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Jean Hartley and I walked around the Frog Pond at Fleming Park, Jollimore, HRM on Saturday afternoon (10th April). It was windy and overcast, and most birds were lying low. We were hoping to see some of the migrant ducks which were here earlier in the week. On Easter Monday Susan Hunt told me that there were six Ring-necked Ducks and a pair of Hooded Mergansers on the pond, as well as about seven Painted Turtles. Jean was able to go over to see them the same day. However I couldn't get there until Wednesday, by which time the Hoodies were gone, but the Ring-neckeds were still there. We did not find either species today. New arrivals though were four Common Grackles, but otherwise bird activity was limited to the usual winter residents. Song Sparrows, Goldfinches and Juncos were singing. Several shrubs were in bloom, or nearly so. The male catkins of the Sweet Gale (Myrica gale) were opening, but the female flowers were not yet. Leather-leaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata) flowers were fully formed and wanted only a little warmth to open. American Fly-honeysuckle (Lonicera canadensis) likewise had flowers just waiting to open. As we drove along the Purcell's Cove Road we both exclaimed at the sight of a showy flowering tree, briefly sunlit, which puzzled us; it couldn't be Indian Pear already, surely! We had to drive back and have a good look, and no, it wasn't - it was a very tall Pussy-willow with large fluffy fully- expanded catkins, bright with pollen. There are a number of (surreptitiously-introduced) azaleas and rhododendrons growing around the Frog Pond. One of the azaleas was in full bloom today. I believe these were planted here by a local breeder who had run out of garden space. From time to time the choicer ones disappear ... I have talked with several regulars at the Pond who have been on the lookout for the resident beavers, but so far no one reports seeing any this year. No muskrats, either. At Purcell's Cove there was a pair of Long-tailed Ducks and a Common Loon. At the Herring Cove Look-off there were rafts of Common Eider, and several Great Cormorants with showy white breeding patches. On Power's Pond, a little further along, there were two Double-crested Cormorants, the first we have seen this year. Coltsfoot was in bloom everywhere a week ago, but is now nearly over. Cheers, Patricia L. Chalmers Halifax
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