Later on another part of the trail we found a sighted garter snake.
There weren't a lot of turtles around but one painted turtle seemed to be playing "I'm the King of the Castle"
A last-fall map turtle hatchling was down at the end of the Bill Holland Trail
It seemed the map and painted turtles were not talking to each other. They were either on separate logs, or turning their backs on each other
Or just getting together with their friends. Painted turtles on left, maps on the right
Two map turtles were well away from the water towards the end of the trail, near where the snappers lay their eggs. They may have finished laying eggs as it was long after sunrise when we spotted them
Raccoon tracks in the sand in early June usually means one thing - destroyed snapping turtle nests. Nature's way....
There were a good number of flowers either in bud or in bloom. Scroll over the photo to see the ID
Highbush cranberry
Dame's Rocket
Dame's Rocket
Yellow iris
Jack-in-the-pulpit were few and far between. One had the normal shaped folded-over "roof" above it's stamen, another had the roof straight up and a third still in bud.
Jack-in-the-Pulpit
Jack-in-the-Pulpit
Jack-in-the-Pulpit
The anemone growing on high ground were in full bloom, the others that were submerged under the flood were still in bud.
Anemone
Anemone
Anemone
yellow waterlily
bladder campion
goatsbeard
fleabane
false solomon seal
false solomon seal
I only know of one black locust tree/bush on the island and it was in full bloom. It is an invasive specie, but doesn't seem to be spreading at Petrie
Carrion flower in bud (Named after the smell of its flower)
Still a very few ferns in fiddlehead stage, lots of burrs around
Rust fungus on a buckthorn leaf and insect galls on a hickory bush
Beaver chewed stump, covered in flotsam from the flood, with a few growing branches
Asian lady beetle, an introduced specie
White-faced dragonfly and damselfly
Bull frog and leopard frog
A muskrat was patrolling the weed bed and stopping to chew on selected stems
A juvenile starling showed no fear of big feet and almost was stepped on
Only one heron showed itself
Two skeins of geese flew over, don't often see them in the summer
A goose family was checking out the ferns and enjoying a swim
A tree that was protected from beaver by chicken wire for over 25 years, has toppled over. I used to find nice mushrooms around it
Thanks to the work crews for rehabilitating the "causeway". The flood did quite a number to it leaving only larger stones that were tricky to walk on. A nice coat of gravel solved all that
