Krazy Kayaking Guy

Not really sure what was behind the decision, but this guy was unloading his kayak from his car roof at the harbour in Whitby. Now, nothing wrong with that in general but......this was March 3rd and winds were as high as 100km in some places in Durham. Ours were probably about 70km average at this time of day. 90kms was happening earlier in the day. The waves in the more sheltered inlet were ok, choppy, but yeah if you have experience.....ok. However, by the pier where the water was more open and lead right out into Lake Ontario, not so much. The waves were huge and dangerous at times.

We were walkign down by the pier, shooting some photos, when suddenly there is the guy, struggling in the waves and we saw him turn to head back to the safer area. He never made it. He ended up against the walls of the cement walk and being bashed against the wall. Some bystanders were reaching down to try to help him get up one of the metal stairs that extend down into the water. It was proving difficult. We started up to see if they needed help as we were pretty far back still. They got his kayak out as John was almost there and then we saw he was helped out. By this time, Fire Dept. was on its way. Hopefully the guy was ok.

Holy Cow It's a Downy Woodpecker!

John and I went to Halls Rd. in Whitby on Monday. I had a lieu day off work so it was nice to get to go when no weekend crowds were there.

At first, quiet and no animal or bird activity. Then, the Chickadees started appearing. There were suddenly tons of them back and forth, eating seeds from John's hand. His hand was getting sore from their sharp little feet lol!

Then, we heard a woodpecker. Next thing you know, a woodpecker swoops out of nowhere and lands on John's hand. He said wow, it is so soft compared to the little Chickadees. It was a female  Downy Woodpecker....so cute!!!

Besides the bird, we saw the most glorious rocks at the shoreline of Lake Ontario this day too. Holy crap, it looked like someone threw paint spatters on a few of them, the pattern and colours we saw! Gorgeous!

C15 Swan Again....Too Near the Road :-(

Although it is awesome to get to walk right up to him, this swan at Whitby Harbour is always right beside the road. This time, resting with his head in his feathers.

This morning, went down to the harbour to see what was around. We talked with a guy from Sunderland, who is an avid bird watcher. He let us know the big gull with the black wings we had seen earlier is a Greater Black Back Gull and that they aren't often seen more than maybe once a year in Whitby. I got a shot of one, though it was too far for my lens.

My camera got cold and wet and began not to function so we went home.