The winter seems to have spilled into spring this year. Despite the cold weather, our winter program is long gone and we are well into our spring program. The weather is often unpredictable and varied on the Tantramar Marshes and this winter was no exception. This makes planning ahead for winter visitors a challenging endeavour!

This year we welcomed more than 25 classes to the Tantramar Wetlands Centre to participate in the Wetlands in Winter program. Visitors have the opportunity to learn how to identify the skulls, tracks and “scat” (droppings) of wetland animals, explore what is living under the ice, and take a walk using snowshoes to take in the beauty of the snow-covered marsh.

Wetheads being trained to identify mammal skulls.

Showing students the size of a polar bear skull in comparison to the local black bear.

Snowshoeing towards the marsh while identifying tracks in the snow along the way.

Drilling a hole in the ice to collect a sample. This helps show students that there is life in the marsh, even in the winter!

The MASSIE students visited the Wetlands Centre and tried using snowshoes.

Looking through the samples from under the ice, students find lots of macroinvertebrates living in the marsh!

Searching for macroinvertebrates.

Examining critters (like this leech) on the big screen.

Some of the many wonderful Wethead volunteers that helped with our winter program. (Watch out for that black bear!)

Two Canada geese on the frozen marsh on April 14, 2014. A very long winter indeed.

You can view more pictures in our Photo Gallery or on Flickr.