Observations: July 15, 1994 Time: 4:00 pm Weather: sunny, very hot, light breeze

How Seaweed Floats Along the rocky shoreline large mats of floating, olive-green marine plants sway with the waves. This plant takes it's name - Bladder Rockweed (Fusuc vesiculosus) - and its ability to float from the pea-sized, circular hollow bladders, found among its pairs of rubbery looking leaves. A disk called a "Holdfast" anchors these seaweeds to the rocks.
Energy Builders Pools of water left by the low tide contain tiny shrimp-like creatures. They dart for seaweed cover to hide from birds, fish, and crabs who eat them. These flattened amphipods have an arched back, two pairs of antennae and thirteen pairs of legs. They breath through gills on the underside of the body's lower legs, and feed on algae and other dead matter. Migrating birds come to the marsh to fatten up for their long flights by eating these creatures.
Snacking in mid-air Tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) skim low over the water and march areas of the park catching insects from the air in their beaks as they fly. The male is white underneath and has iridescent green on its head and back. The female is duller in colour. These small birds summer in the park where they nest in tree holes, raise their young and eat large quantities of mosquitoes and other flying insects. They are one of our earliest arriving swallows, having returned to Southern New Brunswick by late April. Watch for their aerial acrobatics over the water.

The Naturalist's Notebook is published quarterly. If you have any questions or topics that you would like to see addressed, please call John Gilbert, Manager, Fish and Wildlife, J.D. Irving, Limited, (506) 632-7777.