Leucistic Raccoon?!

We have now seen this little animal curled sleeping in a tree 2 evenings in a row. Both times we were unsure exactly what it could be. It looks like a raccoon but its colouring and markings are off, mainly, there Are no markings. The fur appeared reddish even in the dull overcast light we saw it in both nights.

We tried several searches for small mammals in Ontario, and ruled out Martens, etc. which made no sense anyway as the fur is course, long and raccoon like and the animal is not long and sleek.

Truly, we feel it is a leucistic or piebald raccoon. I hope that I can find it awake one day on a walk in the area it is, to see its face, and confirm this.

Woohoo a Chipmunk - First Sign of Spring 2013!

Last weekend, we went out for a walk in one of our favoured areas. There was still quite a lot of signs that winter was still here, namely the stark and frozen marsh and cold, monochromatic landscape.

In the midst though, with the mild temperatures, there were signs of Spring - always exciting to see! One was some buds on a bush/tree, the 2nd were male blackbirds, both themselves and their loud unmistakeable chatter. The 3rd, and unexpected, was the sudden appearance of a chipmunk near the path. Just as I commented that in a couple weeks or so, as we did last year, we'll soon see the chippies out again. Not 2 seconds had passed after my comment when there ran a chippie out of the brush, stopping to check out the snow still left on the ground. We tossed it a peanut but it paid no mind of it, and ran back into the brush. So cool to see what I always think of as a sure sign or Spring!

Lots of other cool things to see too, both alive and inanimate. We also came upon Mergansers, the closest I've ever managed to view them, as we drove over the marsh on our way home. Boy did they take off fast though!

Cute, Smart and Funny Animals and Birds

On our many walks, we see lots of creatures, both furred and feathered and even scaled, bumpy and slimy too. I look forward to Spring when again we will see the frogs and toads and fish jumping out of the lake at dusk after bugs. I look so forward to seeing the baby animals and birds again this coming season!

Last weekend, I tried to balance some drawing time with walks and photography time though. Still, however, it was probably 10 - 90 lol! But, it felt awesome to get in some drawing from life, of my partner, in the afternoon on the holiday Monday. Still, we did get out for one long walk and a couple short jaunts.

Lately, we've seen tons of attitude on the animals and birds. Must be the cold weather and the competition for food. We've seen some amazing sights, one just this weekend. There is a pair of ravens that hangs at one of the spots we hike in. They are often heard before they are seen by us. This past weekend, just as we were  reaching the entrance to one of the paths, don't we look up at a large black bird which at first glance appeared to have a white head. What in hell could that be I'm thinking as I whip the camera up and take 2 shots of it as it passes overhead. I see then in my lens that it is a raven carrying in it's mouth an object - a snowball?! But why? When we got home and looked at the 2 images I caught, one clearer than the 2nd, we saw things sticking out of this ball of snow that the raven held in its beak. My boyfriend had read back a bit, when we saw the Kestrels a few times, that Kestrels will save and hide extra mice or voles, freezing them, to later thaw them out by I guess sitting on them, when food seems like it may be getting scarce or harder to catch. It dawned on us that maybe the Ravens had found one of the Kestrel's, who are also in that vicinity, frozen future meals. It is the only conclusion we can think of, unless it is a frozen discarded fries or burger from the nearby McDonald's or Harvey's lol!

Short Walk on my Short Work Day

I had some lieu time to take, about 3 hrs, so I got to leave work at noonish Friday. I was excited as I'd be home long before dark time and we could do a walk on a weekday, which is always enjoyable.

Well, it certainly was Not +12 like Wednesday, in fact, with the wind chill it was -18 lol! We did go, kind of halfway hoping we'd see a Sawhet owl that 3 different people we've run into have mentioned they'd spotted. Typically, I am not one for going out specifically to look for something as I enjoy the walks for the walks first, then love the surprise of seeing something cool or interesting or exciting. Otherwise, there is that chance of being disappointed because one didn't see what they hoped to see - it's like that for me anyway.

Well, we got there and a guy had his shepherd running loose in the area where my boyfriend mentioned the owl is seen usually. So, no way was I going to walk around there. We figured we'd look a bit on the way back to our car. Venturing into another area, we startled a deer in the small tree and bush area, which scared the crap out of me at first. What a beautiful and large animal it was. It ran and we saw that down below in the valley, it joined a group of about 4 or 5 other deer and they headed away. I'd never seen deer there and was surprised by coming upon one.

In a different area, we happened to spot the Great Horned owl (not me though, my eyesight tends to suck). It was nice to see that it seemed fine and was still present as we'd not seen it for a while. It was dozy, turning its head slowly in the direction of some far off sound. They are always so high up that getting a photo of them is very difficult with my lens. Seeing it here, you'd think we were very close but at the height they usually are, I can barely see them with my naked eye. Nice to have a couple shots though, to recall in the future how lucky we were to have seen them.

We never looked for the Sawhet even though the guy and his dog were gone because we were freezing so we booted it back to the car and went home to make dinner and watch a movie.

The Magnificent Great Black Backed Gull

Sometimes, when we go out for a walk, just to get out and to see what may be seen, they start out being almost boring. I've learned from experience that they tend to never remain that way. This Sunday's walk proved to fall into that pattern too.

I had taken my daughter out shopping for some small gift items she wanted to get for friends and their family As we left the stores, it was sunny and real nice out. I was looking forward to a planned walk in the late afternoon. The weather changed a lot, quickly, and became overcast , windy and bitter compared to earlier, but we went out anyway. We decided just to go down to Halls Rd., our favourite place for a quick "get out for a bit" place.

There were barely any people there this time around. We walked down to the lookout over Cranberry Marsh - nothing. It was bitter enough that I was ready to just go home and get into a movie. The horizon looked interesting though, pinkish under the darks. So we thought we'd take a quick look at the shore and over the lake. As soon as I stepped out of the path onto the shore, there flew a large gull with dark backs of its wings. It was a great black backed gull. When you see them, you notice how much more magnificent and amazing they are, so much different than the regular gulls everyone is used to seeing like the common ring billed gull. We've only seen one once before and I had no camera with me and it was raining pretty hard. They are also huge gulls and seeing them swimming among the Canada Geese, gives a good idea of their size. We were lucky enough to see them in flight, an adult and a juvenile one. There was one ring billed gull with them as well. After watching them for about 15 mins, they decided that was it and off they flew.

On our way back up the path, we stopped to look at a bird that we spotted but do not know the name of. We thought maybe female Western Tanager but are not sure. It also looks like a large female Goldfinch, but I do not think it is. The large group of Cedar Waxwings were a surprise to see. They hung for a bit then flew off in their group. It was cute because one loner got left behind and flew off after about 30 secs after the large group, protesting about being left behind lol!

As we watched the waxwings, a family with 2 little girls came along. John had a few seeds left so as the group stopped near us and remarked about the birds, he asked if they had any seeds with them. They said no, that they had just stopped here on an impulse while on their way somewhere. We gave them the seeds and the 2 girls got to experience the chickadees land on their hands to take them. It was a nice feeling to see the family happy that they stopped because the girls enjoyed getting to feed the birds. It soon was so cold that they left and we all said Merry Christmas and headed back.

Lately, every time we drive back and forth past Lynde Shores area, we spot this small what looks like some sort of tiny bird of prey. I had thought when we headed out this day, that if I spotted it again I was going to stop this time and try to see if I could get a shot of it and see what it is finally. We did see it, but earlier in the drive and we saw 2 people out of their car on the side of the road, taking photos of it. I passed it and said if we see it on the way home, I'll stop. We got passed the spot we had seen the bird on the wire and the people stopped, so I figured it was gone. Then suddenly, there it was, partially in silhouette now though. We parked on the side of the road, opposite the side it was on, and walked down a bit. We then realized it had a mouse hung over the wire and was eating. Though the light wasn't the greatest, I managed to get some shots and realize it was a Kestrel. What a cool sighting! So this was what I was seeing all the time on our drives back and forth along that route lately. It was worth standing out freezing in the cold wind for :-)

What started out as a seemingly boring and  eventless outing, turned into yet again, a fun and exciting experience.

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 :-)

Discovering Mount Nemo in Burlington

We had the opportunity to visit the Burlington area and chose a conservation area that looked interesting - Mount Nemo. Definitely worth checking out! The area is very similar to what we experienced at Ball's Falls near Hamilton. There are crevice caves and dizzying heights from which to view the landscape below. You even can spot the Toronto city center from the top of the escarpment. There are 800-1000 yr old trees all along the rocks at the edge of the escarpment. The bird and animal life there is not as prevalent as in some areas we go locally in the Whitby area, but the landscape is different and very exciting to view. There are turkey vultures to be seen at eye level as they tend to glide on the updraft off the escarpment cliffs. It's possible to explore the crevice caves although it is discouraged from Sept to April, when bats are hibernating. Our hike was about 3 1/2 hrs and partly on the Bruce Trail where at one point there was access down the escarpment to below where we met a road and old grave yard.