We report multiple observations of four Great Egret (Ardea alba) × Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) hybrid nestlings in Parkland County, Alberta, in July 2025. To our knowledge, this is the first published report of an observation of this hybrid combination in Canada and the first report of a nest with young of this hybrid combination anywhere. We outline the timeline and nature of the observations, provide photographs of the nestlings and an adult Great Egret visiting the nest, and briefly discuss the breeding ecology of Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons. Finally, we note observations, including photographs, of an apparent hybrid Great Egret × Great Blue Heron observed in Calgary, Alberta, in September 2025.
Albinism in turtles is rare but has been reported in more than a dozen species. We observed two albino Blanding’s Turtle(Emydoidea blandingii) hatchlings from one nest collected and incubated as part of a turtle conservation program in eastern Ontario. The albino hatchlings were the same size (3.4 cm straight-line carapace length) as the other two hatchlings from the nest and only slightly smaller than the average length of Blanding’s Turtles (3.6 cm) produced from our nests in 2025. Only one of 132 (0.76%) successfully incubated Blanding’s Turtle nests over the past eight years has produced albinos. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first documented case of albinism in Blanding’s Turtles.
Federally Endangered Hickorynut (Obovaria olivaria) was historically known to occupy a short section of the Mississagi River. Whether this distribution represented the true range of the species or simply reflected a paucity of directed mussel sampling was unclear. The Mississagi River was systematically surveyed in 2023 to evaluate the freshwater mussel assemblage in the watershed, focussing on Hickorynut. The river was divided into 21 contiguous reaches, the first of which was 1 km long, followed by 20, 2 km reaches from the Red Rock Falls Generating Station downstream to the mouth at Lake Huron. Each reach was surveyed at least once using SCUBA; additional surveys were conducted in some reaches if warranted (e.g., historical presence of Hickorynut). In total, 35 sites were surveyed (26 SCUBA, nine snorkel) and 7590 mussels of seven species, including 141 Hickorynut were found. A single Lake Floater (Pyganodon lacustris) was found and genetically verified, representing the third confirmed detection of the species in Canada. Eastern Elliptio (Elliptio complanata) was the most common species found, occurring at all sites. Our results clarify the distribution of mussels throughout this stretch of the Mississagi River and extend the known distribution of Hickorynut ~22 km upstream of its previously known range. These findings will aid in the conservation and management of freshwater mussels in Canada and inform future assessments of atrisk mussel species.
