Scenes, Birds , Flowers, Turtles and Creatures of the Vermilon River. A Post to MWT.

Island In Vermilon.

 This post is a collection of images. With the heat and some personal things to do, I haven't been getting as far, but I have been out. The first shots are of the river islands, and its rock outcroppings. You can see from photo 2 that everything is not perfect in our paradise either. See the name on the rock in the forefront. I normally remove any graffiti which mar the rocks, but left them this time for you to see.

Rock Face.

Turtle.

The turtle is from another wetland, actually north of Mystic Lake as are the water lilies and the water weed.

Water Lilies

Water weed.

White-throated Sparrow.

I am always intrigued  by White-throated Sparrows as they make me work to get the shot, and when I do it always look like I paid them to pose. These shots are from the woods directly behind me, about a 3 minute walk.

White-throated Sparrow.

White-throated Sparrow.

Male Hairy Woodpecker.

Huegy?

 The Male Hairy Woodpecker is visiting my feeders again. I'm pretty certain this is Huegy the crow as the shot is from the back woods also and he has just finished calling. The song Sparrow is from the same woods.

Song Sparrow

Red Day Lilly.

Yellow Day Lilly.

 The day lilies are from my garden and seem early this year. I'm pretty certain that Louise can identify them all.

Yellow Day Lilly.

Red Squirrel

Of course, I ended with a photo of this guy.





A Post to My World Tuesday @ http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

A Bit of Whimsey from the Vermilon River. A Post to Skywatch Friday.

Slightly Threatening.

The weather man this week hedged his prediction  by covering off everything,e.g. cloudy/sunny/rainy and then quoting the probability of rain. It's a good system as  it gives him an excellent chance of being right.

This post is somewhat the same a little bit of everything.


Same




Same.




Choke Cherries.




Starting with the edible fruits and then the wild flowers. The crab apples are the only domestic tree or flower shown.


Crab Apple.




Pin Cherries.




Wild Lily of the Valley or Canada Mayflower.




Wild Violets.




Yellow Rocket.




Canadian Beaver.


I posted a beaver sequence this week. if you want to look at it, scroll down the page. But I forgot to include the photo showing his tail which I've included here. Since it`s not that great a photo I gave you a good one. 


Showing Tail



Mourning Dove.






Now here are the birds, starting with the Mourning Dove, followed by the Hairy Woodpeckers and the Sparrow. Look how many insects that female has.


Profile Mourning Dove.




Male Hairy




Male Hairy




Female Hairy.




White-throated Sparrow.







A Post to Sky Watch Friday @ http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Part 2. A hike on the West Bank of the Vermilon River, along the Abandoned Railway Track. A post to Camera Critters and Scenic Sunday.

Swamp Sparrow Playing on the Ice Skim



Swamp Sparrow




Red-wing Blackbird




We're picking up where we left of on the previous post.The two sparrows are in a small wetland just over the bridge. The Red-winged Blackbirds are on the wetlands of the abandoned RR line. So are the Grackles. The Pileated Woodpecker who I think was the model for the cartoon Woody Woodpecker was in the same area. For the full woodpecker series click here http://vermilonriverwildlife.blogspot.com/2011/04/pileated-and-hairy-woodpeckers-of.html.


Red Wing Blackbird



Grackle

Grackle in the Sun

Pileated Woodpecker

Bufflehead Male Duck



Female Bufflehead




Male Bufflehead




Male and Female Bufflehead.


I normally don't have too much luck with ducks, but the Buffelheads were playing in the fast water just the other side of the small wetland shown below. I checked their range as this is the first time I've seen them and they are migrating or moving in as they're usually a bit north. The Wood Duck shown below which is not such a good photo was in the same area but right across the river. I'll have to figure out a way to get closer. I knew this trail would pay off as the active track cuts me off from the eastern side of the river.



Wood Duck.




Small Wetland to the East or on My Right

 The large wetland is still frozen but is home to the blackbird both Grackles and Red winged. The Pileated showed up in the frozen area also. The Wood Duck, really a colourful fellow, is a resident of the area.


Large Wetland To the West or My Left.





Lip of The Rapids.




White Water




Rapids




Close Up




This whole trail, an abandoned RR track is easy to hike as it is elevated above the river and wetlands, which makes for easy viewing but creates a difficulty in getting closer to the actual river bank as the sides are steep. The trail ends at the rapids which are spectacular at this time of year. The old bridge is gone of course. The river is wide above the rapids and then narrows to create the rapids. The wetlands are in the wide area above the rapids.

The Fox Among the Geese



Boomer My Companion












These fox shots were not used in my earlier post. If you want to see the whole sequence click below. Boomer was with me but not in the post. You can see from his eyes how interested he was.  http://vermilonriverwildlife.blogspot.com/2011/04/life-and-death-on-vermilon-river-post.html

A Post to Camera Critters @ http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/   and to Scenic Sunday @ http://scenicsunday.blogspot.com/

Click to enlarge all photos.