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/

Some Favourite Birds of the Vermilon River. A Post to Camera Critters.



Northern Crow

 These are a few photos of some favourite birds of mine. In the second photo the Crow has been eating snow and you can see it still settling. I was going to leave the copy at a minimum, because I wasn't sure what I wanted to say and several thoughts were percolating in my poor old brain. Some comments and the popularity of the hike sequences raised some areas that I need to think about. Sondra's comment about her hope that Mystic Lake would remain free of people, and homes made me think about somethings.Firstly the chances of that happening are so unlikely that hell will freeze over first. Mystic Lake is a long chain of small lakes which are people free so my comments apply to them as well. The immediate area is economically dying. What was a rail head on the northern route is now a whistle stop, and isn't likely to resurrect itself. The major city which I call the Valley of Death worships Toronto, but always about 40 years too late. The architecture is dreadful and there is no downtown to speak of. The mall culture is still supreme here and the council still equates progress with growth. not quality. Despite the fact the city is a University town, it is not integrated with the city and it is not especially known for research unless, federal or provincial politicians are currently throwing around the people's own money in an attempt to buy votes. It will never be a centre of "smart jobs" , because it does not offer the attributes that appeal to smart jobs holders which are not hockey,or hunting or wrestling, or ATV riding.

The point I'm making is that the limits of our(only here) main urban centre protects our forests and wildlife, as a wilderness and not a park of some sort. The residents are uncomfortable with animals, and the forest, and don't want to be there. That's the difference between here and the nature blogs that I follow in the US or Europe. Where most people are hiking parks because the real wilderness is unfortunately gone. Of course the small Canadian population helps also.



Northern Crow

 
 The other problem that faces me is a technical one. The second hike post contains animals, birds, wild flowers, and scenes. The only addition I'll be adding to my camera gear is a polarizing filter to stop that water sheen, and to play with the white water. On a hike I'll shoot about 300-400 photos in RAW. Do a quick camera edit and delete some both in the field, and before I upload to my computer. I then transfer, edit and set up a file for the photos that are gong into the post. This demands high RAM, and despite some upgrades, I think my computer is not up to the job. So I'm looking...just looking!


Common RedPoll

 
The other problem is posting the blog itself, because it's a great hobby when weather curtails my hiking. But once weather improves, the trails call, and my average hike is about 4-5 hours. As I said earlier I now shoot flowers,birds, animals, scenes, and  I want to add  trees. There are also other new trails to pursue. I don't want to curtail either. So, I'm just thinking.


RedPoll

 

I'm sure all of these issues have arisen for other people. If you want to comment feel free.

RedPoll

 

Male Hairy Woodpecker

Male Hairy Woodpecker

A Post to Camera-Critters @ http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/

Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Chestnut-Sided Warbler & Hairy Woodpecker of the Vermilon River.

Yellow-Rumped Warbler

 

Rear view of Warbler

Despite the awkward name this illusive bird is a handsome fellow. I got these 2 photos along the east banks of the river. I say illusive because he then took off leaving me with a motion blur for a third photo. Early in the summer I had attempted to get some other photos of him on a trail south of the east track, and failed because the 70-300mm lens was not up to it, and he wasn't coming any closer. To see my equipment list, click on the equipment list in the archives sidebar. These trails will become more familiar to you over time, and even more so when I post some scenery shots to give you some perspective of the area. 





Chestnut-Sided Warbler



The Chestnut-Sided Warbler is apparently a bird that has adapted well to Ontario from neo-tropical areas so says the ROM Bird Guide. I haven't seen many of them and I'm extremely pleased to have this one picture. I don't log where the photos are taken, but I saw this fellow on the trail south of the east track, and continue to look for him.





Hairy Woodpecker



Side View



Hairy Woodpecker

The woodpecker photos were taken a bit north of the east track, an abandoned rail line, which is great for hiking because it runs between wetlands, and gives you some safety with a view of what lies ahead. After all you don't want to walk into a black bear feeding on blueberries.

These woodpeckers are common to the area,and differ from their cousins, the Downey, by a smaller red patch, and a large black beak about the same size as their head.