Gone to the Birds

We went to Morse, Saskatchewan again. We’ve been there many times before (see a previous post on my former blog). The main attraction is Reed Lake and its many thousands of nesting or migrant shorebirds.

It’s a shallow intermittent saline lake and it along with Chaplin and Old Wives lakes, are part of a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network site – one of the most important inland sites for migratory birds in North America.

American Avocet - Click for larger

This trip would not disappoint. There were hundreds, perhaps thousands of American Avocets.

American Avocet - Click for larger

But there were also Marbled Godwits,

Marbled Godwit - Click for larger

Willets, Phalaropes, and Franklin's Gulls - to name a few.

Willet - Click for larger

We even caught a glimpse of a pair of Black-necked Stilts - a first for us. It was a good day to go to the birds!

A Confession

(also known as "This Space for Rent")

I must make a confession. While camping this past weekend I coveted my neighbours trailer. Yes it is true - I want to be trailer trash!

Robins in Nest - Click for larger

We tent camped at Rondeau Provincial Park, hopeful that staying in the park would allow us to view and photograph many beautiful migrant warblers travelling to their northern nesting grounds. And indeed we did see and photograph some lovely birds.

Baltimore Oriole - Click for larger

The hikes at dawn were good for the soul. The rising sun warmed our backs and lit up the little birds as they flitted about.

Magnolia Warbler - Click for larger

I really enjoyed that. Honest. A beautiful Pipevine Swallowtail, a butterfly that's rarely seen in Canada even posed for the cameras.

Pipevine Swallowtail - Click for larger

But sadly all these sightings just weren't enough to keep me from lusting over the trailers of other campers. No doubt I was drooling when we were invited to step inside a friend's trailer. I just couldn't help myself!

No I couldn't stop myself from imagining Ron and I having a meal or processing the day's images at the table while sitting on chairs with real backs, rather than the backless benches of a bird-dirt splattered picnic table. We wouldn't even have to set up a dining tent let alone haul bins back and forth from the car. Instead everything would be stored away in the handy cupboards. Just how much food could be kept cold in the refrigerator when a bag of ice wasn't hogging space? I wondered how comfortable the always-made Queen-sized bed would feel compared to our air-bed that becomes slack with the dropping night temperature. About four steps is what I figured it would take me to get from that warm duvet covered bed to the enclosed bathroom - no shoes or pyjama bottoms required. I also wouldn't have to worry about the unzipping of tent flaps and running out into the dark to look for the nearest outhouse with who knows what (bears?!) might be lurking nearby. In the morning I could actually step out of bed and choose from a drawer what clothes to put on that day. I wouldn't have to put back on the yesterday's clothes (the night before I usually forget to find fresh clothes from the great abyss the van becomes on road trips). But the best part of all would be those clothes could be put on while standing up! I wouldn't have to struggle into jeans while lying down - something I thought I could stop doing when the skin-tight jeans from my youth went out of fashion. Even undergarments could be put on correctly rather than leaving me feeling slightly askew all day.

Sleepy Raccoon - Click for larger

Yes indeed, a trailer or better yet a truck camper or van would be ideal for our up-coming road trip across the country. So if there are RV dealers or manufacturers reading this blog we are open to offers of your providing us with one. In exchange you would get the free advertisement in this space. No doubt I would go on at length about the RV's many features and how we were enjoying our travels in it. And of course there would be pictures of the RV against some stunning vista. But failing the selling of this space (and my soul) I will try to remind myself of the advantages to our tent camping: the lower fuel consumption, the portability, nothing to tow, low enough to get into underground parking garages, the not having to sleep with odours of the day's meals... I'll pretend that we have sacrificed our comfort in order to be more environmentally friendly and help save the planet. And if during our journeys any of you out there are indeed reading this blog, maybe you might even believe me. Well maybe just a little!

Harbingers of Spring

That's what my sister said when she saw these American robin pictures (right and below) Ron took at the end of March. It was one week after the first official day of Spring but the snow banks were still high in our neighbourhood making it hard to believe that it really WAS Spring. Some years a few robins even over-winter in the Bluffs. Migrants started arriving in Toronto a few weeks earlier but were yet to appear in my sister's area of Northern Ontario. These robins were just two of about a dozen frantically gobbling up last-year's fruit both under and in three ornamental crab trees. The robin below seems unimpressed with the snow. But the robins weren't alone in their feeding frenzy nor were they what drew us to shoot at that location. We subscribe to ONTBIRDS a free email service provided by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) were birders share their sightings of interesting birds. On this sunny day it was a report of Bohemian Waxwings that enticed us out to the crab trees. Neither of us had ever even seen that bird species - let alone photographed them! As we were leaving our house we noticed a small flock of Cedar Waxwings (above and right) high up in the trees in ours and the neighbouring front yard. Since Cedar and Bohemian Waxwings are often seen together (just not by us), we watched them carefully with binoculars to be sure that there weren't any Bohemian's amongst them. No luck, so off we went to the reported location. When we arrived the robins and some starlings were the first birds we spotted. But in a few minutes a flock of Cedar Waxwings flew into the trees. Ron of course was already shooting whatever bird decided to pose. As the birds flew in and out of the trees we soon realized that quietly and without fanfare the Cedar Waxwings had been joined by Bohemians. Our first sighting! (Below) For the next couple of hours Ron would photograph the birds as they fed and flew in and out of the trees. They seem to come in waves, sometimes being a mixture of bird species or sometimes just Bohemian waxwings alone. Mostly they seemed oblivious to us but occasionally one would cock its head wondering at the sound of Ron's camera as he clicked away. He gave them lots of space as he was shooting with a 500mm lens. But even at that distance they sometimes would fly by so close to him he could feel the wind from their wings. It was a lovely experience. We were also treated to our first Northern Mockingbird sighting of the year when it swooped in to participate in the crab-apple buffet. Ron didn't get any pictures but here are a few from last year. Now the snow has disappeared from our yard but I continue to monitor Spring's progress. A few days after we saw the waxwings my sister finally saw her first robin of the season and in ONTBIRDS they were reported further north in the Temiskaming District on April 3rd. I'm anticipating my first warbler sightings of the season. As early as Mar 2nd ONTBIRDS had reported sightings of yellow-rumped warblers in Ottawa, but they were only reported south at Point Pelee and near us in Whitby on April 8th. When I finally get to spot a warbler peeking out from apple blossoms like this yellow warbler that's when I'll know for sure that it's really Spring!

Good Intentions

This is my first posting of 2008. Time, the years, my life - it is all really flying by! Is that why at this time of year we always find it necessary to make resolutions? Normally, I don't resolve to do anything specific. Of course throughout the year I always have a running to-do list that includes things like: loose weight; exercise; clean the basement; and the other usual things that some people would call resolutions. This year I'm thinking not about resolve, but good intentions. So here are my good intentions for the year: I intend to get out more into the rural areas of Ontario, to get to know our province better by taking hikes through its rugged vistas like this one along the Chikanishing Trail in Killarney Provincial Park: But I also intend to be in a canoe more often, to jump in and give my arms a good work out not only by going for short paddles in Lake Ontario and any other navigable body of water that might be nearby, but also to go on overnight canoe trips into the interior of Ontario's many organized parks and wilderness areas. The image to the right shows me paddling on the Montreal River - an access point into Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park northwest of Temagami. Algonquin is another favourite place of ours for canoe-in camping. The north side is not as busy as the south. I would like to get back to this wonderful campsite (below) on Lake Manitou (accessed at Kiosk near North Bay, Ontario). There we had pitched our tent on a hill with a view facing east right up the lake. In the morning I could lay in bed and watch the sun come up over the flat, mist-covered water beyond my feet. It is highly unusual for us to be in bed while the sun is rising. We normally are up long before first light to be ready to shoot at some previously scouted location. But on this trip on Lake Manitou we decided we would take a bit of a rest - almost a holiday. Ron let me lay in bed but he couldn't resist the mirror-like flatness of the lake. He got up and photographed himself paddling off into the mist (below). So this year I intend not only to canoe more, but to watch the sun rise over a lake and from bed more often. But besides getting into our canoe often, I intend to also use my kayak more but drive less. Driving less means we will spend more time in Ontario and won't be doing anything as dangerous as launching our kayaks near icebergs like this one stuck in the harbour at La Scie in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Yes that is me and my kayak in that image. Ron is photographing me from his kayak. He likes to tell the history of this picture, how it is only my 4th time in a kayak and there I am in the North Atlantic near a BIG iceberg. We even had to paddle through small ice flows, pack ice or bergy bits to get this shot. You'll notice that we were lucky and the water was relatively flat for the ocean - probably as flat as it ever gets. He makes me sound brave. However we both know better. It was not a very safe or smart thing to do - especially when you consider at the time that I didn't know how to recover from a wet exit and get back into my kayak. I eventually did practice that manoeuvre in a warm lake in water over my head but very close to shore. It's harder than it sounds to right your boat, haul yourself out of the water and back into a very easily tipped kayak. I eventually managed but we both know that had I tipped on that day by that iceberg that I would have succumbed to the bone numbing cold water in much less time than it would have taken to right the kayak and climb back in. So this year I am not only going to continue to practice recovering from wet exits but I intend to learn how to stay in the kayak and roll myself upright. It's a long 17-foot sea kayak but I'm told rolling is possible - hopefully I won't drown trying to find out! Other good intentions: to get to know more interesting people like Margery above, and have fun by visiting more frequently with friends and family like these two below hamming it up for the camera: I also intend to finally sign up (and actually attend) a class where I hope to learn how to use Ron's nature images such as this one below of a Long-tailed Duck and turn it into my own stained glass art, perhaps a window something like this: Also since we intend to drive less we will be home more. So I intend to enjoy our house and yard more. To that end I intend to turn our weedy yard into a native wildflower garden that will attract birds such as this yellow warbler (left) or this monarch butterfly (below right). Not only will we enjoy seeing more birds and butterflies in our yard but it means Ron can photograph them right here, without going anywhere. That should help with the good intent of driving less too. The intent to canoe and kayak more should also help with those old to-do list items of loosing weight and getting more exercise. So keep watching this blog over the next year and I'll let you know how it is going and whether I've managed to turn my good intentions into actions.