We enjoyed a beautiful day to celebrate the end of April (with its crazy weather).  Here are some samples of what was seen:

A light onshore (westerly) breeze was ruffling some feathers of this ring-billed gull ….

This fellow was demonstrating how to dabble by paddling his webbed feet….

“That’s easy!” said his mate ….

Trout lilies  illustrating the basis of their common name …

School of Trout Lilies ?? …..

Look at these pictures!

I was lucky to find a maturing willow catkin with a Queen orange belted bumblebee foraging for pollen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombus_ternarius

along with two other beasties ….

ID photo for the bumble bee … along with one other critter ….

Another  ID photo of the Queen bee, this time alone …

The Starlings are all decked out in their breeding plumage …

All being observed by this American Crow …

 

A little later we went exploring along the Old Still River Road to see this log being properly used…

By this painted turtle …

This curious Mallard came down the stream to investigate …

Giving the photographer a nice opportunity to catch him in his habitat …

A little further on this sextet were sunning on a far-away log.

I found them also to have their legs/feet totally free of their log, just like the first lone fellow above.

It is forecast to be quite warm today so I’ll head down Hwy 529 to see if I can take some pix of snakes/turtles for the Magnetawan Species At Risk project.  Last year I was able to get pix of Blandings, Spotted, Painted and Snapper turtles from along the highway.

As usual, clicking on the images will show some fine detail, not normally seen by the naked eye.

Mary Holland gives some interesting background on the Dutchman’s Breeches which will be blooming here in about two weeks.

Lots to see!

And to learn about.