Saturday, August 3, 2013

Wildflowers,Warblers and Woodpeckers of The Vermilon River.

 Again this is a long post, so use the slide show by all means, although there is some copy later in the post. The mornings are cool, although the sun is hot, but the combination makes for dewy mornings and mist. Great for photography. In order to fill the large gap in my life made by Boomer's demise, I took up video with the new camera. I feel I've arrived at the stage where the technology is overwhelming my films. The recommendation to join vimeo certainly pointed this out, not in terms of their seminars but from the quality point of view. I would, at the risk of sounding like an expert, say that YouTube is the average, and Vimeo is the best, certainly from the nature view point. So the point of this is: I was filming and taking stills in the riparian area that drains the long Lake wetlands and then flows into the east track wetlands,which is filled with insects and birds because of the food supply available to them. These are some of the happenings and the photos.

Some people sweated over this ID. The full name is
Northern Bluebells. I don't use the Latin name because
I'm not an expert and it seems well you know pretentious.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Choke Cherries

Preening Goldfinch

 The plants at the side of the dandelion in seed are wild lupins in seed.
Bull Thistle

Viper's Bugloss

 There are 5 varieties of wild asters in the area. I don't try to make the id any tighter than that. I use a private website called Andy's Northern Ontario Wildflowers and Flowering Shrubs, if you want to look at it.
A post to:
Id Rather Be BirdinOur World Tuesday and WBW

Below are I think Woodland Phlox.

Unknown

A mass of Bladder Campion.

 These dogbane flowers are smaller than the finger nail on your smallest finger.
Evening Primrose

 Like the wild asters I don't try to tighten down the ID of the golden rods.




Below: Joe Pye weed in its last stages. The wildflowers each have their season.

 The wild raspberries are larger this year than I remember them from other years. Compare these to DNA altered commercially offerings.
Joe Pye weed


 A lot of the berries are missing thanks to the birds,especially the waxwings, and of course, me.
Another seed shot.

Song Sparrow

Thistle

Wild Asters

Woodland Phlox

Bladder campion.


Close up Joe Pye Weed

Full sun on the thistles

There were flocks of warblers playing in the the thick growth. I think all these guys are Nashville Warblers, including the Immature. I put them altogether.







Immature.




Side View.

Preening Goldfinch

Wild Aster

Bladder Campion in the sun

Song Sparrow

Wet web

Bluebells

Lunch is served

Dogbane

Evening Primrose.

Goldenrod

Hiding

Joe Pye Weed

Goldfinch

Song Sparrow

Waning wild daisies 

 I got this sequence out of order. The riparian vegetation grows on soil that ranges from sand or gravel to the rich black bog soil that for instance the wild Iris prefer. The perfect soil for ants, so I usually find Northern Flickers in here. I caught the female below at an enormous hole in a fairly rotten Aspen tree. I turned the corner and caught up to the whole family.

Mom and Dad


 Female at nest.







A little Scratch

 At last the Immature Northern Flicker.
Immature.

Preening

Then a Male Hairy Woodpecker joined them.

Female at the nest.

 See new Video. Click here: Video Vimeo

57 comments:

  1. love the flickers. cute warblers, too. beautiful blooms and seed puffs, too.

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  2. Hi What a wonderful selection of birds and wild flowers. I love the sequence of Flicker photos. I have never seen that bird so it was lovely to see it with its family. Have a great weekend.

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  3. So many fine photos ,fun that your rasberries are big to this year ,here we have a lot of them too ,have a nice day .Nette

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  4. Superb collection of photos you have taken there.

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  5. The sheer number of wonderful birds you have is amazing to me. I like how you put the Nashville warblers together and am looking forward to seeing them (and everything else) when I go back to look at the slide show. I always have to comment first because otherwise I forget. Your wildflowers are beautiful.

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  6. Awesome post! I love the glittering spider web.

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  7. Love the seed pics with background out of focus, perfect. The birds, I marvel at the many types, and wonder how long you wait to get each photo so outstandingly wonderful. I know it takes ages, I have tried . The huge gap, I hope the loss is a little less fierce, and the out here we all help in some little way with words and comments. I agree with Youtube and Vimeo, so true. Greetings from Jean

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  8. I thought I did a comment, but it went somewhere!! Lovely series, the seed pods, with background showing them off so well.The birds, so many, and I can only guess at the many hours to get them all so beautifully in focus. A family, what a great thing to find. I hope the huge gap is a little less wide, and the pain easing little by little. Boomer will always be out here with us who knew him and in your heart always. .Vimeo surely is so good. Greetings from Jean

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  9. Love the mix of plants and birds Gary.

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  10. Enjoyed the slide show, Gary. Beautiful birds and wildflowers.

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  11. You have a talent and knack for sharing so much beauty your area offers. For all of us who stop by, I thank you for your generous and continual supply of ...well, superb-ness!!

    This is Anni @ I'd rather b birdin'...just in my personal blog admin today. I'm too lazy to switch. :o)

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  12. I'm bedazzled with your beautiful pics. Man, I wish I knew about all the wild flowers. Gorgeous! It must be a delight to see.

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  13. You've got a great collection of birds and plants here. I love the Northern Flickers. They are such interesting birds. Very nice captures!

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  14. Beautiful birds, lovely flowers and the colors are so wonderful! Terrific captures as always, Gary! Have a great week!

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  15. Wow! So many great photos! You have the look and feeling to see the beauty in our nature.

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  16. Great photos - the birds and wildflowers are beautiful. I like the look of the wild raspberries - are they tastier than the commercially grown ones?

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  17. Hi Gary, thanks for sharing your beautiful flowers and birds. I like those bluebells. When I was in Guernsey we made walks in the woods over there and saw masses of bluebells, it was so beautiful.
    I am so sorry that you miss Boomer so much.

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  18. STUNNING photos! from Cochrane, Alberta

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  19. So many great shots! Love the pretty flowers.

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  20. My favorite are the birds but, I also love the wildflowers. Great series, Gary!

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  21. As always, such lovely photos.

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  22. Beautiful photos. I'm definitely a still shot kind of guy, not a video guy.

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  23. Wonderful shots of the wildflowers and birds.

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  24. What no otters?? Splendid post!

    There were some really good reflections under the big rock by the stream - but I could not get the exposure balanced to see those and the sky - so I went with the sky.

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

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  25. Hi Gary,

    I always love seeing the birds and wildflowers in your area. I like how you show how Ontario is so much to see in Nature.

    But I'm sorry you think using botanical names is "pretentious" as I think common names are confusing (since each wildflower has many different common names, some the same as other wildflowers) and botanical names are precise. :)) Just sayin'. This is in no way a criticism of your point of view, simply the reason why I prefer to include the Latin names.

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  26. Your shots are fabulous!

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  27. gorgeous wildflowers and beautiful birds. Nothing like photography to fill in the "gaps" in our lives.
    Have a great week, and thanks for stopping by my blog today.

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  28. Wonderful flower and bird fotos!

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  29. It's a great time of year for wildflowers. Terrific series!

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  30. Yes, these pictures are beautiful, beautiful colors, beautiful birds! Greetings!

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  31. Hi Gary,
    You have very nice pictures here, amazing. I also love to walk through the forest and take pictures of whatever seems interesting to me, specially birds and flowers.

    And thanks for visiting my blog. Have a wonderful week.

    Laura :)

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  32. I haven't seen any of these birds here in India, thanks for sharing...

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  33. ...thanks Gary for your visit and warm comment!! You know I always enjoy visiting you through the Bird D'Pot AND often through Hootin' Anni's when you stop by!!

    Have a great day.

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  34. I've learnt something new - go check out vimeo. Loving the dolfinch, bull thistle and warblers this post Gary ... oh, and the bluebells :).

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  35. Back to look at slide show...such pure pleasure. Also, I believe you when you say you don't use the Latin names of plants because it would seem pretentious. Nobody would believe me if I said I didn't use even the common names for that reaso , would they? I'm pretty sure they'd think, correctly, that I am just ignorant. I try to remember but without too much luck usually.

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  36. You have wonderful photos, as usual! Your birds are just gorgeous. I like tiny, itty bitty flowers.

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  37. You are amazing! Every visit to your blog is so educative. Thank you!

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  38. I have a lot lot learn from you, Gary! I love that you know all the names of the wildflowers and birds that you see on your walks.

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  39. Nice series as usual, Gary! I like the warblers and the fantastic spider web! Greetings from Pia in Sweden

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  40. Great photos! Loved them all. Many thanks.

    Greetings from London.

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  41. The season is moving right along with raspberries ripening and spiders spinning and such a multitude of birds.

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  42. It is so great to see how your area bursts into bird and flower colors after the long winter! Beautiful show.

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  43. I really enjoyed all of the wonderful birds, and wonderful they are, yet I also enjoyed all of the beautiful plant life~

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  44. Really enjoyed your slideshow, Gary, and learned so much. Some of the plants were familiar, but I'm still a total novice at bird ID --always glad to see a lot and compare with my area.

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  45. Hi! Nice collection of birds and wildflowers. There are similar wildflowers in our country too.
    Thanks for sharing.

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  46. What the lovely series of the beautiful pictures. love it. thanks for sharing your magical captures.

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  47. Hi friend! really, you have beautiful captures! such an interesting update. so glad to visit. and hope to visit at my post.

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  48. Awesome captures! Your world is so beautiful. Thank you for sharing!!!

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  49. Hi Gary, Thank you so much for coming and visiting my blog Photo Adventure. Unlike you I am a newbie and admire your ability to put together a wonderful blog. I could sure learn from you on how to photograph birds.

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  50. I love visiting your blog, Gary!! There is always such a beautiful array of nature, birds & flowers, that you have to share.
    I also love reading your narration. :)

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  51. A great serie, interesting to study the details!

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