We are experiencing very variable weather this winter. March is no exception. The main thing is that we have virtually no ice cover (~10%) on the Great Lakes — a very different situation compared with the last two winters when we had heavy ice covers (around 90%) in mid March. The high evaporation rates plus the lack of water content in the snow cover of the drainage signals a low water summer for Georgian Bay this year.
Here are some pix taken over the last week or so:
Some early morning hoar frost, due to freezing temperatures, humid air and no wind …
Riverside Drive:
The last few minutes before sunshine finished off the ice crystals …
Very different day with rain and fog, well above freezing …
A Pileated Woodpecker (or two) spent a day cleaning out the grubs in this Elm which died due to Dutch Elm Disease about 5 years ago. I am sorry that I missed the performance!
Oft photographed corner post in the ground fog/rain.
Bits of light reflecting off of raindrops here…
Remnants of 100 year old dockage in Byng Inlet.
Byng Inlet architecture:
Late afternoon melting snow from Hwy 522:
(shorter, square-tail, smaller beak, smooth throat feathers compared to Common Raven) American Crows have been back for about a week and are busy collecting baubles etc for their nests. (Double click on its beak to see its whiskers!!)
Pine Siskins are chattering in the willow and alder thickets …
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and are often seen with the Common Red Polls … who will be soon heading back up north for the summer.
Nature lovers who wish to share their love with youngsters might be interested in this practice:
Brtthome's Blog 
Thank you so much for sharing today’s blog post with your readers! Your photos are beautiful.
Thank you for your generous comments! I follow your blog and enjoy it very much. It is a pleasure to share it with my readers & friends.
You Know Tom, it was not our usual Winter this year, but these pix brought into focus just how exceptional it still was. xoxoxo
Krys — “these pix brought into focus”!!! Shame on you!!!! 🙂
Yes, I guess that when peering through a viewfinder one notices the departures from normalcy. They add up to show the more extreme views of nature giving a glimpse into the edges of the envelope of our vision. I suspect that our brain tends to normalize or average out a large part of our visual experience, especially if it is repeated over and over again.
My drive to Parry Sound is an example. If I am conscious of my camera sitting on my dashboard, I tend to take the sideroads, drive slower and SEE a lot more, especially scenes that are different from the previous trips.
So it seems almost automatic that the careful photographer will bring “into focus just how exceptional it was”.
Interesting thoughts, eh?
t