Creatures along Rideau River

Sorry for not posting in a while.  Everything is going well, but I just haven't really had the time to be outside for extended periods of time (especially during the miserable winter weather) and photographing things.  Hopefully with the start of spring (yay!), I can start spending more time outside again.

Spring has begun in Ottawa, and the other day, I saw from ebird that a Harlequin Duck had been sighted along the Rideau River.  The weather was quite nice today, so this afternoon, my girlfriend and I walked over to Strathcona Park and did a little bit of bird-watching.  Along the way, we ran into a friend who mentioned that the water level was quite high and a Snapping Turtle was spotted feeding under a flooded swing set right next to the river recently.  

Once we arrived at the park, we immediately saw a Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus - a bird I haven't seen in six years) swimming with some Common Goldeneyes (Bucephala clangula).

Museum of Nature - Reptiles and others

Museum of Nature's current special exhibition is "Reptiles", and I have been there twice already (three weeks ago and yesterday) because reptiles are a group of animals that I interact with the least and I am fascinated by them.

The first animal that you will see in the exhibit is a fierce-looking Alligator snapping turtle (Macroclemys temmincki).  It is sad to see this large animal in a very small display area and is submerged in water all the time. 

Alligator snapping turtle (Macroclemys temmincki)

Harvest Moon & Baby Snapping Turtle

I was at school last night trying to print off five copies of my thesis so that I can submit them this morning to the graduate office.

I had been watching the moon for the past few nights, and it was finally full!  It is also this year's Harvest Moon because it is closest to the autumnal equinox (September 22).  It is called the Harvest Moon because fruits and vegetables ripen near this time of the month (in the Northern Hemisphere), and back when there was no electricity, farmers would use the moonlight to harvest their crops.

Today, after photocopying a few more pages at school to have everything complete and ready, I saw this baby Common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) on the path next to the river.  I quickly dropped everything and snapped many photos of it.