Snapping Turtle and Bald Eagle near Sandford, Ontario: June 2020

There it was – a snapping turtle on the path. On seeing me, it froze and enabled me to get some close-up photos:

Common Snapping Turtle
Common Snapping Turtle
Common Snapping Turtle
Common Snapping Turtle

As if that wasn’t enough excitement, a few minutes later, several bald eagles were soaring above me. The photographs are of a juvenile who does not yet have the distinctive white head and tail:

Bald Eagle
Bald Eagle
Bald Eagle
Bald Eagle

On this lovely day, I returned to the Beaver River Wetland Trail which I had also explored in late March. The trail follows an old railway line:

A couple of less common ducks were in these waters:

Ring-necked Ducks
Blue-winged Teal (male)
Blue-winged Teal (male)
Blue-winged Teal (male)

Other birds:

Barn Swallow
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Kingbird
Common Grackle
Willow Flycatcher
Willow Flycatcher
Mourning Dove
Red-winged Blackbird with dragonfly

Insects:

Goat’s-beard (Tragopogon) with bee
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) with bee
Long-horned Beetle
Ants
Syrphid Fly

There were two shrubs here which I do not see in the Toronto area and had to look up in a field guide:

Wild Raisin (Viburnum cassinoides)
Wild Raisin (Viburnum cassinoides)
Wild Raisin (Viburnum cassinoides)
Dwarf Birch (Betula pumila)
Dwarf Birch (Betula pumila)

Other botany:

Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)
Glaucous Honeysuckle (Lonicera dioica)
Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
Shining Willow (Salix lucida)
Starry False Solomon-seal (Maianthemum stellatum)
Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron rydbergii)
Birdfoot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus)
Pussy Willow (Salix discolor)
White Elm (Ulmus americana)
Choke Cherry (Prunus virginiana)
Cinnamon Fern

Nearby Sandford was named after Sir Sandford Fleming, the inventor of Standard Time.

United Church

NATURE POETRY

‘Tis June, and all the lowland swamps
Are rich with tufted reeds and ferns,
And filmy with the vaporous damps
That rise when twilight’s crimson burns.     – George Arnold (1834–65)

Miles Hearn

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