A Leucistic Purple Finch, Great blue Herons, Warblers and Magic Scenes Of The Vermilon River.

 The weather has been great for hiking with cool mornings, about 10C, rising to 20C in the afternoon. This type of weather adds a mystery to the forest with rising mists everywhere, and interesting colours. A trip to the Long Lake wetlands was therefore in order. Mystic Lake feeds this wetland;while it in turn flows into the witches cauldron of the east track. All of that magic in this one spot and one post!

AGAIN THE POST IS SET UP FOR A SLIDESHOW, SO CLICK ANY PHOTO, AND ENJOY YOURSELF.

A post to Sky Watch Friday, and Camera Critters.

 We were up early, even earlier than usual, as you can tell from the angle of the sun to catch the heavy mists. The previous shots and the one opposite are of the lower end of the wetland.

Reflections on the lower end.

Looking North.

Looking North with the sun in the background.

Single sun in the water.

Sun climbing over the ridge.

 Well with all that magic, let's look at this Purple Finch. All the information that I'm going to give you comes from www. birds. Cornell edu/. But any Google will give you numerous sites to check out, which I did. There are two conditions that relate to the genetic inability to distribute melanin normally. The first is Albinistic, commonly called an Albino. In this case the bird would be white with pink eyes.
The second is Leucism, a genetic defect which prevents melanin from being distributed normally.

The bird in the opposite photo has some colour, and I think has brown eyes. So it would be Leucistic. I think it is a female purple finch. I included some photos of males and females below.

A side view. The other purple finch treat this one normally, although they may be more vulnerable to predators because of a lack of camouflage.

Normal Male Purple Finch turning red. 

Side view same.

Female Purple Finch.

 The close up of this female makes me think the Leucistic is a female.

Blue Jay.

Hairy Woodpecker peeking at me.

Song Sparrow.

 There was a group of song sparrows playing around. They're always good for a few shots.

Close up

Different view.

A friendly Raven.

Canada Geese on the ground.

Canada Geese in flight.

Palm Warbler.

 Chestnut-sided Warbler- note the light brown stripes, a female or an immature.

Female Common Yellow Throat.

Same

Same

Now She's in a flutter.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Male Redstart.

I took these shots on the west side of the River. I'm quite proud that I didn't spook this one.

GBH on a beaver lodge.

Meadow sweet

 We've, thanks to Mary and others, established that this is Sedum, a domestic plant. That makes sense as this photo was taken on the west side of the River. The town was at one time on the west side of the River. The plant has survived all that time although it has not spread. I'm going to return and get some for my garden.

Toadflax

Evening Primrose.

Fireweed in seed.