Port of zone 2, most of Zone 4

Yesterday I headed out for a kayak run  with Thia and decided as I went to meet her to make it a patrol as the conditions were good for viewing. As I headed over to the south side of Scribner Point I visited the very weedy and shallow area where land connects to the point. I glided over spike rush, some floating pond weed as well as bur reed. Once I met up with Thia at the end of Scribner Point, we were given a delightful show by the loon family. Both mama and Papa were feeding the chick fish and all were diving and swimming together. From there we headed back to continue into zone 4. As I floated along I did see pickerelweed, some blobs of algae underwater, some floating bladderwort as well as some submerged bladderwort. With the sun shining I was also able to see areas of submerged grassy spike rush and eventually came upon a clump of something nestled in the rocks. It was very bright green and soft to the touch, moving with the water waves. I clipped a sample of the plant and wasn’t sure what it was so I brought it back to further investigate. The fine  plant stems, leaves and overall structure made it hard for my eyes even with my readers and the magnifier to see the structure clearly, plus it was very floppy. ( Maybe I need my eyes checked?!) So my best educated guess is that it was bladderwort or Nitella ( Stoneworts) which is a native algae and has been found in Conway Lake.  I ended my patrol just shy of finishing zone 4 and did not get into zone 5 this time around. That will be for another day!