Mud Lake and Petrie Islands (Post #1,000)

Knowing that I will be very busy this coming school semester - teaching, taking one class, and working on my own research project, I doubt I will be spending a lot of time outside and enjoying nature.  So for the past few days, I have been going out and taking advantage of the last free days before school begins next Tuesday.  The places I went to were Mud Lake and Petrie Island, and I went to each place twice because there are so many things to see.

Mud Lake

A lot of Water lilies (Nymphaea odorata) floating on the lake.

Painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) basking on a log.


Hatchling snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina).  Some adult turtles have been laying their eggs across from a road, which means that the hatchlings are in danger when they cross the road to get to the lake (read this blog post by Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club).  While my friend and I were there, we spotted two dead hatchlings and rescued this hatchling by bringing it across the road and closer to the lake.

Safe travels, little turtle.


My friend found a handsome Eastern Gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis) male while we were trying to find the trail that goes around the lake.


Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus).


Unknown flycatcher (family Tyrannidae)


Green frog (Rana clamitans) next to the road.

Northern Leopard Frog (Lithobates pipiens) - love its almost metallic green colour.

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) on my second trip in three days.


White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) eating something underneath the bark.

Back of an unknown warbler.

Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)

Downy Woodpecker (P. pubescens)

Female Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)

A female Canada Darner (Aeshna canadensis) laying her eggs into the lake.

Not sure how to tell the water depth when the numbers increase from top to bottom.

Petrie Islands

I have always wanted to visit the Petrie Islands because it is along the Ottawa River and isolated from the suburbs - meaning that wildlife should be quite different from ones that I usually see.

Sign welcoming people to Petrie Islands.


A helpful sign to distinguish Green frogs from Bullfrogs.


Habitats on Petrie Islands are quite variable - such as the Turtle Pond with slow-moving water.




And the sandy beaches along the Ottawa River.


C. picta on a rock in Turtle Pond.  What a funny position.

I believe this was a American bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) because it had no dorsolateral folds.

R. clamitans with the dorsolateral folds.

L. pipiens

A. herodias

Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) on the river.


Widow skimmer (Libellula luctuosa)

Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata).  See the flying bee on the bottom right corner?

Close-up on the pickerelweed flowers.

Bottle gentian (Gentiana andrewsii)

L. pipiens 

Along the sandy beach, my friend and I saw one Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus).  While it was foraging for food, it scared off many frogs that were also on the beach.

Such as this green frog.

Cute bird.


Then we saw a second shorebird.  We think it is a Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius) in non-breeding plumage, which is why it is not spotted.

Heron on the river.

 A. herodias with B. canadensis swimming by.

Magnolia Warbler (Dendroica magnolia).  We saw different warbler-like birds, but I am no good with warbler identification.  The above photo was the only decent image I photographed, and my friend identified it as a Magnolia Warbler.

Apparently I have written 999 posts already, which means this is post #1,000 since October of 2008 (i.e., almost seven years ago).  Hopefully it won't take me more than 60 years to reach the next milestone (post # 10,000).  Thank you all for reading and keeping me company throughout all these years.