Hiking Along The East Track of the Vermilon River. A post to MWT.

The Ridge To the North.

 All these photos except the day Lilly, which is from my garden, are from the East Track area. The weather is so hot it's hard to summon up the energy for a massive hike. Although I must add the temperature and the humidity is not so high today. I think Boom & I felt the heat yesterday, or perhaps just the heat built up. We still have had no rain, and in the NW there are more than a 100 fires burning.

The Ridge to the South East.

The Wetland.

 The Ridge of course surrounds us and you have seen it before in some river scenes. It just seems too hot to summon the energy to climb the ridge to Mystic Lake or any of the other lakes that are part of the uninhabited chain up there.

 The wildflowers are all from this area. The Elecampine is actually taller than I am. The Day Lilly is from my garden. As you can see the fireweed attracts all sorts of insects. The birds were active despite the heat.

A Post to MWT @ http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

Thistle, Plumeless or Bull?

Elecampine

My Day Lilly

Song Sparrow

Song Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow.

Tree Sparrow

Cedar Waxwing.

Grass Hopper.

Swallowtail on the Fireweed.

Red Squirrel.

Wild Flowers of The Vermilon River. A Post to my World Tuesday.

Dame's Rocket.

My World Tuesday is a favourite as it lets me totally chose the post entries, so I'm choosing wildflowers in keeping with the blog's purpose to show our little part of a N. Ontario wilderness.

In a recent post, one of the commenters mentioned my sudden interest in flowers. It's not really a sudden interest , but I photograph them as they become available. They are all wild flowers and in some cases are actually referred to as weeds,but have limited lives as the flowers wain and are replaced by berries. This is a forest that one need not go hungry in, whether you're a four legged or two legged creature.

 The Dame's Rocket is just coming into flower and comes in colours that range from purple to mauve to white. It grows to about the height of an iris, but in a bushy format.


Devil's Paintbrush.




Bunch Berries.




Devil's Paintbrush is a weed in most people's estimation, but I find it adds vivid colour to the inhospitable fringe of the forest.

A post about wildflowers indicates the incredible colour of a wild forest. And allows me to display my ignorance about a great number of the wild plants.

Bunch berries are common to the forest and will eventually produce a red berry which is also edible. The small photo below is wild strawberry, which is easily differentiated from the Bunch Berry by its serrated leaves. Really sounds like I know what I'm doing doesn't it? As soon as you note the number of unknowns,you'll change your mind. By the way, several people correctly identified Vetch, full name Tufted Vetch, in my last post.


Wild Strawberry.




Unknown




Wild Violets




Spur Violet.










I've shown violets in an earlier post, and included the small photo to show you the size of them now. The one on the right is I think a Spur Violet.


Wild Red Clover is also coming up now. And below is Wild Lilly-Of-The Valley or Canada Mayflower. We also have regular Lilly-Of-The Valley. But it's not up yet.

Red Clover.



Wild Lilly-Of-The Valley




Wild Lilly-of-The Valley.




Wild Rose??




 I put in the small photo to show how prolific Canada Mayflower is.


I don't know if this is wild Rose, or not but it's in flower and is throughout the woods. The stem is prickly.

I don't know what the small white flowers below are either.


Wild Rose??




Unknown




Yellow Water Lilies.



Yellow Water Lilies are just starting to come out.


Close up Yellow Lilies.




Unknown.




Unknown



Well now the cat's out of the bag. I don't know what these are either.


But the one below comes in white and mauve unknown.


Unknown



Same Unknown

Unknown.



• 

Pin Cherries.




Blueberries




Unknown.



This is a completely new one and as you can see it has a small light pink flower. The tree cones are showing how well the trees are doing with the rain.

Unknown



Tree Growth.




Rock Face




Falls





The scenes are showing, both the lushness of the forest and a rock face on a lake above Mystic Lake. The falls carries water under a road into another wetland that I have never posted before.


White-throated Sparrow.





 
This little lady kept me company while I photographed a lot of the flowers and gave me time to change my lens to get some close ups of her. I, of course, promised to make her famous and here she is.


A Post to My World Tuesday.

A Hike to the Long Lake Wetland of The Vermilon River. A Post to my World Tuesday.

North Rock Face of Wetlands.



Shows the Meadering Channel flowing North




These wetlands are a northern continuation of the East Track Wetlands. In other words the whole area is connected by lakes, creeks, and small rivers which form the wetlands. The wetlands are then increased in size by the beavers, muskrats and otters who dam the waterways. Some of these dams are removed by the RR to safeguard their tracks, but really the beaver are both better engineers and better workers,as they just replace them. The main body of water is the Vermilon River, which all this water feeds into.

 In the first photo I'm facing north but looking to my left to show the rock face, which is of course the reverse side of all those panoramas I normally shoot to show you where we're going and give you a feeling of the height of the hills. Effectively we're in the interior of the hills.The second photo shows the meandering channel running north to join the lake above here ,which is Mystic Lake. The photo below again shows the meandering channel


Again Shows The Channel To The North.




From The South End Of the Wetlands




The photo shot from the south end shows the extent of this particular wetland, and the side view should give you a feel for the elevation of the cliffs to the east. So we're in a bowl here.


Entrance of the Wetland




Entrance to the Wetlands.




The bog shots are the entrance to this wetland. Boomer has a fit when we go here, because we actually cross the bog over branches and small logs laid across a narrows. The mud, which is gloppy, sticks to his coat, and Boomer is a winter/ice dog, not a water dog. But the sun is really warm now and this will mean the end of his hiking season until fall and winter.


Pussy Willows




Close up




Robin




Robin




Robin





The robins and the pussy willows were in the clearing on the fringe of the wetland area. It's interesting that what little sun we have had has actually caused the pussy willows to go to seed. Just as we were entering the trail to the wetland these Mallards flew over. So it's shaping up to be an interesting day.


Male and Female Mallards.



Song Sparrow



Song Sparrow




White-throated Sparrow




White-throated Sparrow.




Nashville Warbler.




As I said the sparrows and the mallards were expected, but the warbler was a surprise as I thought he was a goldfinch. But when I checked him out he's a Nashville Warbler, probably attracted to the thriving record industry in the bush. You can tell he's a Nashville Warbler, because he sings country and western. Sorry couldn't resist.

The photos are not great, but the key id markings are the white eye circle and the white area that breaks the yellow on his underside. He's apparently normal for the area but the first that I've seen.



Nashville Warbler.




Northern Flicker



Northern Flicker Showing Red



Again Showing Red Patch



I spotted the Northern Flicker in the tree and then proceeded to chase her all over for some reasonable shots. She's a female because she lacks the black mustache near her beak. These are ground woodpeckers feeding on ants. Since the soil is sandy, they have plenty to feed on.

Close Up



Turkey Vulture




Turkey Vulture




When I had entered the wetland something took off. I didn't see what it was, sort of expecting it to be a Great Blue Heron which hunt here from time to time. But as I was looking around, four large birds took of from the far side of the Wetland, and continued to circle the whole area. At first I thought they were hawks, but they're Turkey Vultures. The first that I've seen. Click on Photo 1 and you can see his red head. All in all a pretty eventful day!!!

A quick note to texwisgirl: I tried to avoid small photos this time. Boom & Gary.


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


Turkey Vulture





Turkey Vulture