A relatively nice month weather-wise made getting around enjoyable. Some new places visited and some of the usual haunts.
Lots of things to catch one's eye, including a visit to The Canadian Raptor Conservancy.
While in the area of the Raptor Conservancy we checked out a few other places including Long Point, Hamilton waterfalls and the St Jacob's Market.
With a local barred owl catching our attention during the month, it brought to mind the many owls that have caught our eyes over the years.
Early in the month not all of the wood ducks had headed south from Mud Lake, there were still a few American wigeons to be seen. The chickadees seemed quite anxious to acquire some sunflower seeds.
A second visit at the end of the month was a different story. The lake was 75% covered with thin ice, no ducks could be found on the lake - only Canada geese and gulls. A downy woodpecker was happy to be offered sunflower seeds. There were even still a few flowers holding out against the cold.
The bears hadn't gone into hibernation yet at Parc Omega. With fewer Prairie Dogs in the open, perhaps some of them had headed into their tunnels for the winter. The elk and deer certainly were proud of their antlers, although a few had lost their antlers prematurely.
The beaver and muskrats had been busy at Petrie Island. A number of muskrat lodges had been built and the beavers had built a good sized larder at one of their lodges. The chickadees followed us for quite while and competed with the nuthatches for seeds. A large number of Canada Geese had spent the night in the back waters, and departed during the morning for fields.
A walk at Pine Grove Trail came up with a very few birds and squirrels, but with the mild weather, many plants were still showing fall colours. slightly below freezing weather created interesting ice designs.
