Soap Opera At the Frink Centre

SOAP OPERA AT THE FRINK CENTRE
 July 12 & July 14

Sometimes it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature, but doing so can provide us with unique opportunities to catch her unawares. Wetland species are known for their secret lives, and many have a limited interest in making our acquaintance. Some nature enthusiasts may wait years before the identity of mysterious sounds emanating from the depths of a cattail marsh are known, and then it might only be a fleeting glimpse.
For close to 20 of us on an evening hike on the boardwalk at the H.R. Frink Centre north of Belleville, this was certainly the case as a Virginia rail scooted across the boardwalk in front of us. Later, another flew weakly across the lily pads before tumbling into the cattails. Each time, only a few got to see it. To get them to cooperate to that extent required the use of a tape recorder, and a playback of their songs. We had their attention. Several rails responded, but only these two appeared.
Exciting Virginia rails in this manner is frowned upon by purists, but the practice causes little harm if not done to excess. There is some risk involved, particularly during the nesting season when disturbed birds on their nests respond to what they perceive to be an intruder, and set out to defend their territory. We were conscious of this and did not spend more than a minute or two at any one location.
Rails are shy birds and prefer to move about through the cattails with legendary thinness; hence, the long time reference to someone being “as thin as a rail.” The popular saying has nothing to do with rail fences. They are odd little birds, about the size of a meadowlark, and somewhat wedge-shaped in appearance with a long bill. If they choose to move about in the marsh at all, their flight is awkward and undecided, and one has to wonder how they manage to migrate at all in the spring and fall.
Song, if one can call it that, is the best way to identify them, and it is necessary to learn at least three different calls, none of them showing any resemblance to the other at all. For reasons not clear to most of us, they best respond to a call which can be best described as a throaty grunting noise. Perhaps this descending “waka-waka-waka” call is reserved for establishing territory boundaries. It makes sense, as the calls I heard the first of April from this same marsh – a series of sharp “kidick, kidick, kidick”, were certainly too early in the season to serve as a territorial song. It was more like an announcement of arrival. They also have a call, identified by birders as the “kicker call,” a very shrill “kik-kik-kik-keer” heard less frequently, and only the bird itself likely knows its purpose.
If the Virginia rail was the Young and the Restless, then a Blanding’s turtle out sunning itself on a log within reach of the boardwalk was certainly the Bold and the Beautiful. With its brilliant yellow neck stretched out for all to see, it allowed all of us with cameras a chance to capture it digitally. Its uncaring demeanour was almost a temptation to reach over and brush off the half dozen deer flies that perched on its yellow dotted carapace. If we had been able to pick it up, we would have seen that its plastron – the bottom shell – was slightly hinged in the middle, a handy characteristic that allows this turtle species to actually withdraw into its shell like most turtles do in the presence of danger, but with the added advantage that it can cleverly close both front and back doors to offer increased protection to its softer body parts. This one on this evening though seemed to sense that we were just curious observers, and it performed well.
It is always a treat to see Blanding’s turtles. Named after its discoverer, it is not a common species, and in some areas, appear to be declining due to habitat loss. Judging from the size, this turtle was probably about 10 years old, and could easily be the same individual we saw on a similar walk three years ago. Certainly it was on the same log! Rather odd, since they lead a rather nomadic lifestyle, as comfortable a kilometre or so from water, as they are in wetlands. One of the first ones I ever saw was on our front lawn as it casually made its way toward a hay field, probably in search of grasses, berries or slugs to complement its diet of wetland crayfish, snails, frogs and small fish.
The Frink Centre is indeed Another World and this provincially significant wetland, located just south of the main entrance is a treasure. On this night, there was even surround sound with the performance as marsh wrens and swamp sparrows put on a special concert. One swamp sparrow even came to a an exposed limb near the end of the boardwalk as though to take a stage bow for everyone before melting away into the cattails. Not to be left out of the production, a moorhen cackled its henlike notes from behind a nearby patch of floating cattails, but choosing not to come to centre stage.
The 500 metre Wetland Ecology Boardwalk was built by The Friends of The Frink Centre, and is available to anyone who would like to rub shoulders with some of the marsh’s inhabitants. You can find it by taking Highway 37 north from Belleville for nine km to Thrasher Road, and following it for another two km to the main entrance. The parking lot for the wetland is across the road from the main entrance. Napanee area residents can take Shannonville Road from 401 north to Thrasher Road, and head west.