As much as I liked the active wild turkeys down by Morrisburg, the northern pintail pair of ducks at Mud Lake kept me busy. (See Feb/21 for the male in flight). The female pintail is similar to a female mallard (pic#3). The robins, which are around all winter at Mud Lake, were joined by a small flock of bohemian waxwings. Male cardinals stood out as usual.
Hydro Ontario is wise to pileated woodpeckers and protect their poles, not so other companies with nearby service poles. The mute swans were down by Seely's Bay, we saw four of what were supposed to be a large flock.
With the early fast spring the snow geese have been harder to find. First time we looked the skeins were up very high, then a few days later we found some small flocks around Morrisburg. But Canada geese were everywhere in huge flocks. The close-ups were at Mud Lake of geese looking for handouts.
Redpolls seemed to be common this year and a hairy woodpecker uncommonly on the ground.
The bluebirds had returned to Almonte and were collecting nesting material.
We bought an annual pass to Parc Oméga and visited twice this month. First visit was a weekday, opening at 10am, the "toll-keepers" were on duty (third picture), second visit was on a weekend, opening at 9am, fourth picture shows the toll-keepers arriving late for work. Last three pictures are from the Parc farm.
elk
new antlers starting
deer
fallow deer
cariboou
mountain goats
bison
coyote
black wolves
timber wolves
arctic wolf
arctic fox
boar
wild turkey
black bear
cinnamon bear
goats at farm
highland cattle at farm
Two coyotes, in the southern reaches of Ottawa, way off in a farm field, kept an eye on me. At Coopers Marsh, after 10 minutes of posing, the white-tailed deer high-tailed it.
I had to settle for a mink at Lancaster on the day the snow geese failed to report in. The foot tracks belong to a fisher, outside Almonte.
Architecture has always caught my attention, a no-longer-in-use church in Cardinal had lovely brick details and a nicely patterned slate (?) roof. The other building is a small apartment that seems to be covered by steel plate??
The ice was disappearing quickly at Mer Bleue, including one patch looking like Mickey Mouse.
Last two pictures are morning ice on puddles, third last is interesting "pedestaled" circles of on a pond. Speculation is that they are from foot prints, but who knows.
Last few are mushrooms/fungus that have emerged from under the snow. The last one being one of the puffballs from September and November postings.
