Scenes, Great Blue Herons, Northern Flickers, Canada Geese and Cedar Waxwings. A Post to MWT

Bright Skies Along The Ridge.

This post has no particular theme, just the celebration of nature, and a solid weekend of hiking, and the discovery of another accessible wetland. Doesn't the young Cedar Waxwing look like a bandit? A post to MWT @ http://ourworldtuesdaymeme.blogspot.com/

Blue Jay.

Young Cedar Waxwing.

Young Cedar Waxwing.

Adult Cedar Waxwing.

Male Northern Flicker.

Profile Male Northern Flicker.

Northern Crow In Flight.

Great Blue Heron.

Great Blue Heron.

Profile Great Blue Heron

Great Blue In Flight.

Canada Goose In Flight.

Toad flax or Eggs & butter.

Chipmunk

Big Skies, Flora and Fauna of The Vermilon River. A Post to SWF.

Bright Sky.

Darkening Skies.

 Most of these photos were taken prior to the cold snap, although the second sky sure promises something. The forest flowers are diminishing now although some continue to bloom. The wild sunflowers are from my garden, but are in the forest also. They provide, of course, seeds for the birds, and nectar for the insects, as perhaps the last forest bounty before winter. It's unbelievable how tough these Johnny Jump Ups are. The hawk photo is just too difficult to tell which he is. I think the hawks have a rough time here as the Ravens attack them on sight. A Post to SWF @ http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Toadflax or" butter& eggs."

Wild Sunflowers.

Johnny Jump Ups

Mourning Cloak

Cabbage White.

Dragon Fly

Dragon Fly

Juvenile Northern Harrier or Sharp Shinned Hawk

Huegy Complaing.

The Regal Huegy.

Sparrow.

White Throat at the feeder.

Red Squirrel

Belted Kingfisher and A Phildelphia Vireo of The Vermilon River. A Post To WBW.

Belted Kingfisher.

 With the dry weather, I was able to actually enter one of the East Track Wetlands without sinking up to my knees, or even deeper. Paying attention to the trail, I caught movement in my eye and managed to capture these shots of a Belted Kingfisher. I think it's a male as the band doesn't run all the way around his chest.
The photos of the Philadelphia Vireo were taken earlier along the feeder creek to the East Track Wetland. Both the Kingfisher and the Philadelphia Vireo are firsts for me, made even more exciting by the photos. This year has been an incredible year for new sightings. Thanks to NWO Birds for help with the Vireo which is very close to a Tennessee Warbler.

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

I had not intended to answer some of the replies to my Tuesday post quite so soon. But let me try the easier ones and at the risk of losing some friends  To Grace: Virtual doesn't appeal to all the senses that the forest does, and virtual is an inertia of body, mind and soul ( no religion intended).The xbox war games, with their easy virtual kill illustrate this; just try looking at them and then ask any combat vet from any war what they think of them. Besides virtual leads to that 21st century disease called " fat-assism or spectatorism". To Kay: I think I have been in almost all Canadian major cities, and probably most of the secondary cities, and if I can't get out on the water or in a forest within an hour, then I'm not trying. Even New York has central park. The point I'm making is that I want our government to spend money to get people out to the forest, to both fight ignorance and "fat assism" mentioned above. To Ladyfi: the population of Sweden is 9.3 Million people in a land mass of 174,000 square miles. The population of Canada is about 3.9 million in a land mass of 32 million square miles, or 20 times that of Sweden with almost one half the population. The bulk of the population lives along the Can/U.S. border. Our heritage is the forest, I'm emphasizing that the forest is a stewardship, not an ownership. To Stewart & Airja: I listen to Radio Australia in the early A.M. My impression is that Australia is suffering desperately from global warming and the excesses of mining, which your Labour Government is trying to reverse with at least a carbon tax. Nor do I get the impression and correct me if I'm wrong that the Australia population, apart from their own suffering, is terribly committed to green and all that it involves, with involve being the operative word. Be aware I'm not convinced that a majority of Canadians , although the number is growing, are committed to a green approach either. To Louise: It's great that you can see hope in local iniative, but I don't see much hope in that most of  the land is gone, except for the parks and they're going because of republican fiscal constraint, which is a crock by the way, and the climate etc is all secondary to a dying economy based on cheap energy and extreme comsumption, and a firm committment to reward the rich and corporations with tax deals. Gee do I sound like a Democrat?

Side View.

Profile.

Belted Kingfisher.

Philadelphia Vireo.

Scenes, Butterflies, Wildflowers, Frogs and Toads, and Canada Geese of the Vermilon River.

Vermilon Forest Skyline

Despite the forecast of rain, I've gotten out hiking and of course taking photos. Also I've spent sometime contemplating how fortunate I am to live here. When I was young, still at university in fact, we used to debate " what a Canadian is " Nine out of ten times, this was debated viz a viz Americans, which always resulted in a negative definition. Or lately we debate it in terms of multiculturalism. But that leaves me and millions of Canadians without a home. After all we second generation Canadians have no real feel for our parents' country. In my case it always felt very foreign.  Having lived out of the country and ultimately having been as a young man offered the opportunity to move back to Europe, which I turned down, let me offer this definition- a Canadian is a person who is at home in his environment, be it the wilderness or the city. The key is to know them both, and thus preserve them both. This is of course the totally opposite of the US experience, which essentially is to develope everthing. The opportunity to explore the wilds must be offered to new Canadians. Most new Canadians have never experienced a wilderness or even a park and they must know the difference between the two and the city. This is what we must work on, and even insist on.It essentially makes us unique in North American. There is nothing like where I live in the US or Europe; possibly the only other country that has the same thing is Russia, and the Russians call their country "mother Russia".

I'll speak more about this later as my philosophy defines itself. A Post to http://ourworldtuesdaymeme.blogspot.com/

Thanks to Karen & Jackie for identifying the Sulphur. Hope someone comes up with an identification of the brown one.

Skyline

Black Swallowtail

Eastern Swallowtail.

Pink Edged Sulphur.

Mourning Cloak.

Unknown

Buttercup.

Devil's Paintbrush.

Mountain Ash showing a tinge of fall.

Wild Asters

Canada Geese

Canada Geese.

Canada Geese.

Northern Leopard Frog.

Unknown Toad.

Cloudy Skies of the Vermilon River. A Post to SWF.

Cloudy

 The weather has been mostly cloudy or overcast with some rain. Probably as a result of Edna, although we are much out of her reach. Boom & I hope you are all fareing well.

Stormy Clouds

The Chickadees seem more active, and the male Goldfinch is starting his change to fall colours. In fact all around us the forest is starting to look a little more like fall.

Storm Clouds.

Chickadee.

Chickadee Side View.

Male Goldfinch Moulting.

Male Northern Flicker.

Male Northern Flicker.

Sparrow.

Red Squirrel.

A Post To SWF @ http://skley.blogspot.com/