Yesterday we saw some sure-fire indicators of springtime on these Northeastern Shores of Georgian Bay:

Appearance of crocus in D & A’s well-kept flower garden next to the former Lil Britt Inn…..

Appearance of a small patch of Glory-in-the-Snow at the bottom of the rock in front of the former “Reynolds on the Rock” residence, next to the Holy Family Parish Church, Britt……

The little casings have fallen off this pussywillow showing droplets from a bit of rain.

Two cones, from previous years,  of the Larix laricina, commonly known as the tamarack, hackmatack, eastern larch,  black larch, red larch, or American larch,  next to some buds:

Some buds: 2016 cones and needle bundles starting to form …..

Buds on the blackberries are bursting:

And finally, the most important indicator of the approaching Summer Season, the appearance of docks at St Amant’s Waterfront Inn and Marina.  (ending my obsession with photographing those dratted dock poles!)

This is what the neighbourhood looked like at the end of April, 2015:

First Springtime with my FZ1000.

Exciting time of the year!

What is “420”?

Ans:   A codeword for the cannabis counterculture holiday in North America.

So I celebrated by making a short drive to see some of my haunts for signs of early spring activity.

Here are the results and some preparations:

In the pond between Grundy Lake Provincial Park and the CPR crossing on Hwy 522 these skittish Wood Ducks scurried quickly away, but not before the long lens captured a glimpse.  First sight of them this spring:

A short (because of a muddy washout) trip up Jamot Lumber Road revealed these Trailing Arbutus, just before bloom.  They bloomed at the end of April last year.

Along Hwy 522, just west of the latest washout, the Marsh Marigolds are starting to emerge and will probably blossom in two weeks.

Inuksuk marks a rock-cut which has many interesting flora.

Early Saxifrage:

And here is an example of another of those horrible invasive weeds that afflict urban spaces:

The leaves and stems of Pale Corydalis are attractive in their own right.  Their purple / yellow flowers are also very attractive:

I can’t resist including this triplet:

On the way home I checked the wild leeks over the bridge over the Still River on the other side of my property.  They were up about 2-3 cm.

On the way back I heard the whistle and saw the start of a long train pulling over 200 (empty) tank cars.  (Those trees are on my property.)

And this is the end!

I thought that I’d share some nice stuff that I got from Gratefulness (which I follow) this morning.   Some very nice photos with bird and other nature sounds:

http://www.gratefulness.org/resource/sound-sanctuary/

Nice, eh?

Yes, we are getting some evidence that the earth is swinging into the part of its orbit past vernal equinox.  Some examples:

Polyamorous (?) Hooded Mergansers in a ménage à trois …

a pair of Mallards staking out their territory for a nest:

Common (American) Merganser showing off:

Pair of Buffle Heads, probably passing through.  Their life history indicates that we are on the border between their summer breeding and migration spaces.  I have not (yet?) seen a family here.  Now that I know where they nest, I’ll be on the lookout for them.

A summer resident, the Pied Billed Grebe is a “submarine” bird.  I have never seen a family of them locally:

The Double crested Cormorants have been around for a week, just in time to feast on the local smelts which are starting to run up the Magnetawan and Still Rivers:

This fellow doesn’t seem happy to have his photo taken.  “I’ll sue!   I’ll sue!”, he is saying.

Phragmites are spreading their seeds along the roadsides.

Evening smoke is setting in the fields:

The Sandhill Cranes are back, turning over the grass clumps in the fields searching for grubs and the other beasties that are then rudely awakened and eaten…

This (lone) Hermit Thrush is up from wintering down south, probably looking for a mate to raise a family…..

Moss spore pods are opening …

Pussy willows buds are bursting on several local varieties of Salix.

The pinkish female “flowers” at the ends of the fingers  of this Eastern White Cedar are evident now:

Miniature spring flowers are blooming in the mossy rubble on the edge of Doug and Doreen’s lawn.  Perhaps a variety of Bittercress?

Up very very close:

Moss spore pods are swelling at Doug and Doreen’s also:

Now, one of my favorite spring flowers:

Up very very close:  ( Surprising what this is, eh? )

And finally, a sure sign.  I found these in my garden:

Mary Holland describes another favorite that is blooming in New England nowadays.   I will be heading up to Key River to see them in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime I have reviewed my Ontario Spring Warbler Guide and will be watching for them every day … especially the Yellow Rumped Warblers who hang out in the big willows near Mr Lachance’s old farm.

We took a few photos of some human-made structures in our recent travels.   Some examples:

Three “view-of-the-Sound” houses, Parry Sound:

This one with an interesting signal of BED & Breakfast:

Nuts & Bolts of CPR Trestle Parry Sound:

Other side of trestle:  Massive 1907 engineering work, 1/2 km (517 m) long, 32 m high.

This is Tom Thomson’s version of the trestle as seen from his canoe in July 1924.

And this is Brtthome’s version of the trestle as seen from his vehicle on April 11th, 2016:

Mr. H. Brook’s snake (cedar rail) fence, Hwy 522:

“Antique” dump and log trucks, Arnstein.

Golden Valley residence:

Summer spot, Milton Lake, Hwy 522:

House with trailer, ducks, garage, and carriage-port, outskirts of downtown Port Loring, Ontario.

One of these days I’ll do an “Architectural Study” of Britt / Byng Inlet.  Quite a bit of variety!

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!