As spring’s advance stopped and restarted the local and migrating birdies disappeared and reappeared.  Here are some samples of what they were doing.

Ring Billed Gulls doing a soft shoe on the ice:

… and putting on an airshow:

… with their well-fed friend doing the fly-by finale in the evening light:

Robin Red Breast implores photographer to cut back on the snow.  “Enough!” he says…….

While a pair of Starlings chuckle from their high wire act:

and this song sparrow sings its heart out …

and this tree sparrow scrabbles on a rare bit of ground for seeds …

and this Purple Finch or House Finch surveys the scene:

One local person believes that he has seen an Evening Grosbeak (“a great big goldfinch”) and Mary Holland reports that they are up to New England now.  We’ve seen a couple of small flocks of Sandhills flying around and a pair was seen on Belanger’s fields this spring.  So the spring migration is well underway.

Old Man Winter had his last kick at the cat, with some snow and freezing temperatures, showing us some interesting scenes:

First some frosty Ditch Art:

Field of frost flowers:

lil star:

Frosticles:

Growth on a twig:

Waterfall, freezing….

Pane of ice:

More frosticles:

Bubbles frozen in time:

Pussy willow in the snow:

Birdies in the snow —- all fluffed up:

Ice fishing for this Great Blue Heron?

Patrick’s Point:

Mary Holland wrote an interesting post about the effects of variable spring weather on amphibians such as our soon-to-be-heard spring peepers and salamanders.

Here are a few photos taken the last few days:

Melting snow on rock art:

Ditch art:

Weathered rock art:

Weathered rock with some lichens:

Icy reflection:

Ice floating on algal pond.

Creek on Old Nipissing Road in spring freshet:

The Bald Eagles referred to in the previous post were around yesterday.  So were the Turkey Vultures spying on that carp carcass.  But not photo opportunities.   I suspect that the Otter went hungry … or got another carp!

We are experiencing an late spring snowstorm now.  After its passage we can start looking for the first of the migrating warblers (see http://www.ofo.ca/ofo-docs/Spring%20Warbler%20Migration%20Guide.pdf ) and for the arrival of the Sandhill Cranes.

We put the long (100-300 mm) lens on the GH4 and kept alert for birdies to polish our skills for the migration of warblers due in about 3 weeks.

This is a sampling of what we found:

A Red Tailed Hawk on top of a high telephone pole on Hwy 69 between the Mag Reserve and Harris Lake made me stop and turn around to take a provisional shot  from a long way away:

As I got closer it flew away to another pole.  I tried to sneak up on it but it was prescient about me focusing the lens on it.  Finally on the third pole I was able to get this photo just as it lifted off — to depart the area.

Smaller birdies:

Male House Finch:

Song Sparrow:

Tree Sparrow:

Ring-billed Gull,

Calling:

European Starlings:

“Nice muddy bottom?”, she asks.

“Ok, check it out yourself,” he says.

“We gotta stop meeting like this,” they both say.

“Lets get outta here before that old guy takes any more pix.”

Remember this one?

The birdie in the rear is a Dark-eyed Junco.  You remember the one in front.

Up on a tree branch this time.

We are going to keep a look-out for migrating birds, especially the Trumpeters and the Sandhill Cranes.  I have seen a Bald Eagle in the distance and even stayed around this Carp that an otter had killed and pushed up onto the ice, hoping to see the otter return or a baldie come for it.  No luck.

Those otters have very sharp teeth, eh?

Naturally Curious Blog Marks Sixth Year.

We looked for more spring things to capture with the new macro lens and with the telephoto lens.  These are what we found:

Another twig of pussywillows, dry this time and with the telephoto lens:

This branch was hanging down above the rushing stream attracting splashes of freezing water droplets:

Tag Alders are starting to “bloom”:

And the Red Maple buds are swelling, about to burst:

Ahh … spring!  (But temporarily delayed by the current cold snap.)

I did hear the sound of a flock of Sandhill Cranes a day ago, and they know that spring is on its way.

April Fools Morning had motorists scrambling and folks checking their sump pumps.  Brandy and I inspected the local area to record the following phenomena:

Roadside ditch on Old Still River Road with Hwy 69 in the background.  Whirlpool indicates entrance to 3′ diameter culvert under the road.

Downstream, another whirlpool into two old (1910) culverts under the CPR main line.

Water level in the Still River has broached the bottom of this Bailey Bridge just upstream from my place.

The hayfields across from the Dream Inn are getting well irrigated.

This is one of two washouts on Hwy 522.  They were important as this was one of the detour routes around the flooding closing Hwy 69 in  Pointe au Baril.  Heavy equipment and lights were brought in to quickly repair the collapsed culvert in about 6 hours.  Kudos to the MTO and contractors.

The almost annual event in Pointe au Baril, where it is surprising to see these lights still on.  That is the very high CPR trestle in the background.

By late afternoon the water had subsided enough to reopen Hwy 69, the Trans Canada Highway between Sudbury and Toronto.

That is a 40 Horsepower Mercury “water pump” pushing water into the culvert, thence into the flooded Sucker Creek flowing into Georgian Bay.

Sucker Creek flowing under the high CPR trestle:

Almost all highways were restored to normal by the weekend.  Good work!

We had a very heavy rain giving some good opportunities to see some earth and water instead of snow and ice.   Some examples:

Shebeshekong Road ponds are full…

Skerryvore Community Road still had some snow, which cooled the humid air below the dew point, causing some foggy patches:

Oft-photographed tall quartet standing in the rain:

More fog patches:

Gulls were  enjoying standing in water instead of on ice and snow:

And here are some opportunities to check out the new lens with some up-close stuff:  (Worth checking out by clicking on them to enlarge the photo.)

Tag alder along the Inlet showing the (inverted) far shore:

Desiccated lone Winterberry holds a drop in some dense bush:

Spruce tip holds a myriad of magnifying glasses:

Naturally Curious Mary Holland makes an amazing discovery and teaches a lesson about using our eyes, carefully.