A Sunday afternoon detour after breakfast with the “Britt Teletubbies” at French River Restaurant yielded some photos:

I knew it!  Evidence of the effect of Pileated Woodpecking leading to the fall of this dead Elm Tree:

This brand of willow makes pussywillows a month later than its cousins:

There are lots of these at some of the rich forest soil locations just past the Red Pine plantation along that road.

Here in harmony with Blue Coshosh:

I was a bit too late for the blossom of this Bloodroot, which  often grows in association with the above and with Dutchman’s Breeches.

Leatherleaf are in full bloom.

On the way back the pond between Pakesley and Grundy Lake PP yielded a good look at this Double Crested Cormorant  who posed patiently for the photographer:

But then jumped down into the water and took off, catching the photographer by surprise:

Very heavy frost this morning.  I hope that not many blossoms got bitten.

Mary  Holland posted an interesting article and picture about the development of salamanders in vernal pools.

We didn’t go far today, preferring to look quite intently at spring’s emergence close to home.

First we heard “melodious Robins” and then saw a bedraggled Rose – Breasted Grosbeak  eating the seeds in Aspen catkins:

Red Maples in shade are forming leaves …

These incipient Pin Cherry blossoms seem to like the water:

As do these Black (Rum!) Cherries or maybe  Choke Cherries:  (Hard to tell the difference at this stage.)  Pin, Black, Choke and Sand Cherries are common in this part of the world.

The rain seemed to make this daffy just a bit more engaging:

First Aquilegia canadensis in full bloom that I’ve seen this year:

Streamside Marsh Marigold:

Side by side buddies in the rain …

Nice places for water drops to congregate …

And, when you look very closely, you can appreciate the effect of vegetation on the accumulation of water during a period of rain:

I just got this one before another raindroplet made this drop drop.

Getting a drink from a hazelnut bud …

Hazelnut pistils seem to get re-energized in the water:

I always like to get out in the rain as the water enhances the colours and visual textures of our environment.   Reminds me of licking rocks as a kid.

Alas, still no photos of Warblers, although I did hear them again today.  They seem to be in the evergreens.  Perhaps when the leaves start to form in the deciduous trees they will become more visible.  I hope so.

Perhaps I will get really lucky and see (an photograph) this attractive Ontario bird with strange habits!

But not tomorrow as these migrants are smart enough to avoid the forecast snow.  We non-migrants will scrape our windshields and spin our summer tires in the morning!

In spite of the portents we looked for some Warblers yesterday.   Heard some but saw none.  In spite of today’s rain we’ll  try again.  In the meantime here are some pics from yesterday’s local travels:

Trillium erectum after a rainshower  …

First wild columbine of the season (known locally as “hunneysuckle”)

One of 4 separate families being reared in the Britt area … so far.

I think that these pixie cups are growing larger…

A Blue Jay around the spot where I saw a pair carrying twigs the other day —  an area worth monitoring:

Black flies are out so the blueberries are in incipient bloom phase:

Wild strawberries are blooming profusely now …

ON flower:

First “Hunneysuckle” about to open:

One of a pair of Sandhill Cranes across the way …

I cannot resist photographing these beauties.  One of these days I’ll get a really good one!   Maybe.  …….

Same with these!

Couple of fiddleheads exchanging gossip?

Mom and Pop Horsetail in their leggings?

Emergent lily pad, still with its red pigment.  These seem to turn from red to green as they lift to the surface light.  I wonder why that is?  Why do they start off red?

Marsh Marigold in its favourite, waterside, habitat.

We are getting close ( two weeks) to the first anniversary of this blog.   What should change?   I do know that I am spending way too much time on it, to the detriment of other interests/projects and house/yardkeeping!

Should I cut down on the number of photos each post?

Should I cut down on the number/frequency of posts?

Should I quit?   (NO applause, please!)

It IS fun, though!

Advice:  Comment below or brtthome[at]gmail.com

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This is a loop from Parry Sound to the town of Magnetwan via McDougall, Broadbent, Orange Valley and the Old Nippissing Road, returning on Hwy 124.  The wonderful Cornball Store owned by Andy and Andrea is a little grocery which features scooped ice cream, home made meat pies, vegetable lasagna and various European baked goods.  It is  on the Nippissing Rd, at the Anson Junction,  just south of Magnetawan.

I had noticed the Hobblebush starting to bloom near Parry Sound and decided to do a recce.  Here is a record of some of the sights:

First a Carolina Spring Beauty on the way to Parry Sound.  Its leaves are wider than the Claytonia virginica.

Also on Hwy 529, Canada Goose is still incubating on the distant beaver lodge.

Trillium grandiflorum

Aha!   Hobblebush.   The sterile showy signal flowers on the perimeter attract Spring Azure butterflies.   Although I had photographed Spring Azures last year, I didn’t know the relationship with Hobblebush:

Trillium erectum

Still standing, but the roof is sagging a bit more this year.

And it looks like this former school/residence is not going to be with us much longer.

Spring Freshet has subsided enabling a view of the greenery on the distant side of the creek.

One of the few swamps that remains full to the brim.   The beavers have been busy, the highway crews not so busy!

Mary Holland posted this information about Spring Azures this morning.

I recently came across the work of  Stephen Hood ( of Markham ON) who recently posted some very impressive pix of warblers.   So they are arriving!!!  (Stephen’s My Flickr Birds is brilliant!)

And we got a message about the “bee-looking fly” that was included in the report of the trip to Port Loring.  Bill (out in California) left a comment at the end of that post, identifying it.  NICE!

Today we had a luncheon date in Port Loring, usually an hour on a sparsely travelled highway.  Since we headed east shooting out of the vehicle  on the left hand shoulder meant that we were shooting down-sun, much easier than shooting up-sun with all of the back-lighting exposure issues.  We ambled along to take these pix in about 100 minutes.  All were shot with the Leica 100-400 mm lens hand held from the car —- much more comfortable than fighting off the black flies which are now abundant.

Here is a sample of what we saw:

A pair of Ring Necked ducks probably nesting in the pond between Grundy Lake and the Pakesley Crossing:

Pale Corydalis approaching full bloom:   (Same family as the Bleeding Heart)

(Did you notice the green aphids there?)

A more dramatic view of moss spore capsules … against the sky, at the top of a rock cut.

Red Maple leaves a week ahead of the neighbouring branches because of its location, tight against a south facing rock face.

Common Yarrow …

This bee-looking fly stayed hovering the whole time it gathered pollen/nectar.

Orange Belted Bumblebee worked hard on these dandelions:

The Fuzzy Wuzzy clan gathered for a family conference.   Perhaps P.S. will write a children’s story about them.

American Painted Lady?

This ant also delved deeply into the interior of the bloom.

A different Bombus:

This lily pad will be floating on the surface in a few hours after this pic was taken …

Trillium erectum or  Wake Robin:

And, finally, Ontario’s wildflower, Trillium grandiflorum …

No sight of Morels.  They usually fruit at the same time as we harvest some fiddleheads and some wild leeks (Ramp), usually when the black flies are buzzing out of every footfall in the forest floor — to visit eyes, behind the ears and the collar line.   I will be looking for Morels over the next week or so and grab a sample of other edibles.   I have tried Marsh Marigolds but I don’t recommend them to anyone who is not starving.  Wild or escaped or tame asparagus is much better!!!

My luncheon date was with a retired radar expert who installed and maintained the early and current (Doppler) weather radars across Canada.  He last assignment was Britt Weather Radar.  In addition to installing and maintain “our” radar his other claim to fame was being a military brat at 2 (Fighter) Wing, France in 1962 when a young RCAF pilot crashed a CF-100 jet, destroying it.  Fortunately the pilot (and his back seater) survived, and the pilot eventually retired in the hamlet of Britt.   So when we met at St Amants restaurant about 15 years ago we learned of the event we shared about 40 years prior.

Six degrees of separation?

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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!