Here are some local pix:

Goldfinches are resplendent in their breeding season plumage:

And the tree sparrows are singing:

The Blue Jays are building nests:

The characteristic end buds of the Northern Wild Raisins are sprouting:

Early Saxifrage are peaking …

And these two pix show Diana’s flower garden starting to delight passers-by.

The freezing morning temperatures cause the Trout Lilies to stay closed to the frost well into the afternoon.

Yet another form of spore capsule on this specie of moss.

The calm air yesterday enabled a better close-up of the Larix laricina using the macro lens:

This evening photo shows this year’s lack of water in a pond along the Forest Access Road.   The fire hazard is “high” so everyone is on alert!

Today Mary Holland shows eggs in a Wild Turkey’s nest.

Monday was a beautiful spring day so we went to Skerryvore to see what we could see.   This is some of what we saw:

Canada Goose incubating eggs on a distant (~100 m) beaver lodge in the pond across from Big (Gereaux) Lake:

Reindeer lichen —  Cladonia rangiferina  — which I don’t think I’ll collect as its uses don’t appeal to me:

Fiddleheads forming.  I eat Ostrich ferns, well cooked.  It would be a special treat if I could find some morels to make a cream sauce for the fiddleheads.

We need an insectologist (?) to identify this pollinator:

Basking in the sun:

A wasp (another task for a hymenopterist) pollinating a wild strawberry:

Lonicera canadensis (Fly Honeysuckle) is starting to bloom:

Down by Deshevy’s Farm this pair was turning the clumps of grass for morsels:

As I was leaving I spotted this kite and tried out the new lens:

As I had the lens poking up into the sky this Sandhill went skooting by.  My first “Bird In Flight” with that lens, a fluke.  I will practice some more with it as it has good potential.  Maybe  I’ll be able to emulate Ray T., a Sudbury BIF expert.

A nice reflection along Skerryvore Road:

This morning I got this X rated posting from Mary Holland in my email.  Rough?

And ….

This coming Saturday, May 14th!

The day started  rather ominously when I saw a pair of Turkey Vultures perched in a tree overlooking the Community Cemetery.  I took a  photo of the whole scene from St Amants’ “hill” but I won’t post it.  Instead here is a photo of one wet ugly bird:

[In all of the photos that follow, it is interesting to click on the photo so see the nature of the droplets on the subject of the photo.  All of the photos were were taken with the Leica 100-400 mm lens except for the half dozen near the end, which were taken with the Olympus 60 mm Macro]

Thing got much better as we looked at blossoms and things in the rain.

Including this Red Maple blossom …

This willow changing into a catkin …

This Nasturtium showing translucent petals as they get wet (similar to trilliums)…

Spherical lens showing the parallel veination, typical of this (monocotyledon) leaf.

Most leaves with those little hairs seem to be hydrophobic, like this early strawberry.

and these pussytoes …

and moss, when seen up close …

Trout lilies, and many other plants sense rain (and darkness) and promptly close up their blossoms.

These Pixie Cups don’t hold water, though.

Very small droplets on the flowers of this Wild Columbine …

Elderberry getting a soaking …

Small droplets here too …

Another, different, maple …

Amazing where these droplets are hanging here:

A more mature wild hazelnut bloom…

British Soldiers seem to absorb the water …

A spectacular (to me at  least)  view of a Brit Soldier …

And here, finally,  is a  Photo of the Special Event that I mentioned in my last post …

A very small family.  Hopefully these goslings will make it to maturity.

And on that familial note … Happy Mothers’ Day!

Fauna and flora are awakening from their winter sleeps …

Bruno was seen near the road half a km away and ambled into the bush, where he kept a wary eye on the camera in the car for over 40 minutes, outstaying the camera’s operator:

Grackle is looking for morsels in the morning light:

Early Saxifrage observed with the very long lens from the car:

Again, with the long lens, this Northern Flicker is busy digging for grubs in some shore grass:

The photographer is noticed and the birdie poses to first show its mustache in profile …

… and then frontally:

Many painted turtles are basking in the warm sunshine:

Dutchman’s Breeches at Key River …

… in context with Blue Cohosh:

First Snapping Turtle of the season crossing road at pond between Pakesley and Grundy Lake PP.

It looked as though it had just come out of its wintery mud…

March Marigolds are starting to bloom in the sun …

… as are  exposed violets…

… and Pale Corydalis, first of the season seen in bloom:

Monet’s Water Lilies are lifting among a waterbug and a fly alighting on the water.

Ontario’s flower just before blooming:

This fellow  exhibited the same behaviour as the Spring Bear.  It went into “negligee mode” from a long way away.  Maybe it was modest because of its scruffy springtime look (as it sheds its winter fur coat in pieces).

Often first confused with blueberry, Leatherleaf lives in the bogs and is one of the first bog dwellers to bloom.

Back-lit “blossom” of Larix laricina:

Every once in a while I check with Andy Fyon, author of the very helpful Andy’s Northern Ontario Wildflowers.

Recently he has been roaming around Southeastern Ontario photographing spring action and maintaining an interesting and informative journal on his facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/andy.fyon

He is an excellent photographer and in addition to his personal knowledge has a vast network of colleagues who really know their stuff.  Highly recommended.

We had some May showers yesterday which made for some interesting photos.  We also had a very important event take place which I’ll tell you about in the next posting!

Here is further evidence of the advance of spring …

Trout lilies are in full bloom …

Trailing Arbutus (Yet another “Mayflower”) is in bloom

Green wasps (?) are harvesting willow pollen ..

Wild violets are blooming in south facing crevices:

Pale Corydalis is about to blossom …

Amazing spiders are putting their webs on the Red Maple blossoms …

Dutchmens Breeches are blossoming  …

Aha!  The uncommon Blue Cohosh are fully blossoming!

All of the above were seen from a roadway of some sort.  Most were photographed from the vehicle with the new long lens.

Busy time of the year out there!

Springtime is a good time to look at wildflowers up close.   Here are some examples of what we saw over the last few days:

Community Drive behind St Amants, Early Saxifrage in (as usual) moss on a rock outcrop…

closer view of the flower head:

Another Saxifrage in context …

Close up of the context ….

Carolina Spring Beauty, roadside along Hwy 522 along Grundy Lake Provincial Park …

Up close …

Trout lily up close …

Larix laricina on Community Drive:

Up close …

Red maple at Fisher Eddie’s dock (no relation to Eddie Fisher!) …

Almost make one want to emulate a field geologist or biologist with her/his hand loupe, eh?

We hope to see some of these soon:

https://naturallycuriouswithmaryholland.wordpress.com/2016/05/06/the-ubiquitous-yellow-rumped-warbler/

So we are keeping our eyes up in the canopy and down in the forest floor.  And we are keeping our ears alert.  A good way to enjoy the spring re-awakening of life.

This is a record of some of the objects seen by the Panasonic Leica 100-400 mm lens.

The first (What is it?)  butterfly:

It was flitting from willow to willow collecting (eating?) pollen.  I was chatting with Birder Ann DJ on Riverside Road and noticed the “flutter by”.  The above is where it momentarily landed before continuing its morning travels.

Technique.  When I see activity I focus on a likely spot for the critters to visit.  Then I can trip the shutter  quickly and hopefully capture the beastie.  I photo’d this nice catkin but, alas, no beastie came to visit.

Along Riverside Rd, the ancient horsetails are sprouting rapidly.

Two nice flowers in Diana’s garden:

Cruising in front of Shirley’s place:

Another of Shirley’s friends.  Click on it to see the apparent need for re-preening of those feathers.

Evening Primrose poised for its rapid seed stalk development:

Aha!   The first Trout Lily blossom of the season.  Across from Dave and Maureen’s place.

First photo of the elusive (to me!)  Northern Flicker:

Long shot from behind Steve’s Electric Place:

Muskrat in the pond across from Big Lake:

Early Saxifrage along Hwy 529:

Another type of spore capsule …

in context:  (Click on the photo(s) to see the detail!)

A youthful Pale Corydalis …

Very first sighting of (the uncommon around here for some reason) Trailing Arbutus in bloom:

Next:  Some close-ups with a macro lens.   But before posting those I am going out into a beautiful day to enjoy nature springing into spring!   Things are really moving up here now.  A good time to get out and about!!

On the way back from a quick trip to Sudbury on Monday (to pick up new long telephoto zoom lens) we stopped at Burwash to see how far spring had advanced.  Here is the report:

First picture with this lens, a painted turtle viewing the new lens from a long ways away.

On Neilly Lake a Loon keeps an eye on the lens from mid lake, about 60 m away.

Mandatory shot of hazelnut bloom from about 2 metres.

On the way back some more painted turtles gathered on the communal log for a late afternoon bask:

On the old Hwy 69 down to the Killarney Rd, this drake posed for the new lens down sun…

In the shade he continued to prefer the left profile…

… and then pronounced that it was OK, with the right profile.

Mandatory spore capsules ..

Grackle posing from a long ways away.

Yes, I think that we’ll keep it!

Tuesday, May 2, we shot a lot more pix with it.  Will post later.

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.