It was a busy month, we had lots of rain at times, but many good days to get out and about.
Three outings of a slightly different nature produced some photo ops that caught the eye. Canada Day and Fantasy in the Forest produced some interesting costumes and a day in the Thousand Islands area near Gananoque included a boat tour on the St Lawrence
Two Provincial Parks offered a first sighting of Indian Pipes, a favourite wild perennial flower, at Murphys Point and a huge cedar tree burl, on the ground was very eye-catching at Voyageur Provincial Park located at the east end of Hwy #417. Voyageur Park seemed like a very nice park for campers
Our regular monthly visit to Parc Omega was a bit different in that we were later than usual arriving and many of the animals had had a fill of carrots and were relaxing. Some needed perhaps to relax what with their magnificent large antlers. Many of the animals were being bothered by flies, especially the moose. The caribou were more used to their new enclosure and gave us a very close look at their complex antlers.
A visit, after an absence of over 20 years, to Morris Island produced the dragonfly shots I remembered. Along with other insects, flowers etc
There was lots to see at Petrie Island, but the surprise of the visit was a family of common gallinules. I've only ever seen them in Florida.
Sawmill Creek Ponds had lots of flowers in bloom. The "hit" of the visit was a clearwing hummingbird moth and the introduction to me, of "smooth" sumac which I had never noticed before. (Right hand photo - left side: staghorn sumac, right side: smooth sumac)
Nepean Ponds Park produced seven (perhaps nine) green herons, an egret and three great blue herons within 15 minutes of our arrival!!! An eye catching shot was of the great blue heron going vertical
Despite July being a quiet month, Mud Lake had lots of flowers and birds plus all the ancillary it offers. The unique thing catching the eye this month was the hooded mergansers that were in residence. One juvenile, on its own and a mum and two younger ones on the river. I don't recall seeing any in previous years.
Christmas colours from a rust infection caught my eye during a walkaround at Fletcher Wildlife Garden. A hummingbird at the cardinal flowers produced a nice photo-op.
