September bugs and grown up baby swans:)
There isn’t much blooming for these bees! Thankfully the asters are providing something to snack on as most of the goldenrod has gone to seed.! The bumblebees are mostly the Common Eastern and I nabbed a shot of a Brown Belted one as well! The tri-coloured ones were here earlier in the year. So many different types!
The wasps are out as well. I had to remove the hummingbird feeder once this year as a Bald Faced Hornet had decided it was his! Ha, said the hummingbird, she fixed you! And who knew baby green stink bugs aren’t green! Both adults and nymphs have large stink glands on the underside of the thorax extending more than half-way to the edge of the metapleuron (An exoskeletal plate on each side of the metathorax of an insect.) They discharge large amounts of this foul-smelling liquid when disturbed…I didn’t stop to ask or poke them;)
The other great cat toys out there other than chipmunks and frogs are the grasshoppers. Apparently they are very very tasty…chomp, chomp, chomp and down the hatch! I will wait until I can find a chocolate covered one to try them, thanks! Such beautiful colours, from the red-legged to the cinnamon or tan Carolina to the bright yellow Two-striped Grasshopper! I tried to catch one hovering, still working on that, must be showing off for the ladies! They look like leaping Mourning cloak Butterflies!
I keep waiting for the big Green Darner dragonflies but have only seen a few flying fairly high, not landing. The Autumn Meadowhawks are still plentiful, and reproducing! The gold spots on their wings are beautiful, especially if you catch them back lit!
The butterflies have been few and far between this late Summer. A few Monarchs in passing and some Cabbage Whites. It seems too quiet. Hopefully with no “Spongy Moth” spraying everything else will have a chance to survive. Humans are so stupid, we think we can control nature, she will have the last laugh if there is anything left of us after we fight over our imaginary Gods and resources. Yeah, I’m not going to hold my breath for the human race:) Misanthrope am I;) I do like SOME humans, just not many;) Ha!
…and the baby swan:) He/she is as big as it’s parents! Those flippers! Oh my! So far I haven’t seen any wing flapping, still wondering if Mom and Dad will take off to try to get it airborn, or will it be slow flying lessons. Must be daunting!
It is hard to believe it was such a wee little cygnet back on June 25th.
Fingers crossed all goes well! Baby Loon is still about with one of the parents, the mother I am guessing.
“At 10-11 weeks chicks continue to practice flight. They can capture much (roughly 90-100%) of their own food, but will still beg for and accept food from parents. At this point in the season, one parent may leave for the ocean, but the other typically stays with the chicks until they reach fledging age.
By 12 weeks of age, loon chicks reach fledgling age and become independent. They may take their first flight, and they eat fish of similar size to adults. At this stage, the first parent may migrate to the ocean, leaving chicks entirely alone on their natal lakes. Chicks typically leave their lakes 1-3 weeks after their parents, though some remain into the early winter.” from the Loon Preservation Committee.
According to my photos Baby Loon should be around 14-15 weeks old…first baby shots were June 25th. He and baby swan cygnet are pretty close in age!
It’s time for a calm day to paddle around and look for him/her. He/she is just starting to cry, it’s a sad loon warbling cry, but getting better every day! Such a privilege to watch these guys grow up!
That’s about it for bugs and babies growing up for now! We’ll keep you posted as the Fall birds settle in, the Blue Jays are already back for their peanuts each morning! I’ll be needing some new props, time for a trip to 2ndhand shops for some thing interesting! Ha! We’re waiting for rain so maybe we’ll have another flush of fungi to explore as well. Saludos amigos, time to go find some new slippers as well!
♫♪♫ Because I’m still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I’m still in love with you
On this harvest moon ♪♫♪
September tricked us! It was going to be endless Summer!
Flat calm mornings and afternoons, plus 25° temperatures…lulling us into a false sense of a Summer forever! Ha! The leaves have started to come off the trees, cascades of green falling leaves, weird. I generally judge Fall by the exit of the juvenile hummingbirds, they didn’t hang around this year at all. The Trumpeter Swan pair arrived two weeks early…could it be a sign? Of what? Hey, our wood is in, we’re ready for Winter, sort of, I mean I’m never really ready, except to leave to go South. Maybe I was a migratory bird in a former life…screw this Winter crap! I’m outta here! Not this year…Just went to the GT Boutique and replaced my very sad, full of holes Winter jacket…now for the boots!
Now the cats…they say these days will never end…lolling, lying in the grass, watching the bugs fly by…it doesn’t get any better than this they say! Well, maybe the woodstove…Groot is enjoying his Fall camouflage! I blend in perfectly he says!
How is it they know, this pair of Trumpeter Swans, friend or foe? I called out to them when I went down the stairs to the dock, they quickly hopped off our neighbour’s swim platform and swam right over, male first. I held out my hand and he gently nibbled the sunflower seeds off it. I could barely feel his beak, so gentle. Then it was the Mrs. turn, she ate more. I promised the two of them cracked corn tomorrow. I explained that I wasn’t expecting them for another two weeks, they are early this year! Welcome back beautiful swans!
You have neighbours up on Long Lake road now with a kid! Ha! Never ceases to take my breath away:) I wonder just how old this pair is and for how long they have been making this lake a stopover point on their way South. Trumpeter Swans form pair bonds when they are three or four years old. The pair stays together throughout the year, moving together in migratory populations. Trumpeters are assumed to mate for life, but some individuals do switch mates over their lifetimes. Some males that lost their mates did not mate again.
Walking out to check the mail has become very quiet, with just an occasional chickadee peep, or the raucous squawk of a passing blue jay, an oak acorn in it’s beak, bellotas in Spanish, it always comes to mind:) This week I had a surprise, caught some movement out of the corner of my eye and stopped and watched for a bit. A Yellow-Billed Cuckoo! When I came back and told Mike after my walk, he didn’t believe me, cuckoo? Here? Yup, he knew who was cuckoo;) Ha! Unlike their European counterparts they don’t sound like the well known cuckoo clock…mostly just the “koo” with out the “cuck”! Ha! Listen here: Cuckoo sound.
I actually convinced Mike to stop at the Carleton Place Drainage ponds on our way to Ottawa last week. He was bribed by a trip to the “Little German Bakery” there in Carleton Place…yum!..and why the drainage ponds you might ask, it’s where all the cool birds hang out dude! There was a rare visitor from down South, a Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) took a wrong turn at Albuquerque ( said in a Bugs Bunny voice;) ha!) They are more of a Forida coastal bird, moving up the East coast during breeding season but rarely deciding a drainage pond is a place to call home. I came a day too late, it was gone, but I did see a beautiful Green Heron and some comedic Greater Yellow-Legs so well worth the trip around the pond and SO many grasshoppers and butterflies! Besides, those cream filled Berliners are delicious and working off a few calories with the stiff hips isn’t a bad thing!
I feel my life to be rather dominated by birds at times but hey, there is whole lot more on my daily, mostly, mail walks. The mosquitos no longer threaten to carry me away, while quiet from bird song the humming of European Honey and bumblebees and wasps on the late blooming asters and golden rod are a treat to watch. The number of furry and naked caterpillars we have seen is starting to increase, don’t tell the Yellow-billed Cuckoo! Some I know, a few new ones as well.
I had to gently coerce a Northern Water snake off the road, twice, as I walked out. Tried to convince him it was a dangerous place with crazy citiots roaring by at 100 km an hour, in rushing, to get to their cottage…to relax…WTF? One asshat ran over the Loon family this week in their Jetski…had a few locals fuming…where’s the gatling gun? Piano wire? Take out your earbuds jerkoff! You can blare your music anywhere, why is it you need to make noise wherever you go…as I said, giving me superpowers would result in too many human deaths…;) Anyway, back to the snake, I tried to usher him/her off the road with my foot, he latched on, with it’s mouth and I hopped to the side of the road to where the grass started before it let go, novel and comedic rescue effort… good thing I walk alone;)
There is a new slew of mushrooms popping up beside the road and on the dead stumps. We’ve had a record absence of rain this month so always surprised to see the fungi popping up where it can. The lichens are always a treat, those little cups, like a tea party for fairies on the rocks:) Best to see the magic there.
I get so excited when I find the Indigo Milk Cap (Lactarius indigo). The fruit body color ranges from dark blue in fresh specimens to pale blue-gray in older ones. The milk, or latex, that oozes when the mushroom tissue is cut or broken (a feature common to all members of the genus Lactarius) is also indigo blue, but slowly turns green upon exposure to air. In Mexico, individuals harvest the wild mushrooms for sale at farmers’ markets, typically from June to November; they are considered a “second class” species for consumption…0_0..I’ll pass!
The Indigo Milk Cap (Lactarius indigo) sprout/grow in the same place every year! I even came across a few edibles! Oyster Mushrooms and Chicken of the Woods!
I have a hard time keeping all the mushrooms names in my head! Ha! Yellow and spotted, probably amanita of some kind…do not eat Karen! Such a variety of living organisms in the forest! I find something new every time I set out! Bird, bug or plant life!
With so few blooming plants they tend to catch your eye, what is that? Off to iNaturalist to check it out:) Great resource, also, geez, how many of these guys are REALLY toxic…live and learn, no munching on that. My mother had a habit of popping berries into her mouth, unknown ones, freaked me out as a kid…she had nine lives, part cat no doubt!
The Traveling Mewberries have enjoyed their games of “Where’s that frog” or the “Chipmunk staredown” which involves staring at the last known location of a chipmunk, even if it left by the back door of the tree, or the other side of the kindling box…it just MIGHT come back out into their waiting jaws. The Chipmunks that have survived this long into the Summer are the Einstein’s of their genetic group. It’s tough world full of chipmunk eating creatures out there! So many predators, that walk, and fly and slither!
The small Gray tree frogs entertain the cats at night on the windows, chasing bugs bigger than them. They have such amazing camouflage I nearly smooshed one guy with my hand as I walked up from the lake. He was blended into the gray wood on the railing! Gamora found a beautiful Wood Frog and I steered her in the opposite direction! One of my favourites! Frogaphobes LOOK AWAY! You know who you are;) Ranidaphobia is the medical term for a phobia of frogs and toads:) Great big killer frogs with enormous teeth…hahahahaha! I barely survived my walk today without being eaten by one;)
With all this wonderful warm weather paddling is easy, but why is it every time I paddle down the lake, the wind is behind me, and when I turn around to come back, it’s against me? I did find a new flower to me off one of the small islands! The leaves are just starting to turn in the swamps, the reds and oranges among the green. Wondering what full colour will look like this year? If it’s on the swans timeline, it will be sooner than later. Even the morning sky has turned to Fall colours:) I’ll leave you with a glimpse. I’ll catch up on the dragonflies and bugs later this week! It’s turning into a novel!
Saludos amigos-I will try to embrace the incoming Fall season, the change, not always easy that change thing:)
The trouble with mortality….
I keep trying but apparently this station is not working. What kind of super powers would I be bestowed with? The ability to make things, people etc disappear would be very very bad…;) I’d have a hard time controlling it…Ha!
It took me awhile to figure out I wasn’t going to live forever…maybe I was just too busy to think about it. Around 50 it dawned on me I wasn’t going to be here until the end of time. I might be a bit thick, yup. The ravages of aging are becoming alarmingly apparent that you don’t get to go quietly and not hurting somewhere. Maybe if I could heal, that would be the superpower to have, I could be alien, ET, Paul, come get me;)
I think it consumes some people, the fear of dying. I’m not sure yet how I feel about it. Some days I think I have seen enough of this beautiful planet that if my number came up, I’d be good to go, other times, well, no, I have so much more to explore! I just want to do it sooner than later I guess:) Sometimes the planets don’t align and here you are…wondering, just what am I doing? Some days I think it felt better being so busy you didn’t have the time to even think about it.
It would be nice to be greeted by a herd of purring cats in the land of Bastet when I go, don’t know who she is? Ancient Egyptian goddess Bastet, or Bast, was initially worshipped as a lioness before changing to a cat. She was the daughter of the sun god Ra, and was a prehistoric deity whose violent temper was softened after she became increasingly associated with the domestic cat in about 1500 BCE. Cats can do that to you;)
I don’t actually believe in any God or deity, fine if you do, just not for me. Maybe our energy does get reborn into something else, mother nature is pretty good about recycling;) I’d like to come back at least once as a bird, oh to fly, then a cat of course, I want to know what it’s like to purr:) A horse would be grand, to run, I was never much good at running;) We’ll go with reincarnation then, if there’s a choice;) Please don’t send me to Mormon afterlife prison;) There’s some f*cked up shit out there! Humans…
Aloof
The irresponsive silence of the land,
The irresponsive sounding of the sea,
Speak both one message of one sense to me
Aloof, aloof, we stand aloof, so stand
Thou too aloof, bound with the flawless band
Of inner solitude; we bind not thee;
But who from thy self-chain shall set thee free?
What heart shall touch thy heart? What hand thy hand?
And I am sometimes proud and sometimes meek,
And sometimes I remember days of old
When fellowship seem’d not so far to seek,
And all the world and I seem’d much less cold,
And at the rainbow’s foot lay surely gold,
And hope felt strong, and life itself not weak.
Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)
Que descanse en paz Harry Crosby…now back to what we call life…
..and just like that, it’s Fall. The Hummingbirds are gone:( Part 2
The males left two weeks ago, I wish debonair Don a safe flight to Mexico…I’m jealous! Ha! We had a single female hanging about but the juveniles were getting pretty obnoxious and she packed up and left as well, must be like Spring Break in Florida, the locals hide;)
Every flower is a new adventure. “Can I hang on, can I sit on it, where do I poke, how far do I have to stick my beak in?” over and over, then there are the fights;) Like petulant kids on a playground wanting to be the biggest bully!
I am going to miss their daily antics, feeling a bit blue, time to look at what else is out there:) It seems the leaves are turning early but probably not, I’m just feeling like I’m not ready for the changes coming….
We have other migrants starting to go through, a beautiful wood duck sat perched on her log before deciding to swim off…On Golden Pond:)
A young Yellow Shafted Northern Flicker showed up in the locust tree. He chatted away with a juvenile Yellow Bellied Sapsucker beside him, such beautiful colours! The geese have started to move…
LBB’s abound, I had to look up one recent fledgling hopping away from me as I tried to take it’s picture! I think it was a Red-eyed Vireo. Sure sign of Fall coming, the Brown Creepers are back! NO! The Sparrows are at the feeders as well. I spied a few warblers this morning as well. Now to sit and wait during morning coffee. They are so fast!
While it might appear I live on a diet of Hummingbird and Loon photography..;)…they will soon be moving on and I will get to reexplore our Fall and Winter friends. The American Goldfinches are turning colour as well! Maybe it’s just the juveniles, no longer bright yellow but a military “You can’t see me as well” hue.
We have had our first Lanark County Camera Club meeting. Mike chauffeured me and ran into a trio of astronomy guys so maybe he’ll be a regular! Ha! I joined him up! I did have a lot of questions on hummingbird photography so thought I’d share them, for next year anyway, or for those that live in more Southerly climes! Lucky bas*ards;)
I use natural light, my camera does not have a flash but I would like to explore that one day as well! Light is the key to everything! I prefer the late morning as the sun hits the flowers from a higher angle and I don’t get as many shadows.
I have a few pots of flowers I plant each year. The Canna lilies are always a big hit as well as crocosmia lucifer, another bulb. Some folks can over winter them in the ground but I haven’t had much luck and pull them in the Fall for replanting. Spider Dahlias are also popular with the hummingbirds. I sit in a chair, hand held camera about 6-8′ away and wait! I also hang a feeder a foot or two away from the potted plants to help bring these little flying jewels in!
Half the shots get deleted, either out of focus or the light isn’t right. I shoot manual with the focus set on “animal eye detection” (what an amazing feature on the Canon R5) on my older Canon 6D I used single spot focus and that worked as well. I have a 9 year old Tamron 150-600 G2 Telephoto lens. I use the 2.2-10.0 m setting so the focus doesn’t hunt and peck as much. My f stop is usually set a 6.3, I can move it up to F8 if there is lot of light! For speed it varies from 1/4000 sec to 1/8000 sec and the ISO pretty much lives at 3200. Some shots can get noisy if the light isn’t the best so I rely on Topaz Denoise in photoshop. I can play with the shadows and highlights there in RAW which can help a bit but you do need good light for these guys! Hope that helps anyone starting out! Damn they are fast!
I’ll leave you with a juvenile trying out the crocosmia lucifer flowers…safe journeys little flying jewels, I look forward to your return in the Spring.
On a sad note, I found out my uncle, Harry Crosby passed away last night. He may not have been the perfect husband, or father, they rarely exist anywhere, but he was my perfect uncle and he had a long and prosperous run at life. He encouraged me to write and photograph, he offered critiques and suggestions and was always very supportive. The last of my family of my mother’s generation. They saw so much of the world change. I had a straggler hummingbird stop by quickly this morning, fly high Harry, may your adventures continue wherever your spirit goes…Que la paz y el amor te guíen…
..and just like that, it’s Fall, but the Loons are still here! Part 1 Loons and Swans.
Maybe not in date, but the hummingbirds are gone:( It signals the oncoming changes to our wildlife, the light, temperatures and leaves. It always seems too soon, for me anyway. Where did the rest of August go? Chasing Loons and swans and hummingbirds:)
We had a windless calm morning and the Loon family was out in the bay fishing. I had to paddle out, quietly. This guy came up right beside the canoe, almost too close to shoot. I think they know a threat when they see one, he eyed me up, and had his flap… friend, not foe he said and went about his business. They don’t call or fret. I’m pretty calm. I’ve seen them have a fit when paddleboarders go by, one had a dog on the board so yeah, they were not happy. They are not quite as protective as earlier this Summer when a heron flying over would elicit a warning call, just stupid cottagers and cityots getting too close, need that cell phone shot, “Look, me with a Loon!” No, you’re the loser asshat! Don’t get me started;)
It’s constant fishing to feed junior right now, one fish after another, after another. When they can find him, he’s off, diving, exploring, blowing bubbles, doing what youngsters do!
Little fish, lot’s and lots of little fish, first Ma brings one, then Pa, and then more fish. The far shallow end here must provide a great hunting ground for them.
The story writes itself! Ha!
As I floated around in the canoe, paddling every now and then to align myself with the light and back off when they came in closely Ma caught a BIG fish! Junior was impressed! Right down the hatch in a single gulp!
It’s always a treat to spend time with these spectacular birds. Ma and Pa are taking off occasionally now, leaving junior alone for a bit. I hear him call nervously, then he/she goes back to fishing!
The swan cygnet is getting big as well! I’m still not sure how it’s going to take off on the smaller swamp area but I am sure it will figure it out. No wing flapping yet!
The mother and father have become a bit less protective, still very very aware of sights and sounds from all directions but the little one is going off on it’s own a bit to feed…it’s nonstop eating right now!
They have taken to sitting on a small island just a stones throw from the road. I walked up to check the mail and and they just stared at me for an instance, then resumed, one looking left, one looking right until a woman stopped to check her mail and came over to take a few shots as well and they stared at her. Vigilant, but no longer crazed swan parents…unless you want to date their daughter I was thinking! hahahaha!
These guys give me a chuckle every time I see them! I’ll leave you with one more Loon sequence…stay tuned tomorrow for the last of the hummingbirds and all those LBB’s passing through (Little Brown birds!) Playing catch-up as always:) Saludos amigos!
Summer Rainbows and our colourful visitors!
The whole shebang:) from side to side top to bottom, 9 images stitched together! I couldn’t fit it in one single shot, too wide, too high, just TOO big!! One of the brightest longest lasting rainbows I have ever seen, after thirty minutes it was still the same! I love the circle reflections in the water. I HAD to go down to the dock, it was still raining lightly so I tucked my camera under my shirt and trotted down the steps! Those colours, and a double to boot! It was wild. People saw this rainbow all over the county, spectacular Summertime! So would that have been 4 pots of gold? One on each end! Ha!
I was surprised a few mornings ago to catch a flash of orange out of the corner of my eye (no, not a floater or blood spec! Ha!) as I sat drinking my morning coffee, watching our molting male Ruby-throated defending his feeder from the young dashing upstart. Orange? Argh? Could it be! I popped inside, filled up the strawberry jam jar and set it out bedside the suet feeder and sure enough, a beautiful male Baltimore Oriole showed up. Must be family, he knew exactly where to go for that jam! I take it down as soon as they leave (July 5th this year) to keep the bees and wasps from perishing in the jam. This fellow found a buffet later as he went straight for the insects the next day that were trapped there!
They are always a delight to see and hear! Hopefully he’ll stick around for awhile before heading South!
Junior Ruby-throated is getting bigger pants every day. Captain Cranky Pants, my affectionate name for the resident male is getting a workout! I could have sworn I saw two juveniles today! He’ll really be exhausted now!
My flower selection has been limited, just wasn’t my Spring with getting sick so I’ve made do with the bulbs that survived our too warm basement! The Cannas are finally blooming along with a single crocosmia lucifer bulb and a few gladiolas are finally opening! They are all in several pots being held up and together to keep them from falling over with bits of string, old broom handles and baler twine! I keep the pots together so the hummingbirds tend to hover around them! Making a photographers job easier! Ha! and that morning light…perfect!
With the molts starting to slow down, everyone is looking a bit less ragged. The Blue Jays haven’t shown their faces yet, too vain;) but the Goldfinches are back along with the Grosbeaks, feeding their juvenile. The Pa Grosbeak seems to have the bulk of the seed delivery as his responsibility! A motley Red-Bellied shows up from time to time as well.
On my walk out to the mailbox I caught a flash of yellow, A common Yellowthroat sat in the tree by the swamp with a Song Sparrow, maybe a juvie. Beautiful! The Scarlet Tanager have teased me staying just out of reach or just outwitting my slow reactions as I get Mike to stop and roll down the window and aim…and they are gone…mostly! Ha!
The flowers along the road are changing, the Purple Loosestrife is taking over the swamps, the buttonbush is nearly done blooming. The Queen Ann’s Lace reigns supreme this time of year. Did you know the function of the central dark floret of the flower has been subject to debate since Charles Darwin speculated that they are a vestigial trait. It has been suggested that they have the adaptive function of mimicking insects, thus either discouraging herbivory, or attracting pollinators by indicating the presence of food or opportunities for mating…I first thought it was a bug! Look closely! The wild clematis, Virgin’s-Bower, is climbing all over the bushes. I read that Common Jewelweed, that the hummingbirds love, along with other species of jewelweed, the juice of the leaves and stems is a traditional Native American remedy for skin rashes, including poison ivy! Good to know! So much life if you look!
We were doing road work, filling in pot holes and run off areas, cutting back bushes and limbs along the road. I was looking for bugs and butterflies as well:) There was a Jagged Ambush Bug on a thistle. I thought it was a bit of dried leaf as I took the picture! The county cut the road edges so sadly many of the wildflowers went with it:( A Hickory Tussock Moth was moseying about on a leaf, never know if they are coming, or going! Ha! Don’t touch these guys! Those hairs are their protection and can give you a nasty dermatitis! I may have learned that the hard way already;) The grasshoppers are plentiful and I found a Two-striped Grasshopper clinging to the glass like Spiderman! How DO they do that?
The cats are having a grand time chasing the tiny Northern Leopard frogs, they, the cats, are often confused as to which way to jump as several young frogs are going in different directions at the same time! Ha! Yesterday morning there was a mad dash of the Mewberries to the base of several small oaks…the intense concentration made me go inside and get my camera…out of a limb, literally, was a savvy chipmunk. If they have lived this long, got through Spring and half of Summer they have learned true survival skills! The Mewberries were very disappointed this savvy individual was not going to come trotting down into their waiting choppers!
These guys! Never a dull moment!
The reason we were trimming along the road, well, was to say goodbye to Myrtle, our beloved DRV 5th wheel. Didn’t want to scratch her up as we delivered her to her new home in Kemptville, where a lovely older Lithuanian man is going to use her as a home until his family can build a tiny home for him, she is a tiny home! It was a bit hairy getting across the new culvert but a few feet at a time we made a perfect exit, and headed off East, and finally Mike backed her into her new spot to be loved and used! Sad though. So many memories, but we won’t stop making them. Time to downsize, we’ll be looking this Winter and into Spring for something new to us to continue our travels! Be safe Myrtle and I know your new owners are going to cherish you as much as we did! That gravel pad does look awfully empty now though:(
I’ll leave you with a cranky Gray Rat snake! Ha! A visit with House Slytherin. He/she was in the middle of the driveway as we were leaving, about 4′ long. I gently tugged on it’s beautiful tail to try to get it to move along…I tried to convince the Gray Rat snake that he needed to move out of the middle of the road…”F*ck you!” it said, “I’m not going anywhere! Come a bit closer and I will show you my cobra impression!” Alrighty! Mike managed to drive around it barely;) Cheeky creature! Ha! I love the nature that surrounds us! Saludos amigos!
No more dashing, debonair Don, it’s shambling shaggy Sam now! Hummingbirds are molting!
No more dashing, debonair Don, it’s shambling shaggy sad Sam now! It’s molting time for our Ruby throated male. He even sounds differently with his missing feathers. The loss of old feathers and the growth of new is especially noticeable around the beak. Molting occurs in mid-to-late summer before hummingbirds migrate south. In adult males the last week of July seems to be when it starts, and in adult females the first week of August. During the time they molt, all their body feathers are involved but not their wing or tail feathers. He’ll look brand new soon!
Did you know hummingbirds have relatively few feathers; for example, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird has only 940 feathers! Their feathers are proportionately large, and missing feathers tend to be more obvious than on other birds. Missing feathers produce an obvious hole or gap in the plumage that is
exaggerated by the gray bases of exposed adjacent feathers. Incoming sheathed feathers also tend to be somewhat more conspicuous on hummingbirds than on other birds, especially on the head and underparts.
She will start molting soon as well, you can see a few feathers around her neck starting! They are not the only ones resembling ugly ducklings right now! Our little cygnet trumpeter swan has lost it’s white fuzz and now is a dish water gray! That gray beak/snozz! Beautiful!
I’m guessing baby is in the 6-8 week old age bracket now! I check every time we drive by, sometimes they are snoozing, but mostly baby is eating! It may be a few more weeks until baby starts to learn to fly, 90-120 days is when they should be able to! I wonder if they need the 100 meter (yards) runway their parents do? Hopefully we can see him/her practicing in the next few weeks…
The colourful Milkweed Tussock caterpillars are voraciously devouring the leaves around them, so beautiful! Dogbanes and milkweeds produce a sticky latex that can impede larval feeding so they skeletonize the leaves of young milkweed as older larvae sever the veins that supply the latex, which reduces latex flow to the area on which they feed! Smart little guys! Like most species in this family, it has chemical defenses it acquires from its host plants. These are retained in adults and deter bats, and presumably other predators, from feeding on them! (Most insects that feed on milkweeds pick up toxic compounds known as cardiac glycosides from feeding on the poisonous milkweed and become poisonous themselves.) The caterpillars can be irritating to handle so no touching!
The tussock moth does warn its main enemy, night-flying bats, of its toxicity. It does so by actually giving off a warning click that apparently says, “You may not be able to see that I am orange and black, but I certainly taste orange and black!
If the monarch butterfly has to hurry along rapidly in the fall to make it to Mexico before winter, the milkweed tussock caterpillars is in no hurry. It doesn’t migrate. In fact, it feeds right through September. Then it pupates underground for the winter. In the spring, with the return of warm weather and renewed milkweed growth, it emerges as a butterfly, ready to lay eggs for the new season of caterpillars. There is only one generation per year in the North, two in the South.
I have been looking for any new dragonflies, thought I’d found one, turns out to be either a female or juvenile, that looks nothing like it’s parent! Sigh, one day I will learn all these differences!
The Blue Dashers-Pachydiplax longipennis– seem to have the bulk of the parasitic mites! These dragonflies are carnivorous, and are capable of eating hundreds of insects every day, including mosquito and mayfly larvae. The adult dragonfly will eat nearly any flying insect, such as a moth or fly. Nymphs have a diet that includes other aquatic larvae, small fish, and tadpoles. They are not fussy eaters! They are are known to be voracious predators, consuming up to 10% of their body weight each day in food! I am glad I am not a bug! Longipennis means long wings, just in case you were wondering;) Ha!
Our juvenile, well, it’s a boy! His little red feathers are starting to show on his throat! He’s getting a bit braver with Captain Cranky Pants who is still molting…poor guy, he will take another week to start to look his debonair self again. In the meantime, this little brat is giving him the gears! It’s just a constant chase from point A to pint B and back again…thirsty work!
I’ll leave it for now, stay tuned for more glamour shots of our dashing young Ruby-throated and some welcome return visitors! Mr. Oriole! We’ve had warmth, and rain and now it looks like we are headed back to some temperate climes. I had to get out of bed quickly and catch this colour last week, but reminded me Summer doesn’t last forever! 12° C barefoot and pyjamas. I need new slippers! Ha! It faded so quickly! Just like Summer:) Saludos amigos! Rainbows and more to come!
Getting up close, and personal? With bugs and things!
I finally got a chance to try the extension tubes I ordered! I had to get really close, like an 1″ away, so I am sure there is a learning curve! I’ll be out practicing! This is some kind of Spotted Orb weaver living on the front of the trailer-beautiful! using a 24mm and a 12mm extension tube on my 24-70 lens and a Scudder’s Bush Katydids (Genus Scudderia), is he ever green! The red dragonfly is a White-faced Meadowhawk, I think, I can’t believe he/she let me stick the lens right up to it, an 1″ away! The others would not! I think I need to practice on non-moving objects or very slow bugs until I get the hang of this! I went back out with just the short lens later to get the guys I couldn’t with the macro! Wind is NOT your friend!
Such an amazing world of bugs! I decided to wander down to the dock to bail out the little red canoe and was very excited to see a pair of mating Halloween Pennants! Doing the wild thang! It’s called a mating wheel: male left, female right. The female lays eggs in the morning on open water with the male still attached at the head. This method is known as exophytic egg laying. We don’t often see the Halloween Pennants here in the yard so will keep looking closer to the water. Lots of Blue dashers and a male widow skimmer kept me company. I’m not sure if the Halloween Pennants chose the one sad sapling that was turning a red colour on purpose, it was great camouflage!
I continued back up at the house to hang around near the milkweed and rocks, looking for bugs when a beautiful little Garter Snake crossed my path. Most common garter snakes have a pattern of yellow stripes on a black, brown or green background, and their average total length (including tail) is about 55 cm (22 in), with a maximum total length of about 137 cm (54 in). There are 12 subspecies of this beautiful little snake-this is T. s. sirtalis (Linnaeus, 1758) Eastern Garter Snake.
Did you know that Garter snakes have a mild venom in their saliva, which may be toxic to the amphibians and other small animals that they prey upon. Common garter snakes are resistant to naturally-occurring poisons in their prey, such as that of the American toad and rough-skinned newt, the latter of which can kill a human if ingested. Garter snakes (in addition to their own mildly venomous saliva) have the ability to retain poisons from their consumed amphibian prey, thus making them poisonous and deterring any would-be predators. Wow!
The habitat of the common garter snake ranges from forests, fields, and prairies to streams, wetlands, meadows, marshes, and ponds, and it is often found near water.
Their diet consists mainly of amphibians and earthworms, but also leeches, slugs, snails, insects, crayfish, fish, lizards, other snakes, small birds, and rodents. Common garter snakes are effective at catching fast-moving creatures such as fish and tadpoles.
I found a tiny little Gray Tree Frog no larger than my thumb in the shed doorframe and thought he might be a good candidate for the extension macro tubes so I went back to get them! Gray treefrogs have been observed to congregate around windows and porch lights to eat insects that are attracted to the light. Insect larvae, mites, spiders, plant lice, harvestmen, and snails also contribute towards the diet of the gray treefrog. Love to listen to these guys at night!
Most mornings I sit out on the front deck and watch the hummingbirds with my coffee. I opened the umbrella again, this time, very slowly and carefully thinking my large Brown Bat friend might be there, and it fluttered to the ground near the garden. I went down to check on him, “Lady, why? I was asleep!” I got a bit too close and he/she hissed like a cat at me so I backed off to get his photo:) he flew off after a few minutes, I must have woken him up…cranky!
Not angry birds but angry bat. I went back to search for the Katydids. I found a Scudder’s Bush Katydids (Genus Scudderia) on my lily plant, they are herbivores but it didn’t stop him taking a nibble on me after I put my hand out to see if he would sit, for a photo…Ha! That was weird! Feeling him chomp away! Models demand a price now! Piece of flesh please!
I decided to stick with the telephoto after that for awhile! A huge Dark Fishing spider was on the screen outside and I didn’t really want to get too close to it, almost 6″ across, large one! The Dragonflies are definitely easier, not many want to let you get that close with the macro tubes! The numbers have gone down except in the evenings when I am seeing a large amount of Canadian Darners! Must be after those nighttime bugs! They have such cool segmented bodies!
Fingers crossed that this heat will break Monday, enough! It was 26° in the house with 89% humidity this morning, argggggg….for the heat and humidity haters…0_0 Even the cats have been grumpy, maybe I should just take to hissing at everything when I get that way. I also forgot from last week I do actually have a flying cat! Rocket! Ha!
These are Rocket’s favourite little fellows, he says they are VERY tasty! I won’t try thanks! He is well camouflaged on the rock this lucky grasshopper! Those eyes! May be a Carolina Grasshopper (Dissosteira carolina) I think! May try to get one flying, their wings are so colourful!
After a bout of grasshopper leaping and chasing Rocket headed to the shade panting, 31° Celsius…good thing there is a breeze! He is not quite as svelte as when the leaping picture was taken, his “flabdomen” has filled out! Ha! I missed getting his athletic flying and leaping poses this morning! There is always tomorrow morning! I’ll leave you with the sunrise a few mornings ago. Smoke, mists and haze early in the morning. Groot said it was time to get up at 5:30…😉 Good cat! We still had some leftover smoke from the West coast drifting around…so much beauty, and so much destruction. My heart aches for the forests out West and up and down the North American coast. Check out the smoke map here…crazy!
Stay tuned for more caterpillars and our poor raggedy hummingbirds, the male is molting, no more dashing and debonair Don, it’s shambling shaggy sad Sam now! Saludos amigos!
Bats, cats and other flying things!
It could have been us Wednesday night! Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more?! The tornado warning went off on the phone, something we are all too familiar with from Oklahoma. The cats necks stretched a few inches higher than normal, I think they have kitty PTSD when they hear those warnings! It was a twenty minutes of torrential rain and howling wind, the water was blowing horizontally across the lake, I kept waiting for the sound of a freight train, wondering what cat I would grab first, to the basement, or just the bathtub?! Ha! Maybe it’s time we put a trap door to the basement in. If these weather systems keep up, it might not be a bad idea! Anyway, the power flickered a few times, up and down, watching the lights dim and then get brighter but it stayed on! The day after a helicopter was flying very low, sideways, looking at all the power lines trying to find where there were problems, trees down, or maybe doing drone shots for the tornado? I dunno!
We took a drive to check out the road, chainsaw in hand but we seem to have had enough bad weather to get rid of the problems already, down the Narrow Lock not so lucky. Mike’s family home’s barn had part of it’s roof torn off, trees had been snapped off like twigs, looks like it just missed us. The county guys were cleaning up along the road, a tree was down blocking part of Long lake Road at the mailboxes as well. They’ll have a few long days! Always something isn’t it?! Link to the tornado
At least we were not the flying things! I went out for my morning coffee last week, it was sunny and warm and wonderful. I decided to put the umbrella up before I sat down to watch the world go by. I spotted a dark spot on the inside of the umbrella after I sat down, is it mould? Mildew? Ripped? No, it had eyes! In fact it looked like a miniature Scottish Highland cow, wide little brown nose and furry as can be! A Large Brown Bat was hanging there, staring at me!
According to iNaturalist: Big brown bats are insectivorous, consuming a diverse array of insects, particularly night-flying insects, but especially beetles. Some of the beetles it consumes are serious agricultural pests, including cucumber beetles. They are nocturnal, foraging for prey at night and roosting in sheltered areas during the day such as caves, tunnels, tree cavities, and human structures (i.e. umbrellas! Ha!) Their breeding season is in the fall, shortly before their annual hibernation. After hibernation ends in the spring, females form maternity colonies for giving birth to young. Oftentimes only one offspring is produced per litter, though twins are common in the Eastern US. Lifespans of 6.5 years are considered average.
While I sat staring at my new found friend, I’m pretty sure he/she’s the one leaving droppings in the alcove every night hunting bugs, hanging from the wooden beam! As I watched I was whacked in the head by something else flying around…bat food! This large flying dinosaur hit me in the head as I was drinking my coffee…coffee saved, startled human moved it off her onto the pillow top to watch! It was a Rough Hermit Beetle (Osmoderma scabra). BIG!
Never a dull moment here..0_0 The Hummingbird was buzzing about the feeder and a beautiful hummingbird clearwing, which is in the moth family Sphingidae (hawkmoths) was visiting the hanging flower baskets. Something I hadn’t been able to convince my Ruby-throated friend to do! “Coloration varies between individuals, but typically the moth is olive green and burgundy on its back, and white or yellow and burgundy on the underside. Its wings are transparent with a reddish-brown border. The combination of its appearance and its behavior commonly leads to it being confused with a hummingbird or bumblebee. With a range extending from Alaska to Oregon in the west and from Newfoundland to Florida in the east. It is a migratory species and is most common in southern Ontario and the eastern United States. H. thysbe has two broods a year in the southern portion of its range, but only one in the north. As a caterpillar, it feeds on honeysuckle, dogbane, and several types of fruit trees” Thanks iNaturlist:)
It had me thinking as our neighbour of times past, (we were all in the same Stanleyville neighbourhood!) Jim, had asked if I wanted to go to the Lanark County Camera Club’s Macro photo workshop at a members house on Otty Lake, great for bugs I thought so yes I said! Turns out, we had run into the hosts, Kit and Bruce as we were driving our belongings in a U-Haul truck across the border in where they had been stored after arriving from California way back when. A common meeting spot at Customs! They were doing the same having moved from NY, they’d mentioned they were moving to Otty Lake! Small world, as that was where we had been staying before we found our spot here! We both remarked how nice they had been, Welcome back to Canada🙂 The Customs asked them if they were with us! Ha! Say No!!!
I should have listened more to the talks but chatting with Bruce, Kit and some other members AND watching the dragonflies and hummingbirds had me completely sidetracked! Their yard was amazing, right on the water and so beautiful. Natural plants and trees. So much life, a real treat to get to see it! And surrounded by a moat…not something you see every day! Jim was right, it would be a squeeze to get the truck in there across that bridge! Glad he drove me!
One look at the Halloween Pennant-Celithemis eponina and I was transfixed! We rarely ever see these guys out where we are. Not sure why, they are SO beautiful! This particular individual had seen better days, missing part of his wing his flying was a bit erratic! There were Widow, Twelve Spotted and Slaty Skimmers as well as Blue Dashers, and that was just in front of his porch!
They had what looked like a juvenile Ruby-throated Hummingbird poking around as well at their evening primrose and cardinal flowers! Beautiful! Just say Hummingbird and I’m gone;) Ha!
Back at Long Lake I’d been fascinated by a beautiful copper coloured beetle, shiny trinkets get me in nature;). I followed it around and then went and got the camera. It had settled on the rose bush and was making a pass at another one…rebuffed, he looked dejected.” “Was it something I said?” I’ve learned since these pretty copper and green coloured scarab beetles are in fact quite invasive…0_0…and they eat everything, including cannabis! Do they get high I wonder? “Dude, check out the colour on those roses, man, they taste good!” Cheech and Chong Beetles…who knew?
“The Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) is a species of scarab beetle. Due to the presence of natural predators, the Japanese beetle is not considered a pest in its native Japan, but in North America and some regions of Europe, it is a noted pest to roughly 300 species of plants. Some of these plants include rose bushes, grapes, hops, canna, crape myrtles, birch trees, linden trees, and others. The adult beetles damage plants by skeletonizing the foliage (i.e., consuming only the material between a leaf’s veins) as well as, at times, feeding on a plant’s fruit. The subterranean larvae feed on the roots of grasses. The first Japanese beetle found in Canada was inadvertently brought by tourists to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, by ferry from Maine in 1939. During the same year, three additional adults were captured at Yarmouth and three at Lacolle in southern Quebec. Throughout the majority of the Japanese beetle’s range, its life cycle takes one full year; however, in the extreme northern parts of its range, as well as high-altitude zones as found in its native Japan, development may take two years.”
No, I don’t have flying cats, but I have a ladder climbing one! Rocket has been doing this since he was young, up the ladder, down the ladder, in the house, outside, he is a ladder boy! Balance helped by those huge paws and long toes!
I was cleaning the water run off spouts on the trailer, they get clogged with debris when he decided he would help, and wanted to know why the window was not open, it would be handy to go in the trailer, lie on the bed and watch me work…
The ease in which he goes up and down…he is way better at this than me! Cats with jobs!
Groot looks on with distrust and disgust! What is he doing making a fool of himself up there? One should be chasing frogs and dragonflies, or better yet! Grasshoppers! No decorum whatsoever!
These guys! Never a dull moment! I think the wind is dying down and the sun coming out, time to get out and try the extension tubes that arrived for macro on some more of our bug and flower friends! Put my new found knowledge to use! Stay tuned for bugs, close up, really really close up! Saludos amigos!
Watching the baby birds grow up and other flapping things;)
Where does the Summer go? Lost in a cloud of mosquitos and deer flies! Ha! When did the baby Loon get so big? I haven’t had as much canoe time this year as I’ve wanted, circumstances do that so I have been watching the Loons from the dock and up higher. There was a lot of Loon yelling and screeching this last weekend, hard on them, boats, jets skis, people fishing getting too close and it appeared her/his mate disappeared for two days, but then came back. Only one chick now as well 🙁 At least quieter during the week for them. Hoping this little tyke makes it! It’s the most vocal pair of parents I’ve heard in the last four years! Heron flies over…yodel, seagull flies over, yodel, Osprey flies over, yodel…a lot of yodeling!
The Red-Bellies have moved the juveniles back into the bush, time to teach them about bugs and grubs and poking at trees, enough free suet and oranges I think! The Hairy’s and Downy’s are the same. Time for some real life learning! I do miss them. I see them from time to time but not waiting on me for the orange to arrive nattering. It was exciting to see not just one, but later two juvenile Red-Bellied Woodpeckers! Yeah! Successful year! Big brother was showing his sibling the ropes last week! You sit here…eat here…Now to get a photo of both juveniles together!
So far, no baby hummingbirds. I am wondering if the nesting didn’t go well. The male was doing a mating fly dance to a female yesterday. They fly up and down as if on a swing. It seems quiet here without all the youngsters. We’ll wait and see. Down at the barn the Robin is on her 2nd set of babies, almost ready to fledge, she will be relieved when they do! So many mouths to feed!
On our the lawn here a Robin was “anting”. Anting is a maintenance behavior during which birds rub insects, usually ants, on their feathers and skin. The bird may pick up the insects in its bill and rub them on the body (active anting), or the bird may lie in an area of high density of the insects and perform dust bathing-like movements (passive anting). The insects secrete liquids containing chemicals such as formic acid, which can act as an insecticide, miticide, fungicide, or bactericide. Alternatively, anting could make the insects edible by removing the distasteful acid, or possibly supplement the bird’s own preen oil. Instead of ants, birds can also use millipedes. More than 200 species of bird are known to ant!
The bird may lie in an area of high density of the insects and perform dust bathing-like movements (passive anting). Learn something new every day!
I got to see my first ever Ovenbird down at the barn. Spied him in a pile of brush as we sat and had coffee! The Ovenbird gets its name from its covered nest. The dome and side entrance make it resemble a Dutch oven. Will look in the pile of brush next week for a nest! Very cool! Also saw a black and white warbler and some pale yellow warbler type as well! I need to sit awhile on Jennifer’s porch by the lilac bush! There are always the Grackles…I know some folks don’t like them much but I don’t mind them. They are loud and somewhat comical! Still making them work for peanuts! Ha!
On our way down to barn a family of Wild Turkeys were making there way across the Narrows Lock Road. We stopped and let them pass. The juveniles were trying out their wings, Ma and Pa just sauntered along…:)
So much to see if you stop, look and listen, or actually with birds it’s often listen…then look! What is that song I asked myself as I stood checking the mailbox one afternoon. It looked like a Northern Mockingbird from afar and was singing up a song but no, A Gray cat bird! What a voice!
Further down the road…a Juvenile Red-Eyed Vireo was being fed y a parent, and a Scarlett Tanager belted out a few notes before disappearing into the leaves above…so bright!
We rarely see the Jays at the house except when they stop by for a few sunflower seeds. They are also back in the woods yelling at me as I walk by, I don’t deliver I told them! The juvenile Rose Breasted Grosbeaks are as big as the parents and hard to tell apart! The Orioles have gone quiet as well, back in the woods I guess, teaching the kids the ropes:) “Where to find grubs and other tasty treats 101” a necessary course for young birds;)
I have put the jam away as the young Gray squirrels really don’t need their teeth rotted out;) A Eastern Kingbird posed on the tree out by the lake, scratching and preening. Sometimes you see yellow on their undersides, sometimes not, beautiful birds! Go get those deer flies guys!
Sometimes you are just in the right place at the right time. Driving past the mailboxes this week past I asked Mike to stop! Quick, turn off the truck, I jumped out:) This Great Blue Heron had secured his lunch by not biting the catfish, but actually spearing it, right through the upper body! He then flew away with it:) That was quite the spear job! I told him I was not interested in the fish but hey, better safe than sorry he said.
I check the swan Cygnet every time we drive by. Sometimes they are on top of their muskrat den nest, sometimes swimming further away, out of sight at the larger back swamp. He was still there this morning. Always makes me smile. Hoping they will be wandering/eating/swimming closer so I can get a few more shots before he/she learns to fly!
I was surprised to see a Cedar waxwing pair in front. I wandered out, was losing the light but managed a few shots. They are so beautiful! That mask and crest. They were still here this morning but I was looking into the light.
I had a great macro workshop with members of the Lanark County Camera Club this week. Bruce and Kit opened their beautiful house to us on Otty Lake and showed us some macro equipment, let us practice with it and demonstrated editing techniques as well. A lovely group of people. I was mesmerized by their garden full of dragonflies and hummingbirds and a Downy mother going to the suet to feed her son, who was as big as she was! Quite the treat to see!
I wish I had planted more flowers, sigh, next year! My bulbs didn’t Winter well, too warm in the basement so I will have to store them down at the barn this coming Winter! I’ll have some flowers, in September if I’m lucky! A juvenile hummingbird (I think) was feeding at their cardinal and evening primrose flowers! I loved their wild and natural yard! Beautiful!
The female here at the Lake has been very wary. The male Ruby-throated goes about protecting his territory flying from the front to the back of the house. Hard to watch both feeders…I do that on purpose. Give the passers by a chance at a sip! I’ll leave you for now with him! Stay tuned for cats, bats and other flying bugs to go with the beautiful dragonflies from our macro meeting! Saludos amigos!
