Part 2 of the New Trail of The Vermilon River. A Post to Camera Critters and Scenic Sunday.

Norman Wetland

This trail is an interesting one as the wetland which you're now looking at parallels the actual river, but owes its size to water run off and the beaver. In the final photo I'll point out the beaver dam. We left off at the river itself, but as I had to make my bus, I elected to take the gravel road to return. It runs between the wetland and the river. I don't think you'll find the RR touching much of this dam as the sudden flood would wash out their maintenance road. Always on a first hike I like to get my bearings, and this means I miss a lot of photo opportunities because I'm noisy, and have no idea where to take an extra effort to be quiet. And I missed a Great Blue Heron just sitting there ripe for a series of shots.

End Of Beaver Lodge



Full Beaver Lodge.




The beaver lodge is fairly large and their dam sites are well maintained.

The Male Hairy Woodpecker and the Northern Flicker were co-operative although I would have preferred a front shot of the Flicker.


Male Hairy




Northern Flicker




Robin







I think Robins hang around the fringe of the wetlands, because it's easy access to their favourite food supply the worm. These pair of males don't look to be starving.

Robin



Male Purple Finch




Female Purple Finch



I don't know whether there are a lot of purple finch this year or I'm just lucky. As I said before the male is bright but the female has incredible markings.


Male Purple Finch




White-throated Sparrow




White-throated Sparrow.







I heard some scampering in a patch of brush and it was these little guys, who I'm always eager to see.


Yellow-rumped Warbler.





This my second spotting of the Yellow-rumped Warbler. That now makes two warblers because I posted the Nashville Warbler in a prior post.


The American Goldfinch is a male sporting all his courting splendour.

I was equally happy to get the Chipping Sparrow.


Male American Goldfinch.




American Chipping Sparrow.




Yellow-bellied Sap Sucker.



I was pleased with all the sightings and all the photos except the Goldfinch. But the real find is this guy. A Yellow-bellied Sap Sucker. These are woodpeckers that drill holes to actually suck the sap and eat insects. Listed as being in this area, I've never seen one before. This is a male, I think, because he has a red bib under his beak No wonder they're hard to find, He blends right in,but he's another for my list of woodpeckers.




I put this Turkey Vulture in from another hike, so I could say a few words about his size. These guys are 25-32 inches long with a wingspan of 67-72 inches and a weight of 2-5 lbs. They are carrion birds with an acute sense of smell to detect the gasses from a carcass. I checked my own pulse to make sure it wasn't me he was looking for.






Buzzard or Turkey Vulture





End of Trail and the Wetland.







This is the end of trail, and I put this photo in because you can see on the mid left of the photo the beaver dam that holds it all together. I also keep telling you I live in a wilderness, and it's out the door and onto the trail. Here you can see the street sign. The last and weak vestige of civilization, and across the street the forest.


A Post to Camera Critters @ http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/  and Scenic Sunday @ http://scenicsunday.blogspot.com/


The temperature is about 22C and even overcast it is way too hot for Boom to accompany me.