Edwards Gardens - Long Time No See

Having lived in North York, Ontario as a kid, we were taken to Edwards Gardens and Wilket Creek Park often. I also took horse back riding lessons for a couple years, at age 7 or 8, at Sunnybrook Farms. Seeing the place almost 40 years later was really quite a weird feeling. Memories were good and bad but nostalgic none the less.

We walked into Edwards Gardens, through to Wilket Creek, then on to the farms. I originally had recalled the drive to the farm on the road that leads past all the picnicers as longer than we discovered it was. On this walk, to reach Wilket Creek, we discovered 2 red tailed hawks. Quite a sight to behold, one eating on a hill top as the other flew off somewhere. I got shots of the one who stayed but since it was so far, they are not fantastic shots.

There were an abundance of dragon and damsel flies, wasps and bees, and of course, gorgeous flowers. Going on a weekday however, would probably be a better choice, and earlier in the season as the flowers were quite in need of water as a result of this very hot and dry summer we've had so far. Quite a wonderful hike through the parks though, despite all that :-)

Thickson Woods and Halls Rd.

Been out a lot lately, for what ended up being pretty long walks - 5 hours 2 days in a row lol! Omg my neck killed from looking up lol! It is exciting to see so many different birds and animals, that for one I have never seen, and secondly, never even knew we had in Ontario lol!

At Thickson, I accidentally stepped on something soft that out of the corner of my eye, then moved. I thought it maybe was just a small stick. I walked on a bit and was about to turn because something told me Maybe it was a snake. Last time I walked beside a snake, it was in Tobermory, and it had a rattling tail lol! I know we don't have those this south in Ontario but....... my boyfriend then called my name and said "there's a snake" so I realized I sensed right, I had stepped on a snake. I hadn't hurt it but when I saw it, I had No idea what it was lol! Turns out it was an Eastern Milk Snake, harmless, but can still bite. It was in strike pose none the less. Cool to see, very pretty, about 4' long.

Halls Rd. by far is our favourite. The trees and brush is lower so the birds are closer. We also always tend to see Something interesting there. We regularly see deer, raccoon, squirrels, the muskrats, baby animals currently, rabbits, chippies, and tons of different birds. I was lucky enough recently to pull up and see a Cardinal 2 ft from my car. I shot some images out the front windshield then slowly got out and managed to get an awesome shot of the female reach down to try to take the sunflower seed the male had taken from top of a fence post. She never ended up taking it but flew away further instead. The cardinals always stay pretty far back so it was quite a lucky moment!