On Sunday afternoon, 28 May club members and other field naturalists walked the future Macnamara Trail Extension route recording flora and fauna.  Starting at McLean Avenue we walked the Nopiming Loop and waded through cattails between islands on the Goodwin Marsh Lookout, a sunny day and a welcome breeze keeping the mosquitos (Anopheles quadrimaculatus!!) at bay.

Our team of experienced naturalists consisted of:  Maureen Carrier and Betty Michalowski (birds), Mary Marsh, Monique Boivin, and Janet Mason (herbaceous plants), Art Goldsmith (everything!), and OFNC members Owen Clarkin and Greg Lutick (woody plants).  We found the four “sides” of the loop and the lookout each offered different terrain and plant communities, which is notable in a small area.  Maureen and Betty heard and photographed an Alder Flycatcher, which is an indicator species of Alder swamps, confirmed by the large number of Speckled Alder along the perimeter of Goodwin Marsh.

In a first for the club we are documenting the bio-inventory in iNaturalist.  So far all but the woody plants have been loaded into the Macnamara Trail Extension Project: http://www.inaturalist.org/projects/macnamara-trail-extension-project for a total of  78 species.  This number will swell to over a hundred once the woody plants are included, and is remarkable for just a three hour effort.  There is so much more to discover!