Feasting wildlife enjoy the evenings at Market Lake – and the turtles are out
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RIRIE — While waiting for the Forster terns to show up to harvest some minnows on Market Lake last Monday evening, I saw a brown flash running through the cattails along the canal.
Soon, a long-tailed weasel emerged with a rodent in its mouth.
I followed it along — because it was headed somewhere fast — until it finally disappeared in a hidden hole in the canal bank. After waiting about an hour, the weasel reemerged, followed by three babies, and all quickly disappeared in the thick vegetation.
After that excitement, a tern finally showed up. I watched as the bird made four successful dives into the water to collect its evening meal of tasty little fish, and then missed a fifth one.
Three more terns soon joined it in catching their minnow meals.
It is always fun to watch these Forster terns, or even the larger Caspian terns, searching for small fish by cruising around a body of water. When they see something, they sally through the air before going into a dive.
As the terns were busy fishing, a great blue heron came in, walking the opposite bank, making three consecutive captures for its dinner.
In the canal, the heron would wade deep enough for the water to reach its body. Then it would stretch out its neck and plunge its dagger-like bill downward to grab a hapless fish. Once caught, the bird would position the wiggling fish so it could be easily swallowed headfirst.
A few ducks, geese and songbirds kept me entertained while I moved back near the weasel nest to watch for the little family to come out again, but they did not show. They were probably all sleeping on full stomachs.
While I was there, an American bittern flew in — the first of the season.
Turtle time
During that Monday trip, I counted 39 painted turtles along the canal. In the following days, I worried about what they would do because of the low water and high temperatures. So, on Thursday evening I decided to make a quick trip back out to Market Lake to see what the conditions were like.
I was totally surprised by what I found. The canal water was 2 feet deeper than it had been on Monday. The weasel nest was now underwater, but I did find the little critters up higher than they were on Monday.
The water was running through the culverts, and instead of four Forster’s terns, there were about 20 of them working the deeper water. The larger group was a lot less successful at catching the minnows.
There were turtles everywhere on Thursday, and I was able to get 12 of them in one picture — even after at least five dove into the water.
There are now flocks of white-faced ibis and more ducks and geese than had been there earlier in the week. Some of the marsh has started to fill with water, and the northern harriers are a lot more active. I hope water managers are able to put some more water in the marshes so the increase in birds and animals continues.
If you have some young kids or others who would love to see turtles, now is a great time to take them to Market Lake. You may even run into a family of weasels and/or a rare bittern.
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