What caught my eye - April 2021

Managed to get out 17 days with the camera to 13 different places. Lots of signs of spring catching my eye and adding interest to the walks in local parks.

The coltsfoot (often mistaken for dandelions) are always the first to appear in our area, followed quickly by the spring flowers in the forests.

coltsfoot

pussy willow

speckled elder

maple tree

Tamarack

fruit/berry tree

Bloodroot

spring beauty

hepatica

Trout lily

scilla

red trillium

white trillium

violet

The mourning cloak butterfly appears first, but others quickly followed.

A good number, and variety, of woodpeckers were around; Downy, hairy, pileated (with a bad hair day) and sapsuckers. Flickers were calling but I never found one to photograph.

The pair of osprey at Iroquois have claimed the nesting platform, but were not using it yet as the Mrs hadn’t laid any eggs when we were there mid-month.

Red-winged blackbirds, chickadees and plenty of cardinals called constantly.

Lots of ducks, including a mallard on a roof top! Never met a wood duck I didn’t want to photograph… There were a number of hooded mergansers in a few places as well as a pair of ring necked ducks I had not seen around here before. Some buffleheads were seen, but too far away for a decent image.

Compton tortoiseshell

mourning cloak

Eastern Pine Elfin

spring azure

hairy woodpecker

downy woodpecker

sapsucker

pileated woodpecker

osprey

female red-wing blackbird

male red-wing blackbird

song sparrow

phoebe

chickadee

cardinal

raven chick

mallard duck

black duck

ring-neck duck

wood duck

hooded merganser

With no leaves out yet, large, odd shaped trees certainly stood out to catch my eye.

The tree in the third picture caught my attention as it looked like it has two arms reaching out. Pine trees come in sorts of shapes! One stump, turned on its side has a definite animal head shape.

reflections

sumach

reaching out

pine tree

decaying pine tree

stump

animal head

decaying stump

moss taking over old stump

cedar tree

maple leaves

Lots of four legged creatures about, including the Easter bunny. Plus some no-legged garter snakes getting “frisky”.

Blanding’s turtles are quite scarce, I found this one sunning itself.

The last three pictures show a porcupine den tree at which someone has set up a camera trap hoping to get a shot of the porcupine (who didn’t appear for me as they are nocturnal).

cottontail rabbit

Easter cottontail rabbit

black squirrel

red squirrel

garter snake

wood frog

leopard frog

bull frog

painted turtle

painted turtles

blanding's turtle

beaver lodge and dam

patriotic beaver

muskrat

raccoon

porcupine den

camera den

set up

It took two mornings and several hours to find the old bike that was some 6 feet up in a tree that had grown around it. Obviously the bike had been there for a good number of years.

I continued collecting various examples of art work around the city, including amateur-built inukshuks.

About 2 kilometers along trail leading to a large beaver pond, there was a hockey net that had obviously been hauled in for shinny games in the winter.

The much decorated glacial erratic at Mud Lake sheered off part of one side. Wonder how many years that was in the making.

The last image is a shot of the “pink” moon (one of two "super" large full moons in 2021) just before moving down behind the neighbour’s house.