All that flapping colour!
A walk out to check the always empty mailbox is an adventure. Stepping over the Juvenal’s Duskywings all over the road as well as the American Ladies and Red Admirals! Those colours! The new beauty on our walk out today was tiny, that is a wild strawberry flower! A White-spotted Sable moth!
The dragonflies have exploded as well! Mostly Chalk fronted Corporals and American Emeralds but I caught site of a big blue guy, too quick for me! The variety is astonishing and the numbers of them! Eat those mosquitos and blackflies guys! I watched a Springtime darner doing the wild thing..(?) or eating the other dragonfly!? Yes, apparently he is feasting on another dragonfly 0_0..must be tasty! Yikes! It’s a dragonfly eat dragonfly kind of world!
Thankfully I belong to a Facebook page Insects and Arachnids of Ontario and they keep me straight on who’s who in this amazing insect world! ….and yesterday the Swallowtails arrived on the honeysuckle! Not just one type of swallowtail, but two!
The Canadian Tiger Swallowtail is found in most provinces and territories in Canada, as its name implies. Its range extends north of the Arctic Circle in the Yukon, and to Churchill in Manitoba, Little Shagamu River in Ontario, and to Schefferville in Quebec. Adults fly during spring and summer and one brood occurs. Females lay eggs singly on the host plant. The caterpillar folds the host plant’s leaves and ties them together with silk; they then eat from this structure. The pupae overwinter, then emerge in May.
Eastern Giant Swallowtail-There has been a northern expansion of the range of the giant swallowtail in recent years which has been linked to increasingly warm temperatures, and particularly to a lack of September frosts in regions of expansion starting in 2001. Larvae were then able to withstand a few frosts before they pupated. The immediate effects of this warming, as well as their effect on host plants and predators, can explain the giant swallowtail’s range expansion.
I sat in front of the blooming chives one afternoon going nowhere (my energy levels have been low, lots of joint aches and issues that may be a vitamin B12 deficiency, who knew it could affect you so much but looks that way!) and I watched all the different bugs and butterflies that came and went! The tri-coloured bumblebees are astonishing! The jury is still out on what the other guy was, may be a Two-Spotted bumblebee, there are SO many different varieties! Trying to document them all…on the chives ha! Sorry guys, I’ll still cut a few for scrambled eggs! Chives that is;)
Even if the hummingbirds are not cooperating at my hanging baskets, the dragonflies and hummingbird moths are! The Hummingbird Clearwing…that tush! Looks like a mini flying lobster! Ha!
The cottage road continues to provide great views of both the slithering and hopping variety of reptiles here! Snake haters skip this part! I absolutely love to watch the Northern Water Snakes swim. It’s a marvel of natural engineering! No fins, no feet or arms! An engineer could probably explain the bow waves and ripples they create! So far my favourite Spring photo!
One Northern Water Snake watches me as I walk past the culvert…eyeing me…hopefully not for dinner…just kidding! The Northern Leopard frogs are out for them as well as hundreds of minnows, and a few American Bullfrog pollywogs are still swimming about! Yum, frogs with no legs! Ha!
We could all snack on the grasses the Beavers so seem to enjoy, or are they clogging the culvert again! New grates are installed, so far, so good! I check every time I walk past! Ha! I guess I got sidetracked here, the reptiles are not exactly flapping colour! I haven’t even started on the birds! We’ll save that for later this week along with Rocket’s girlfriend the raccoon;) Saludos amigos! Enjoy the rainbow!
Getting greener and greener…wait…in the sky? Hello Aurora!
It has been many years since we were treated to an aurora as widely seen as the show on May 10, 2024, decades actually, 2003 we stopped riding lessons on a Friday night and had the kids and adults all go out and check out the reds streaking across the sky! Mike and I sat outside, looking to the North, waiting. That would be the normal direction it comes in from…but no! Look West Mike proclaimed as flashes of bright red and pink formed a dome of light behind us!
Hey! I said, you are supposed to be over the lake, what about my reflections. I was complaining to the aurora yes…sigh…photographers;) So this what Kp 8 and 9 look like! The needle was pegged on the scale and the numbers were off the scale by all accounts! People in Arizona and Baja could see the reds and pinks, mainly because those colours are at such a high altitude!
And how does altitude affect the colors of the aurora? Green-colored auroras are most frequent, resulting from interactions with oxygen molecules at lower altitudes (between 100-300 km or 62-180 mi), while the less commonly occurring red auroras form from interactions with higher altitude (above 300 km or 180 mi) oxygen molecules, or so NOAA tells me!
It slowly shifted over the lake as I stood and let the camera do it’s magic. I could clearly see the pinks and reds but the greens were light. It was a magical sight! I made it until midnight and then crawled off to bed as it seemed to subside but it did keep going all night as I looked out the window a few times and the whole sky was a glow, like it was full moon! What a rare treat! Hopefully with solar maximum still to come, NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) estimates that solar maximum could occur between late 2024 and early 2026 we will have a few more spectacular shows! The clouds even added a nice effect!
Apparently Mother nature, after keeping me up half the night with the aurora, decided I should get up at an unworldly hour for a sunrise as well;) Not complaining…ha! Groot was not impressed that there were no crunchy offerings for him guarding the door! No sleeping in at all!
…and for the green…it’s that bright lime Spring green, fresh leaves, fresh grass, buds…it’s an explosion of green! Along the road the Ostrich ferns are uncurling. The tightly wound immature fronds, called fiddleheads, are also used as a cooked vegetable, and are considered a delicacy mainly in rural areas of northeastern North America. It is considered inadvisable to eat uncooked fiddleheads. Brown “scales” are inedible and should be scraped or rinsed off.
..and that morel was HUGE! The Spring wildflowers are poking their heads out of the leaves as well as some flowering shrubs! Green and now colour!
Now with the flowers…come the bugs! We have had an explosion of dragonflies and butterflies, but I’ll save that for tomorrow! Enough green! Bring on the flapping colour! Ha! Saludos amigos!
BUG me, well, not the biting guys anyway!
I have to admit the one male Ruby Throated hummingbird has not been as cooperative as I would like! I’m used to professional ones, yes, that flower, perfect, hover, wonderful! Go to the pink flower! yes! It’s a take! Well, only in my dreams:) As I waited for this novice hummingbird to come back this fabulous creature flew up to the hanging basket. At first I thought it was a giant bee of sorts but no, a hummingbird clearwing moth! Apparently, according to my insects and arachnids page on Facebook it is VERY VERY early to see these guys! It burrows into the soil to overwinter as a brown, hard-shelled pupa. In the late spring, it emerges as an adult moth. H. thysbe lays green eggs on the underside of plant leaves, which hatch in about a week. As a caterpillar, it feeds on honeysuckle, dogbane, and several types of fruit trees. I’ll be watching the honeysuckle bush!
…and those dragonflies, one morning we had a few, by the afternoon there were hundreds as I walked down the road! Just two species so far, the Beaverpond Baskettail, yes, close to the beaver pond, go figure;) and the American Emerald, shouldn’t that be North American Emerald? Ha! They as far as I know are NOT edible, unlike our American Bullfrogs! As I walked down the road a small brown leaping thing caught my eye…I was looking for wildflowers but this beauty was a treat! A Wood Frog, I’ve only seen one once before here! The amazing copper colour is so shiny! The wood frog has garnered attention from biologists because of its freeze tolerance, relatively great degree of terrestrialism (for a ranid), interesting habitat associations (peat bogs, vernal pools, uplands), and relatively long-range movements. Maybe they go South for the Winter as well! He was headed into the boggy area beside the road. Looking for love no doubt!
Upon return to the house I heard a familiar croaking…the Gray Tree Frog was back as well. Looking quite svelte. I had to relocate him/her as I was moving the deck furniture to clean. You know you have cats when even the tree frogs have managed to get cat hair on themselves;)..sigh…the next day, he was very very plump! After a good feed on bugs all night no doubt! What a difference. He was sleeping off his bug feast in our cushion bench on the deck, his normal home most of the time:)
That novice hummingbird model finally came through! I’d bought a fuchsia hanging plant, I couldn’t resist, never had one here…and he said, yes ma’am…this is the plant! Training has begun! I’m not sure if the sticking the tongue out was defiance or not;) Ha!
Our daily routine still consists of clearing the debris away from the large culvert each morning. The beavers have a go at it every now and then but the mesh is small enough it catches most everything, clogs, but easily cleaned with a brush and rake. I’ve been watching a pair of Canada Geese. We have a conversation each morning on how they are doing? Anything exciting last night? They honk a fair bit at me but tolerate my conversations. They neglected to tell me they were about to become parents. Last trip to clean the culvert in the rain, of course I didn’t bring the camera, there they were swimming with three very small goslings! I was so excited! Still no photo but I have enjoyed the parents! I sat and watched them one afternoon.
I flushed a pair of Wood Ducks out of the smaller beaver pond one morning as I walked down the road, I pleaded they return but no luck yet, such colourful birds!
I’ll have to settle for the Red Bellied Woodpeckers! The male has taken to feeding in the morning now, maybe less wary of me, and that green background now! Glorious! Add the Rose Breasted Grosbeak and Orioles and we have quite the colour palette now!
and of course, the Baltimore Orioles. So far just a few boys, no ladies, but they will arrive soon as well!
I did promise donkeys and daffodils! We had a lucky sunny Sunday and off we went to help with stalls and play with critters. They are just too cute for words, and so kind. You might get a gentle nudge for a treat but not run over like the larger equines for snacks, and this field of flowers…gorgeous!
Each Sunday, Ringo the old barn cat that lives in Jennifer’s shed in his heated house gets a cut up fillet of fish he shares with Alice and Sophie, two wonderful lady cats. He is a mess of an old cat that you couldn’t touch 9 months ago, as feral as they get but he transformed almost overnight it seems to a happy and friendly boy. He hasn’t been the healthiest, but was waiting in the middle of Jennifer’s driveway for us Saturday for his fissch! I had to lure him away from the truck with his treat to eat by the steps. Sadly he passed a few days ago, I really had a long heart rending sob, but at the same time I marveled at the turn about he did, and how delightful it was to watch him eat his fish each visit…Fly high old man and give Beezil and the rest of our long departed feline souls big head butts and under chin scratches for me when you arrive. He will be missed by all…thankfully, there is Alice and the lady house cats to warm our hearts…
I wished they all lived as long as we did…
I will bid so long, farewell, auf weidersehen goodbye, I leave and heave, a sigh and say goodbye…
Goodbye…
..and suddenly it’s getting green! Did I mention the hummingbirds? Ha!
Never ceases to amaze me, no leaves, leaves! Yeah! Oh wait…and bugs! Ha! It’s the flying biting ones and then those miniscule little Spring ticks the size of a pinhead that I truly abhor…but hey, it’s warm…er!
I appreciate the fact that these bigger flying bugs, eat those smaller flying biting bugs! And the snow birds are back! May 2nd marked the very very early return of not only the Orioles, but a Ruby Throated Hummingbird, and a male Grosbeak! Time to get my boogie shoes on! We all need some KC and the Sunshine Band on a rainy day!
..and those songs. The Rose Breasted grosbeak and Baltimore Oriole have such distinctive voices! Adding to the repertoire of the Grackle squawks and Red Winged Blackbird squeaks is nice! This morning the hummingbird was chasing a poor American Goldfinch around the trees with the goldfinch looking like “Whad-I do buddy?” You looked wrong at him, they are cranky little beasts about their territories right now, and always!
..and it’s not just the birds singing! There’s a whole bunch of croaking, popping and slithering going on! Out by the mailbox a record 18 turtles were perched on the log sunning! It must have been a Town Hall meeting morning!
The Northern Water snakes are sunning on the road. I tried to shoo one off, he was maybe 15″ long and he had other ideas! Talk about cranky! The Gray Rat snakes are also out! Such beautiful creatures!
Down at the infamous culvert a little Garter Snake was fussing a fair bit even though I was a good ways away until I noticed he/she had company. It was snacking on a tasty minnow, which is actually a Brook Stickleback I have been told! The other snakes head was under our culvert so I couldn’t tell what it was, a Northern water snake the Ontario Amphibian page told me. Probably trying to steal the minnow! Beautiful to see life returning after Winter…and the pollywogs! They are huge!
Just a few…thousand American Bullfrog pollywogs…Time to metamorphosis ranges from a few months in the southern part of the range to 3 years in the north, where the colder water slows development. Who knew they come up for air and blow bubbles! Check out the juvenile with a small, grey, oval-shaped area on top of the head, the parietal eye! They grow quickly in the first eight months of life, typically increasing in weight from 5 to 175 g (0.18 to 6.17 oz), and large, mature individuals can weigh up to 500 g (1.1 lb). In some cases bullfrogs have been recorded as attaining 800 g (1.8 lb) and measuring up to 8 in (20 cm) from snout to vent. The American bullfrog is the largest species of true frog in North America.
The American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus), often simply known as the bullfrog in Canada and the United States, is a large true frog native to eastern North America. It typically inhabits large permanent water bodies such as swamps, ponds, and lakes. Bullfrogs can also be found in manmade habitats such as pools, koi ponds, canals, ditches and culverts. The bullfrog gets its name from the sound the male makes during the breeding season, which sounds similar to a bull bellowing. The bullfrog is large and is commonly eaten throughout its range, especially in the southern United States where they are plentiful…frog legs…hmmm….we may have to wait until they develop them;) The only parts normally eaten are the rear legs, which resemble small chicken drumsticks, have a similar flavor and texture and can be cooked in similar ways:)
I think I may stick to chicken! Reminds me of the Far Side cartoon…Thank you Gary Larson for your wonderful sense of humour!
..and the gray rat snakes are out as well! Such beautiful animals and yes, we have eaten snake stew…in Baja, Rattlesnake stew…once again, I’ll stick with chicken, it’s all those bones!
A scent-hunter and a powerful constrictor, P. spiloides feeds primarily on small mammals, birds, and bird eggs. A medium to large serpent, the gray ratsnake typically reaches an adult size of 99–183 cm (3.25–6.00 ft) total length (including tail). An agile climber, the gray ratsnake is at home from the ground to the tree tops in many types of hardwood forest and cypress stands, along tree-lined streams and fields, and even around barns and sheds in close proximity to people. Ask our neighbours, they had one hanging from the door frame to their cottage one day, Katie wanted to know if we had heard her screaming! Ha! Bet she checks that doorframe every time she goers in now!
…and not just the returning animals but the life springing from the ground! The sugar maples are blooming and the hophorn beam, Ironwood, just love that name! Ha! The wildflowers have started pushing their way up through the layers of leaves.
I love the Field Horsetail-The plant contains several substances that can be used medicinally. It is rich in silicon (10%), potassium, calcium, manganese, magnesium and phosphorus, phytosterols, dietary fiber, vitamins A, E and C, tannins, alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, glycosides and caffeic acid phenolic ester. The buds are eaten as a vegetable in Japan and Korea in spring. It has separate sterile non-reproductive and fertile spore-bearing stems growing from a perennial underground rhizomatous stem system. They just look so cool! Like some kind of asparagus!
I found a pair Mock-orange Scissor Bees (Chelostoma philadelphi) which I didn’t realize even existed until today, making whoopee in the newly bloomed trillium;) Isn’t nature grand! I almost forgot the horny gray/black squirrels! OMG god, they were impossible, chasing a poor female around, a gang of 6 of them. I came close to interfering as she was exhausted but decided it was nature taking it’s course. Sometimes I wonder just how civilized we humans think we are! NOT! The spiky rock was more my speed! Rocket kept looking out the kitchen window at something, I went out, couldn’t see anything, then Mike spotted it, a porcupine making it’s way very slowly across the yard! Some days…I did catch up with a young White Tailed deer that decided if it froze, I wouldn’t know it was there…I talked softly to it as I walked down the hill and right on past…:) Every day is an adventure!
..and there’s more, bugs, more screaming birds, tree frogs, donkeys and daffodils…but we’ll tell you tomorrow. I’ll leave you with a beautiful sunrise, love those flat calm mornings, time to get the dock attached and the canoe in the water! Saludos amigos! Hasta pronto!
Spring oh Spring, where art thou? Part 3 Incoming Ospreys!
I heard them before I saw them from inside the house. The Ospreys were back! Their distinctive kikikikiking is unmistakable! I ran outside with the camera as a pair circled the house. They had a Herring Gull and Turkey vulture all worked up as well following them about. Just joy! I had no idea they could rubber neck and talk at the same time!
They circled around and around, going up and then coming back down, and eventually flew right by at eye height over the water…glorious!
They meandered off after awhile as I stood and watched the show. Maybe Spring is here! Will have to take a paddle down the lake to check on the nest to see if it is being rebuilt or occupied! There are so many beautiful birds returning. On my way down to the barn just before the Narrows Lock I spied a gentleman with a camera and a telephoto pointed up at a tree. I HAD to stop and ask what was he looking at! Always curious! He told me “Listen!” and there it was a very noticeable song, and high up in the pine, a Pine warbler. First for me! Thanks Ted for letting me know! He does a lot of ebird lists from the locks he said! What a beautiful bird! Now I have been keeping my ears open for new songs! We do get Yellow Warblers coming through here in the Fall so maybe the migration is starting early and I need to frequent Warbler stops! Ha! I’m not much of a birder but I do love to see new ones!
Today, I think I’m finally feeling about 90% of where I should be, I will attempt to avoid the flu/viruses at all costs in the future! We have been living in a small bubble and had forgotten what getting sick was like for the last four years. I wanted to go to the Lanark Lodge (Retirement residence) yesterday for their “appreciation” day for volunteers. The Lanark County Camera Club members had donated many photos and I’d helped clean a few to donate to them but I was coughing so badly I would have been received like Typhoid Mary so gave it a miss, damn, I missed out on real pies! More rest! As the Turkey vultures pass over I keep telling them “I’m not dead yet!”
It’s amazing how a few hours of sun can change your daily outlook! You should have seen the Mewberries faces this morning…wet, and cold?! Outrageous! Start that fire! Now!
They are there own little rays of sunshine on gloomy days! Forecast for tomorrow is looking better! I really want to get down to the barn and photograph the donkeys in the field of daffodils! Fingers crossed for sun and some more energy this weekend! I’ve poked my head up to look at the sunrises, we did have one beauty last week, I HAD to get up, coughing or not! Now to program a coffee maker to the sunrises!
I was awake enough to check my camera settings this time! Last trip down the day of the eclipse resulted in only one photo in focus, it was a beauty but I’d forgotten to move the stabilizer and the autofocus buttons to the on position…some days!
Sometimes the colour fades so quickly you really have to move! Groot was NOT impressed “WAIT Müther! You did NOT feed me yet!” that’s the life of a sunrise chasing photographers cat I told him as I trotted off! I am sure he was planning my demise the entire time I was down there! Quickly forgotten once the magical crunchies appeared before his hungry eyes! All was forgiven;)
I think we are mostly caught up, whew…I will save the horny gray/black squirrels for another day…they, are, LOUD! Just a teaser, no sound recorded but I did have to get up and go inside after awhile! I’ll leave you with one of the resident Painted Turtles that lives in the swamp by the mailboxes. We are sharing the same speed mode right now, slow, but steady;) Like a herd of turtles. Saludos amigos, hasta pronto!
Spring oh Spring, where art thou? Part 2 The return of the snowbirds and the cranky locals!
Everyone is cranky! Food has been the number one priority with the weather wafting between good and evil! My feeders are getting cleared out whenever the skies turn gray and if there’s snow! Pandemonium! We have three or four dozen goldfinches duking it out with the Purple Finches and Chickadees!
Thankfully the snow has been short lived and the few days of sun we have had have been a marvel…those days you think, maybe it IS Spring after all! The Goldfinches are gradually changing to their summer colours of brilliant yellow and the Purple Finches just seem to be getting brighter, not exactly purple, who named these guys after all? Red finches must have already been taken!
The red maples are starting to bloom along with the honeysuckle budding out, tasty treats! And just so pretty! The Red Bellied male has been going from tree to tree calling out for all to hear “This is my territory, my lady bird, everyone else piss off!” well, that is what it sounds like! He doesn’t like to come to the feeder when I sit too closely but did swoop down to take a look, keeping an eye on his girl!
The Hairy Woodpeckers have gotten very quiet, avoiding the female Red Bellied after their disagreements but they sneak into the feeder when she is not around, but not challenging the Grackles and Red Winged Blackbirds! The Grackles continue with their “Possessed” and “Not possessed” stances;)
The Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers are back as well, isn’t that just fun to say…ha! I caught a glimpse of a Song Sparrow, heard the first, there are two! American Tree Sparrows are back and I could have sworn I saw a Chipping Sparrow as well! The Eastern Phoebes have been bug catching and I even spied a quick visit from an Eastern Bluebird!
and…a Loon! Early, about two weeks earlier than our normal if I look back at my photos from the last few years! I heard it calling in the afternoon and saw why, an adult Bald eagle along with a juvenile flew over and it was NOT happy. So far, just the single Loon, hoping it’s mate shows up soon!
The White Breasted Nuthatches have been chasing each other everywhere, territory disputes no doubt! No sign of the Red Breasted Nuthatches yet but the Brown Creeper was back, creeping, do you know they can only creep up and must fly, or jump down? Ha! The Downy Woodpeckers come and go, keeping an eye out for their larger cousins, they usually avoid them when they can.
What, no Blue Jays? Ha! They continue to harass Oin and Gloin peanut peddling operation! Oin and Gloin were apparently part of a drive-by Peanut Busting attack…thankfully they only suffered bruises and scratches and vowed to return to the table later today. Neither the Grackles or Jays were present for questioning but rumour has it the Gray squirrel mafia was involved, they wanted a cut of the peanut profits…stay tuned…
So, Oin and Gloin brought in the heavy guns to protect their peanut peddling…
Groot enjoyed his brief employment but sadly, it also collapsed the peanut sales so they had to let Groot go…
He was an effective deterrent, but not what they are looking for today:) Isn’t wildlife fun!
The squirrels, red, gray, black and striped, OK, those are chipmunks, are coming out of the woods and invading! Oin and Gloin were right! The Red squirrels are the brains of the operation! Smart and fast, they dart in, grab what they want, and go!
We have regular conversations as I sit photographing the birds…they are always on the lookout for the traveling mewberries! The grey, also black, squirrels, well, not the sharpest tools in the shed. They stare at me, when it’s snowing, like it’s my fault? “Why lady why?” they seem to ask….I’ve tried to explain…yeah. And the chipmunks, well, they are chipmunks, apparently delicious to cats, so Groot says, we have done an excellent job keeping the chipmunks in the witness protection program here. Hopefully we can continue our good work throughout the year!
So I guess I do photograph things other than “just birds” ha! I’ll stop for now but will continue tomorrow with our Ospreys visit! Nothing more beautiful than the the sound of kikikikiking as they fly around the house! Saludos amigos! Maybe tomorrow we will see the sun!
Spring oh, Spring, where art thou? Or is it the Battle of the beavers? Part 1
Run off, Spring run off, common, it snows, it melts, it rains, water has to run somewhere. It seems to have all run into the swamp on the upper side of our narrow little cottage road. Don’t get me wrong, I have no bad feelings for beavers, they are to be admired, industrious, hard working, good at construction and filling holes, anywhere…including in one of the large culverts our small narrow road. We should have clued in sooner to the water level discrepancy on either side…should have, could have…live and learn right? The snow well, enough already!
Now, if it had just been the one beaver, well, it might not have been so bad, there is his cousin in the swamp a bit higher that was also threatening to overflow the road further down…We pull apart his/her dam every morning, and he works from dusk to dawn filling it back in…maybe we should just get floats for the truck and swim across these spots!
Did I mention we both were battling some kind of flu throughout this. I came down with it on Mike’s birthday…of course I coughed on him;) Thus the rather quiet period in the last month, even though we had exciting things going on, like beavers, and eclipses…sigh, oh, and it snowed a substantial amount as well…Spring, what f***ing Spring? As we battled with the culvert we were certain the levels would go down, then came 6″ of snow…Mike even donned hip waders our lovely neighbours dropped off and we attempted a culvert clean out…yup…water wasn’t quite as cold as I thought it would be;)
The water ran across road, then started to erode the road. Our wonderful neighbour Nick showed up with some PVC pipe and his skid steer and we made a makeshift drainage system, but parked the truck on the “other” side of the culvert, the eclipse was happening the next day and Mike wanted to be sure we could drive to an area of totality. Good thing we did, it continued to run and eventually left a large crevasse beside the old rusting, collapsing culvert still there…filling it back in wasn’t an option as the water was just taking everything with it. This is where you kick yourself in the butt for not checking to see if the beavers have been filling your culvert with large sticks, grass and mud….
Good thing we parked the truck on the other side of the culvert. I was feeling slightly recovered from my flu/cough when we left for the barn in Plum Hollow to sit and watch the eclipse with our friend Trevor, and his daughter Molly and Jennifer, and of course the horses, donkeys and cats there. Sadly, the clouds rolled in before totality but we did get to experience everything getting quite dark. Dusty the paint of course wanted in, it must be dinnertime he said standing at the gate! I was sad for Mike as he was really looking forward to the totality part, asi es la vida. It was still very cool, it got dark and cold and the light was weird and wonderful. Then it got light again! We should have, could have driven farther east to where it was clear but to be honest, it was the most I could do just getting to the barn! And then at least all the hype would be over, the fear, “You’ll burn your eyes out!” the cries coming from the scared and uninformed. Now we just have to put up with all the stupid AI photos making the rounds. Apparently critical thinking has bypassed a large segment of the population….humans:( very very sad mammals. Or maybe staring at those tiny little phone screens is what is causing eye and brain damage…hahahahaha! It’s an eclipse, not the apocalypse! 😉 My congratulations to all the wonderful photographers that did make amazing captures of totality and the before and afters!
On the plus side, while we waited for the eclipse, Mike called our friends who have an excavating/gravel/road business, Phillip, and he agreed to come out later in the afternoon to look at the washed away culvert area to see what we could do. We actually met him on our way back in and decided on a plan of action for the next day, to be able to get across and not walk home each day from the swamp. Thanks to all those who offered to bring us food, or wine…hahahahaha! I would have taken the wine;) but we were well stocked up anticipating the culvert washout! Ten years in Mexico trained us well:)
On the plus side, with nothing to do but bust beaver dams in the morning I could sit and watch the wildlife passing through. Our resident fox has been stopping by the compost pile late in the day, Groot growls at her through the window so we know when she is there! and the young buck, I told him to stay away from the lilacs…
And there was a wonderful morning for bathrobe photography, chilly, -11° towards the end of March, but it makes your run down the steps and back up again in record time! There was ICE forming again! NOOOOO!!!!
Spring…an argument between Winter and Summer. What, no bird shots? Stay tuned, the snowbirds are starting to return. Saludos amigos! We’ll play catch up in the next week!
Spring…I spoke too soon, third Winter has arrived!
I knew it, jinxed us…Winter is back. There was some debate but the Goldfinch breakfast group has agreed…Tuesday, March 19 at 11:06 p.m. EDT marked the vernal equinox for the Northern Hemisphere, when the sun was directly over the equator and its energy was in balance between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres…It’s SPRING!…but currently -5 C…so yah…no;) and how much snow forecast for Friday night, Lordy, Lordy, I don’t want to know!
We will survive until the beginning of the week when it starts to moderate again…I didn’t even put the snow shovel or the snow blower away! What weather Gods have we offended?! Ha! We were teased and tempted with pretty reflections and sunshine. Winds were howling today, even the chipmunks looked like they needed jackets! The Purple Finches were looking up at the sky…like WTF is this? Who turned on the snow machine???
When the flakes were really coming down yesterday the birds were in a feeding frenzy, they cleaned out two feeders in a morning and yes, I did go out with my umbrella to try to catch those beautiful huge cloud flakes!
A pair of deer stopped by nibbling on the lawn, looks like a mother and last years baby, those white tails! Beautiful! A grey/brown/missing hair squirrel showed up, an Eastern Grey squirrel, all our black squirrels are colour variations of those but this guy, yes, he showed me his nuts more than once, had the absolutely most fantastic tail I have ever seen, Farah Fawcett would have been envious! Yeah, I’m a boomer, get over it!
The black squirrel had me humming ♫ ♪♫ Here I am stuck in the middle with you!…♪♫♪…hahahahaha! The Mewberries were not impressed with both the stealth and cunning the large rodents are exhibiting, and the lack of any mice in the basement traps has been a big disappointment…Müther is quite happy the traps are empty;)
But those skies…sigh…and reflections… be still my heart! Then…what pines? What skyline? I can’t see a thing!?
It was so cold this morning, -9°…windchill said -20° Celsius, even the birds were avoiding the ground! The Mewberries lasted all of maybe ten minutes before trotting inside saying breakfast was the better option!
So what did I decide to do…photograph our waterfall along the hill with all the icicles, I am mad…I had secound thoughts after scrambling up the rocks on the ice thinking what have I got myself into! We’d already walked up the road to clear the beaver dam, damn industrious little rodents! But yes, just so pretty! I may go scrambling back over the rocks if it snows!
I maybe should have listened to Rocket;) “Müther should stay inside today and sit in the comfy chair with the big babou!” he said…I did wash my camera bag, yikes, first wash in 8 years, don’t get me wrong it has been vacuumed out many a time but my old 24-105mm Canon lens died, will try to get it repaired, so I went through the bag and cleaned out anything that was no longer needed, and yes, I bit the bullet and got the prime lens for the R5…which means new UV filter, new ND filter…of course it’s a few mm bigger than the old lens so nothing will fit…grrrrhhhhh…..;)
So, I’m going to go hang out with Oin and Gloin. Talk to them about peanut security, them Jays are thieves! No please or thank you! Very entitled! I’ll keep you posted about the snow…maybe, just maybe, they are wrong, you know these weather guys! Bad as the blue jays! 🙂 Saludos amigos, stay warm out there!
Spring is a keener this year!
We seem to be about a month ahead of schedule! 2021-2022-2022 in Mid April we still had ice!
Don’t get me wrong, I am always happy to welcome Spring, lilies are sprouting in the garden, it’s just when it goes BACK to Winter it can be a blow! I was surprised to see Pussy Willows along the road, maybe they know better than we do! The beavers have been busy filling the big culvert along the road, we pulled out a few logs and gunk but the end that is blocked is underwater…and that water is freezing, almost freezing anyway! It is still draining, albeit slowly, as long as it doesn’t start to go over the road!
Speaking of Beavers….I have named our local tree chewer Bubbles, do you know they possess ice breaker capabilities? I watched fascinated yesterday afternoon as he/she proceeded to use it’s paws/feet, body weight to clear a path through the thinning ice to get to this side of the lake. His/her lodge is on the far side, to the right of the pines in swampy area. Absolutely amazing watching what unfolded before my eyes late in the day.
I am not sure if this beaver had multiple lodges, as there is one to our left in the swamp as well, or if it is a neighbour? According to Beaver Solutions:
The beaver (Castor Canadensis) is North America’s largest rodent. Adult beavers typically weigh 45 to 60 pounds, but have been known to grow to 100 pounds. Native Americans greatly respected beavers, calling them “Little People”. Beavers and humans are alike in their ability to greatly alter their habitats to suit their own needs.
To obtain food and building materials, beavers are well known for their ability to topple large trees using nothing but their specially adapted incisor teeth and powerful lower jaw muscles. Beaver teeth never stop growing, so they do not become too worn despite years of chewing hardwoods. Their four front teeth (incisors) are self-sharpening due to hard orange enamel on the front of the tooth and a softer dentin on the back. Therefore as beavers chew wood the softer backside of the tooth wears faster, creating a chisel-like cutting surface.
Very interesting animals! Now if they could leave the road culvert alone!
There is a steady stream of geese, swans and sandhill crane flocks flying overhead! All those different honks and squawks! Looks like they are all headed North…and these are contrails kids…not chemtrails in the photo. I had to take a photo down from a page on Facebook that was hijacked by chem/cam trail conspiracy whackadoodles…Humans…sigh…
Along with the flocks of geese have come the steady squawks of the Red-winged Blackbirds and of course, the Grackles! Robins are picking through the dirt on the lawn and territorial squabbles are breaking out among the rest of the winged warriors!
But NO one messes with the Red-Bellied Woodpecker, even Count Gracula!
These guys are just so pretty, and loud, and bossy, even the jays avoid them!
I’m taking my feeders down at night or the racoons use them as swings, dangling from them, shaking out the seed. My critter cam’s night vision died so no shots but the they or a skunk have been cleaning up what is on the ground as well. I could have sworn the white tailed deer was looking at the budding lilacs licking it’s lips…time to get some chicken wire to protect them! They chomp them back as soon as they start to grow…not this year! No sign of Spitz sadly…:(
Did I mention the chipmunks? Groot can’t stay outside long enough, while Rocket says he just wants to chew on my clean shoes…these guys! Kinky cats! Ha! It’s leash time again for Gamora. Mike had to chase after her down to our neighbours, up their laneway and down the road back to the hill and trailer while she trilled her tail and stayed at least 10′ ahead of him the whole way as she romped! Spring Fever:) I wondered if our vecinos caught it on their garage camera…it would have proved to be entertaining!
Spring, only 6 days away…I’m still waiting for third Winter, in my bones I know this is too good to be true, but in the meantime, we are going to enjoy the sun and everything that arrives, even if it is too soon…and those reflections! I could make out Bubbles doing his nightly cruise past the cottage last night under a dramatic sky reflected in the lake! Hasta Pronto amigos, hopefully not snow storms next! ha!
Operation Peanut Retrieval! Top Secret!…and other birds!
Is it Blue Jay torture slipping the peanuts between the vine so they have to really work to pull them out or is it blue jay exercise? You tell me! They are greedy birds and can be downright rude to their fellow avian relatives so I try to level the playing field at times. Now adopting Oin and Gloin they said was just downright mean! Evil little dwarves, or do we call them gnomes now? The Jays were NOT impressed and treated them like some kind of otherworldly beasts…wait, they are;) Do I have too much time on my hands? I couldn’t resist for a very small investment at the Dollar Store I came home with these two. I have been looking for garden gnomes, used, but have not been successful…but now! Ha!
They treated the poor dwarves like a foe to battle and overcome!
Finally it was “Operation successful, dwarves Oin and Gloin do not appear to be a hazard! Returning to base…Blue Bomber out! Good Luck Blue Thief! Then the next Jay came in for peanut retrieval!
Then, it started all over again, the squirrels on the other hand just kind of sauntered up, “Hey dude…got any of that good seed? or maybe a trippy peanut?”…not the raccoons, they tossed Oin and Gloin about on the table, beating them up so I have to put them away at night! No asking for seeds from them, gimme them buster, or face the consequences…we live with a rough crowd out here at the lake!
The bad ass visitor this week, a Sharp Shinned Hawk, is not much bigger than a mourning dove! He flew over us as we sat, I actually thought it was a dove at first but a very decisive flight so I followed him. He was chasing a dove, then harassing some chickadees down at the edge of the lake in the cedars until the ravens came and escorted him away!
Songbirds make up about 90 percent of the Sharp-shinned Hawk’s diet. Birds the size of American Robins or smaller (especially warblers, sparrows, and thrushes) are the most frequent prey; bigger birds are at less risk, though they’re not completely safe. Studies report quail, shorebirds, doves, swifts, woodpeckers, and even falcons as prey. Sharp-shins also eat small rodents, such as mice and voles, and an occasional moth or grasshopper. Scarier than the Grackle yelling at dwarves for sure!
I made the mistake of running low on suet and the Hairy woodpeckers were very very crabby having only one spot to go eat…and share…not sharers the male said. The smaller female stood her ground, good girl! I was happy to hear and see the male Red Bellied Woodpecker early one morning, he’s been pretty quiet so yeah! Still a pair here!…and the sound of geese going over…like a symphony of Spring! Hundreds of them! Some heading North, ha and some heading South! Not yet they must be saying!
And we have our usual cast of small fluffy birds and woodpeckers. The Pileated have been very very quiet…most likely looking for, or making their nesting sight. I will have to keep my eyes peeled on the old maples with newly made holes! There is one dead one they have been tearing apart!
I was sorry I missed capturing the fighting/playing eagles, those screams, I thought something was being eviscerated! Funny how the cats came running into the alcove…all safe here Müther, we will sit with Father for awhile and then maybe go back into the house please!
We will keep our eyes peeled for any newcomers on the lake, if it melts, or snows…we never know! I like how unspecific they are with their “Special Weather forecast”..it could be anywhere from 10-60mm of rain, or 2-10 cm of snow. I called our plow folks, told them not to plow the road this weekend as it is so soft it would tear it up pretty badly, or fill in the potholes…wait, nah…Ha! Could we be done with plow bills for the year?! Hopefully I didn’t just jinx us! I’ll leave you with more crabby woodpeckers. Apparently the Red Bellied doesn’t take any guff from the Hairy’s, feathers were flying! Lesson to be learned here…don’t mess with a red head;) Saludos amigos!
