Sunday, November 18, 2012

A Preview of Winter Colours At The Vermilon River.

I recently heard an interview with Ian Dejardin of the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London,U.K., in which he enthused over the paintings of Tom Thompson, and the Group of Seven, which he had featured in his Gallery in 2011. The same exhibit then toured The National Museum of Art in Oslo, and from there moved to the Netherlands with equally rave reviews.The exhibit is now being shown in the Group of Seven's home gallery, The McMichael Gallery in Ontario. Click here to see the McMichael Art Gallery: McMichael Gallery.


The Group Of Seven, expanded to ten later but still referred to as seven (an other Canadianism I guess) presented our northern landscape in a uniquely Canadian view. That view not only featured the rugged Canadian shield, its lakes and rivers, but also its uniquely Canadian lighting. That lighting runs the gamut from bright blue to grey, and forest greens.I'm certainly not putting myself in their league, but I've tried to show that lighting in recent  posts,however inadvertently. You'll see it again in this post. The weather has been strange starting with the hurricane and stretching into the Colorado storm that crossed the Great Lakes bringing us snow and rain, but nothing in comparison to the snow Manitoba received. Our temperature today is 11C, dropping tonight to -1C. That's a temperature drop of 12 degrees in 8 hours. Sure there's no such thing as global warming!!




The Boreal birds are here from the Common Redpoll shown above to the swarm of Bohemian Waxwings shown opposite, all bringing their unique colour to offset the grey skies.







THIS IS A LONG POST SO CLICK ANY PHOTO TO WATCH THE SLIDE SHOW.


A post to: I'd-Rather-Be-Birdin',Our World Tuesday, and World Bird Wednesday.


Opposite a male Evening Grosbeak
Black-capped Chickadee

Blue Jay.

Male Pine Grosbeak

Mourning Dove.

Pine Sisken at The feeder.





This is a pair of photos as this crow or raven actually flies out of the sun to buzz Boom and I.
He's quite close.

Red Squirrel in a black spruce tree

Common Redpoll

Sun rising over the ridge







This is that strange colour that results as the sun back lights some of the trees.




Again the sun hitting the Redpolls.
Blue Jay

Female Evening Grosbeak

Look mom no hands!!

Male Pine Grosbeak in the snow.

Red Squirrel

Resplendent in the grey light.

Sun lit tree

The sun itself

Bohemian Waxwings.

Chickadee

Male Evening Grosbeak.

Red Squirrel

Female Pine Grosbeak

Male Evening Grosbeak.

Male Pine Grosbeak

Common Redpoll

Female Pine Grosbeak.

A swarm of Bohemian Waxwings.

Redpoll

Female Pine Grosbeak

Same

Jay in wind and snow.

A change coming, maybe.

Female Pine Grosbeak

Same.

Male and female Pine Grosbeaks.

A perfect half moon.

Sun at the end of the trail

Female pine Grosbeak and a Common Redpoll

Reflections in the icy tundra creek.

Close up Bohemian Waxwings.

Waxwings settling in.

Wet Jay.

Female Pine Grosbeak
Just a personal note: Thanks to Ladyfi for checking on Boom and I. We have not been posting for a while trying to get ready for winter. Getting ready was complicated by the weather, which was not nearly as bad as anywhere else. Also, I'm probably not going to post twice a week as I did before. Only because it takes such incredible time, and Boom and I are getting slower than ever, and have other hobbies as well. That doesn't mean we're ill, we're just fine. And no, I don't want to shorten the posts. Of course we may not stick to this idea, we have all the sticking power of spit.




Interestingly enough the blog continued to receive its usual visits from the usual countries.


65 comments:

  1. Hello, I'm Nadezda. I'm gardening in Northern Europe and I saw many of these birds here. I love waxwings!
    http://northern-garden.blogspot.com/

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  2. Hi gary, glad t hear you and Boomer are doing well. I was wondering and missing your post. You have a fantastic collection of birds. I love the Pine and Evening Grosbeaks and the beautiful Bohemian Waxwings. The Redpolls are cute too. Gorgeous birds and photos. Have a great week!

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  3. Beautiful series, the Blue Jay I find totally awesome.

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  4. It sure looks exciting to have all that company from the far north! I feel your pain about the frequency of posting a blog. I resolved to do it only once a week as I have so many other things going on. Then the photos start piling up and I have a backlog of choosing and processing them. I don't have time to be retired!

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  5. the grosbeaks are so cool. that one shot of redpoll and grosbeak together is neat! had no idea of the size difference!

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  6. Hello Boom
    Beautiful photo series showing.
    Thanks for the comment on my blog.
    Hanne Bente

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  7. You have created a wonderful post with your collection of birds and scenes. Thanks for sharing the their beauty.

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  8. h
    Hi Gary, you and Boomer take care in your winter, hunker down, lovely series of photos, are they all in an area close to you?
    Age, like the season, creeps up gradually rather than like a sudden snowstorm, and yes, blogs take time, serious thought, and editing of pics and more. But we all so enjoy yours,and will wait for the next post. Greetings from Jean

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  9. I thought I put in a comment last night, but maybe my login didn't go right. Your photos and names are always so welcome, and if there are not so many pages on your blog, we will understand. As long as you are both well, keeping warm, and enjoying each day, we will be happy . Cheers from Jean

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  10. Awesome. Of course I like ALL your photos, I always do, but the Pine Siskin seems to have captured my heart today. And may I add that the post title is perfect.

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  11. Oh My Grosbeaks and Waxwings...just marvelous. Happy week~

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  12. Fantastic photos ! Oh the climate is definately changing . Our winters here in Southwestern Ontario have got milder and less snow and the snow flies later in the season then it did 10 years ago . Being raised on a farm I learnt to take note of the weather every day and even now it is instilled in me to know what the weather will be like by the smell of the air the feel and watching the sky's! Have a good day !

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  13. Great shots again Gary. Send me some of those Waxwings please.

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  14. The sun peaking over the ridge....a welcome sight on a super day of walking through the area...the birds, oh the birds!!! Mighty glorious all the way around.

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  15. Hi Gary

    I am glad to hear you and Boomer are doing well, we are all slowing down. My brother took Helen and I to the McMichael Gallery a couple of years ago and we also visited their works at the AGO on our last Toronto visit. I just love their painting and your photos often remind me of their landscapes. I enjoyed your waxwings and grosbeaks we will not get the the the farm/cabin this winter and I will miss the winter birds.

    All the best to both of you.

    Guy

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  16. Again a varied and fine slide show with many interesting birds. I am impressed with the diversity in nature with you.

    Ottar

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  17. Another charming collection of images Gary. You do have a lovely variety of birds in your neck of the woods! Glad to hear you and Boomer are fine.

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  18. Wonderful variety of birds/captures for the day, Gary, as always and they are colorful! And beautiful fall colors as well! Have a great week!

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  19. Beautiful birds. Evening Grosbeak is delightful.

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  20. What a tweet, I mean treat! Makes me want to chirp and sing.

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  21. I'm glad you're well, Gary, and that you and Boom are still getting out with your camera. I'm hoping to soon see some or all of the birds you photographed here. I've already seen a Boreal chickadee...but not fast enough to photograph it.

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  22. Another lovely journey around your patch Gary..

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  23. Congratulations for this interesting collection of fine catches of birds, magnificent. Greetings.

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  24. Another great collection of bird shots.

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  25. Wow ~ quite the half moon shot and of course your birds shots are always awesome ~ (A Creative Harbor) ^_^

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  26. The pine grosbeak is gorgeous. Wonderful series of birding photos.

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  27. I always look forward to seeing your beautiful bird shots.

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  28. I love seeing all your beautiful birds as well as the scenery. It's common this time of the year for us to have a 30 or even 40 degree difference in night and day temperatures. But when we have that much of a difference it's because the day temperatures are unseasonably warm. Still it's weird to have it drop below freezing and then during the day warm up to T shirt weather. That happens a lot in central NC this time of the here.

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  29. OMG, that's a lot of beautiful birds, and i love most the yellow one! I wonder why they don't seem cold at all, even if they have feathers i bet their faces are exposed to cold too! LOL

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  30. Beautiful post -- the waxwings in the red berries are heart-stoppingly lovely. I certainly understand the 'slowing down bit'....and I'm not surprised that you still had visitors even when not posting. I sometimes come back to your blog just to look at the slide show again (or for the first time if I've been short of time the first time). Take care and stay warm. (The snow looks beautiful, but being in it would hurt my bones! I'm a weather wimp.)

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  31. I'm loving the Grosbeaks this week, and snap on the Waxwings!

    Blogging can be very time-consuming, I agree, and sometimes we just need to pull back a little for other stuff! Enjoy.

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  32. Great pictures - I always look forward to your posts - so I'll just have to cope with one a week!

    Cheers - Stewart M - Australia

    PS: I think our back-yards are rather different!!

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  33. Oh, what fabulous shots and colours! Enjoy your world. I do!

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  34. Another fabulous nature series. I love the 'Look ma no hands' shot. Too funny.

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  35. Great shots - I especially like the anticipation in #3, the action in #18 and the delightful #50 but favourite is #38 - the bird looks like a grand sage pondering the next move.

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  36. Wow - you got some great close-ups here, Gary! And I love the half moon shot.

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  37. It's good to have another post from you this week. Your birds are great but I especially like all the landscapes you include - which of course are different from anywhere else on earth! Very beautiful!

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  38. Great serie of photos!
    Lovely to see your post!

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  39. What a wonderful variety of birds shots. Your world if full to over flowing with beautiful birds.

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  40. Congrats to so many nice photos!
    Greetings Pia

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  41. Again very beautiful bird pictures ! The red squirrel looks exactly like the squirrels we have here. They are so cute !

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  42. Fantastic shots Gary! You've got a lot of great birds here. They are small and tiny...and difficult at times to capture on film:) Thanks for sharing.

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  43. As always--a GREAT series of photos!
    Love the moon shot also :)

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  44. The sticking power of spit -yeah I had imagined you that way! About your hobbies: are yo going to share sometime? We're bloggers you know, we want to know what you're doing every minute of the day! (don't take that seriously)
    I particularly like the feather pattern of the pine siskin:)

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  45. Nice shots - I love that first one and the Grosbeak.

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  46. Wow, what a great set of photos. Fantastic closeups!

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  47. Love the Grosbeaks and Siskins! We don't see those around here.

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  48. Such an array of different colored feathers!

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  49. The Chickadee has me totally, utterly humbled and in awe after viewing this powerful post. What I love about winter is right here. Thanks for sharing these. I feel the quiet.

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  50. Wow! Fascinating shots. I enjoyed your various photos very much. Birds, squirrels, Sunrise and half moon, all of them are fantastic.

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  51. Lots of excellent photos there. i really like the one of the grosbeak and redpoll showing the size difference

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  52. Birds of your country are really beautiful ;-)
    CĂ©line & Philippe

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  53. Love the grosbeaks and the redpolls! Happy Thanksgiving, Gary!

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  54. Great post, full of critters, you get such a variety of birds and great pictures of them. Love your back lit pictures.

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  55. · Thanks for your visit and kind comment.
    I love your valuable collection of birds.

    · regards

    ·CR· &·LMA·

    ·

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  56. Stunning photos of a beautiful landscape! :):):)

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  57. Magnificent collection of Nature images, the colors of this superb habitat are incredible and all the little friends are beautiful!

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  58. A great post which I really enjoyed reading. I took a lot of time looking at each of the images and felt almost like I was there. Thank you for sharing!

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  59. Hi there. Great set of pictures!! I live in Toronto, and earlier this year, my wife, Jean, and I were in Ireland where we came upon the rarely seen Red Squirrel. To us, they actually look somewhat like our Canadian Red squirrels, but boy, do they have long ears! We were shocked to learn that U.K. and Irish Red squirrels are contracting the pox virus from Grey squirrels, and dying. We have far too many Grey squirrels here at our feeders, but further north, near Algonquin Park, Red squirrels are much more common. We feel very lucky to have seen two Red squirrels in Ireland, and have posted some of our pictures and videos for anyone interested at: http://frametoframe.ca/photo-essay-red-grey-squirrels-canada-ireland


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  60. The railway tracks shot is just superb!

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  61. I love foggy photos and these are good ones.

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