Papineau creek

water incredibly high. up 1.5-2 ft from 2 days previous. water is fast moving and not clear. the water in the test cup light yellow/brown. no bird song, but crows calling. mosquitoes particularly bad. blooming: goldenrod, st john wort, joe pye weed, meadowsweet, flat top white aster, cardinal flower, virgin's bower, yarrow, purple loosestrife. fruiting: choke cherry.

note: a large crayfish (4.5 inches) was seen here midweek. very exciting!

note: 2 days previous a pile of human poop and paper towels used as toilet paper were found on the rock pile at the edge of the other shore. unclear as to why literally any other part of the forest would not have been a better place to properly relieve oneself. right at the water's edge?! frustrating. site is clearly not as unvisited as assumed.

beaver, very calm and quiet. lots of leopard frogs. dead catfish floating (note: another dead catfish reported this day in little boulter lake nearby but not same water system. cannot overstate how unusual it is to see catfish dead or alive in the area). water not very clear. blooming: joe pye weed, queen anne's lace, golden rod, st johns wor, meadowsweet, white bindweed, purple loosestrife.

Blue jays and pair of pileated woodpeckers, quiet otherwise, some monarchs about. blooming: st johns wort, goldenrod, meadow rue, hawksweed, swamp candle, thicket creeper. fruiting: bittersweet nightshade

many damsel flies, thrush, plants blooming: st johns wort, bladderwrack, bittersweet nightshade, yarrow, oxeye daisy, fleabane, tall meadow rue, silver cinquefoil

flowering oxeye daisy, white yarrow, meadow buttercup, meadow hawkweed, silverleaf cinquefoil, fledgling common merganser, songbirds, thrushes calling.

1st ever in this location spotting of common merganser (adult), sapsuckers calling, not many bugs.

Beaver, woodpeckers, lots of songbirds, and traffic heard through the trees. Water slightly lower.

great horned owl hooting, other wildlife very quiet. some thrushes and veerys calling. water high.