We were looking for a short distance/time walk. So we headed for Mer Bleue Boardwalk shortly before 8am. I didn't bring my "real" cameras so as to not slow down the walk too much. Besides, no camera - the more things that might put in an appearance. đÂ
However, it didn't take long for my cellphone to come outđ
The marsh was a bright fresh green all over with new cattails forming up
I thought I spotted a bee that might have overnighted on a new cattail, turns out it was a common bog fly.Â
I knew there were flies in the bog, but who knew there were bog flies....
It is hard to tell as you can only zoom in on cell phone photos so much (This already is a 1/25± crop as it is) but the cattail seems to be in flower.
The painted turtles seem to have one place they like to bask. Five were out, but by the time I took the shot, two had gone back into the water.
What really caught our eyes were all the mocassin flowers/pink ladyslippers. They lined the boardwalk in spots. Some certainly were past their prime, but some were looking were quite fresh. (I'll spare you the other 75 or so photos I took)
A lot of other flowers were blooming as well:Â
sheep laurel 2x, labrador tea 2x, a new name to me: northern wild raisin 2x, dogwood/bunchberry, bladder campion
Marsh calla 2x, cow vetch, buttercup, white clover 2x, tufted loosestrife, milkweed in bud.
Cotton grass bloom dying off, stinkgrass, wild sarsaparilla berriesÂ
Some of the tamarac trees had cones on them, other didn't. Dr Google says each tree can be male and female, so ??? Many of the cones were the usual brownish red, but for the first time I saw some lightish brown ones.
Ostrich ferns were well along. On close inspection while editing, it's stalk seemed to be blooming
As we found everywhere this year, there were few frogs. This visit, we found only one frog, just at the end of the boardwalk. It was about 10-12' away. The first photo is at the highest optical zoom, the second was at about 50x digital zoom. It is "OK" maybe as a record shot if nothing else is availableđ.
The Merlin App heard many more birds than I could ID. A mourning dove stood its ground on the edge of the path as I passed it
