The weather continued unseasonably warm until the third week of the month which meant we were out and about most days.
If you are into fall colours and/or murals, don't miss the two webpages at the bottom after the videos....
(There are captions on most pictures that weren't highlighted in the headings - run your mouse over the picture to bring up the caption.)
As usual, birds caught my eye a good bit of the time....
A ruffed grouse greeted me at my car door in the Parc Omega parking lot. Only the second time I've come across a habituated ruffed grouse.
There seemed to be a few more turkeys around Parc Omega this month, the composition of the three turkeys in the second image had me quite intrigued for some reason.
(Someone said it looked like heads on each of the turkey's wing)
More time spent trying to catch birds coming in for, and leaving, on-hand feeding. I especially like the way Gwen's hand shows through the outspread wings.
I discovered when looking at the shots afterwards that one chickadee was bringing a seed back ?! It must not have been up to standard.
A few herons caught my attention.
Just north of Kingston we found a small set of waterfalls below a Rideau Canal set of locks. On a closer look, we spotted a great blue heron fishing below the falls (midway down the right side of the left-hand picture).
A few minutes later the heron was joined by a cormorant. The heron looked less than pleased with the interloper.
Herons at Mud Lake
(Note the different one at the end)
Great blue heron
Great blue heron
Juvenile black-crowned night heron
Other birds that caught my eye.
Common Merganser displaying her set of "teeth".
Robin with a few wisdom feathers on its head.
Wood duck in fall colour reflections.
Male and female wood duck in early morning light
American wigeon
Mrs Mallard posing for a portrait
Mallards coming for landing, thus the awkward poses
Touchdown....
Sceech Owl sleepily opening one eye
With our season's pass, and the nice weather, we visited Parc Omega a few times.
It was difficult sometimes to spot the deer amongst the fallen leaves.
The "rut" was still on; during one visit there were constant sounds of the elk and deer bellowing through the Parc. (See last video below.) But by the end of the second week, things were quieting down and male elk were being fed carrots at cars again.
Elder statesman red deer and his two ladies
Bull elk patrolling his territory (harem off camera)
Can't get much more in the car in pursuit of carrots
Animal "behaviour"
Young elk interacting and two yearling red deer seemed to have copied the wild pigs - wallowing in the mud.
Fast food
When we were on safari in Africa, we learned that the impala were called "fast food" because of the markings on their derrieres that resembled McDonald's Golden Arches, only the impala had black arches.
Most of the fallow deer have the same markings.
The case of the missing antlers.....
An elk and a fallow deer were both walking around with only one antler. The fallow deer's antler seemed to have fractured close to the base, whereas the elk's seemed to be a fresh "departure" from the joint on the skull.
Two of the caribou had had their antlers cut off. We asked about it - seems one of them had gotten too "frisky" and injured another. The injured one was given veterinarian care while the guilty party had its antlers shorn. But then the injured one started getting too rough, so it too had its antlers removed.
(The spots on the side of elk are ticks that have moved onto the animals with the approaching cool weather.)
The black wolves are usually very busy relaxing when you drive by, but one day as we watched them, a tractor came up the road - they immediately got up and, as a group, watched it approach. They followed it, inside their enclosure, as it moved up the road. When it didn't stop, they then turned and marched back to their resting spots. (Their food must be delivered by tractor thus the attention it received.)
A few more Parc Omega animals...
Male bison
rockin' and rollin' in the dust
White-tailed deer close-up
Eye to eye with the camera
Red deer with terrified look watched by geese. Terrified of water or the geese??
Black bear
Cinnamon bear
Silver fox - a new addition to Parc Omega
Arctic fox looking more like a domestic dog pup.
A few "other" images from the month.
Precision flying by meadowhawks dragonflies
Vine covered, no glass, but the phone works
Photo-bombing elk
Arctic wolf looking over its domain
Mushroom growth
8" wide, deep yellow mushroom
Elephant ears fungus
Coral tooth fungus
Coral tooth fungus
Small mushrooms coming up through the undergrowth
Grass, or something, growing up from seeds the birds missed
Late fall colours at Mud Lake
Fall colour reflections at Mud Lake
Late fall colours at Mud Lake
Late fall colours at Mud Lake
Peter Cottontail
And for something a bit different.....
There was a Day of the Dead small "festival" in the downtown area at the end of the month.
A few videos from the month.....
Two involve great blue herons, neither one action filled. The first one is from Kingston Mills, Ontario. The second one, from Mud Lake, is a three and half minute single clip with one brief cut in the middle. Some people not interested in herons stalking lunch might compare this to watching paint dry.
Another brief one is ducks, ducks and more ducks.
Then a quick look at 3 or 4 members of the menagerie at Mud Lake.
Followed by the sounds of the rut at Parc Omega.
Two webpages: Murals and Fall Colours