Big Happenings At The Vermilon River. A post To MWT and WBW.

I promised myself to limit these posts, but they continue to grow like some out of control monster, despite my best intentions. Today, I'm starting out with a little scenery to show you where we are and to show you a fast weather change, which you'll see shortly.  REMEMBER CLICK ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE AND SEE THE SLIDE SHOW.

We're all over the River today. As you can see the weather is sunny, and if not warm, getting to be that way.Boom is my indicator of temperature and the sun is warm enough now, that he's just too hot to hike anymore this year until fall, although he's OK very early in the morning.

 All the scenes so far have been in the upper River area. Now we're into the big wetland.

This is the opposite side of the big wetland. I've never shown it so far, as its too hard to make look interesting. But there are wide open areas in those cat tails, and they can be loaded with aquatic wildlife.

 This is the wetland on the west side of the River. And some of the shots were taken there.

 I had mentioned earlier that the wood ducks were really being unkind to us, as they would not stay still. By the way, we're in the big wetland for this series.

Wood Duck In Flight.

 But for some reason they decided to pose for me.

Wood Ducks

They're really colourful and are dressed in their resplendent no worries, breeding plumage.

The flock is a fair size.

 The Bufflehead were on the opposite side of the big wetland, and refused to come any closer. The male is black and white.

Female Bufflehead.

Male and Female.

 The Grackles were all photographed in the River wetland. As I remarked before birds of a feather do flock together, and the Red-winged Blackbirds and the Rusty, which is a rare Blackbird, were photographed in this area. I call this tree the Grackle Tree.

Common Grackle.

Rusty Blackbird.

Rusty Blackbird.

Rusty Blackbird.

 I included the Red-winged Blackbirds because they 're displaying their epalettes in full colours.

 This was a true find as its a Red Breasted Nuthatch. Up until now, I've only seen the White Breasted variety. This bird was in the Black Spruce stand where I have a great deal of luck, but where its so hard to take photos, as its dark and damp. The birds don't stay still long enough to make a change in settings possible.

In Flight.

Top Side.

 This one, probably the clearest shot, shows the red breast.

I included this shot, taken earlier, to show you the difference in birds. This one is a White Breasted Nuthatch.

 Another real spring find ,as this is the first of the Warblers to appear. He's A Yellow-rumped Warbler.

A Little Jumpy.

The Black-capped Chickadees are with the Warbler because both of them ( all warblers) are necessary to this forest. You probably have noticed that the Birch tree is a main stay of the the Vermilon Forest. One of the insects which feeds on the Birch tree is the Birch Leaf Miner, introduced through Connecticut to North America in 1923. The Warblers along with the Chickadees keep infestations under control naturally. Information courtesy of Glen Blouin, An Eclectic Guide to trees:east of the rockies.

Now to the Sparrows. They're dismissed by some as "little brown jobs" but not by Boom and I. We have numerous species here, and they're a real indicator of spring. This is a Song Sparrow.

Tree Sparrow

This is a Chipping Sparrow. I know you noticed the snow. We had a major storm yesterday which dumped about 20 cm or 10 inches on the area. Its a heavy spring snow and will probably be gone by tomorrow as the temperature is warming. I'll bet this little guy is regretting arriving so soon.

 These are Dark-eyed Juncos, a member of the Sparrow family. They'll stay a short while and push on further north to summer with the my Redpolls and Pine Grosbeaks. All the plumage on these birds is bright and crisp. No worries until the kids come, I guess.

Mourning Dove in the snow. Looks just like Christmas.

HERE'S A TRACKING GAME FOR ALL YOU OUTDOORS PERSONS: I had earlier mentioned that the problem with feeding birds in a wilderness is that you can attract four footed critters. I even showed you a fox at the feeders. I found these tracks outside my door in the snow Sunday morning. Some hints: Animal tracks are hard to tell from dog tracks. There are no human tracks around these tracks. A dog meanders. All these tracks are direct to feeders and then on his way. There are four toes and you can see the claw marks. The claws are long, normally dogs are not, because humans clip them. The tracks are 5 inches long. Boomer's paws are 5 inches long and he weighs between 85 and 90 lbs. I put in a bear's prints for your information, but a bear's prints are wide. Raccoon's here are small, so its not a raccoon, and its not a feline.What's your guess? Answer next week. Tracks courtesy of Parks Canada, and www: Bear Trade Tracks .com

 A Post to MWT @ http://ourworldtuesdaymeme.blogspot.com/ and WBW @ http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/