Ontario Birds

Ontario is for the birds. I mean this literally. Dense forests, marshland, lakes and streams--the varied habitat supports a huge variety of birds. Lake Superior Provincial Park being right on the big lake puts it on a major flyway and so it also gets lots of migrating birds. For a newbie to the birding world, it is a chance to see birds never seen before. The images in this blog are all birds I saw on my first day in Ontario, some new, some old favorites.

Remember these guys? When I was up in June there were two Common merganser families (well, moms with chicks anyway, as dad's job is over pretty quickly!). The chicks were still fuzzy little balls of fluff, perhaps only a few weeks old, and they followed mom closely.



Well, by late August they were all grown up! On my early morning walk down the shore one family emerged from the mist and swam by as I crouched by a dead cedar. I was happy to see them all looking so well.


Back at our campsite I was visited by two shorebirds, this young Semipalmated sandpiper,


and the larger Solitary sandpiper. It really is amazing what will pass by if you just sit still for a while.


Out on the trail at the Sand (Pinguisibi) River, I saw two warblers high up in the trees, both firsts for me--this Black throated green warbler,


and a young Canada warbler (I think--it's harder to identify warblers when you can't see their wings). I would see more of these the next morning.


Back at the campground the mergansers paraded back and forth, chasing minnows through the shallows. They would often swim with their heads underwater, watching for fish, I assume.


Once in a while they would take off "running", perhaps in pursuit of a school of minnows.


I took a short walk down the campground road and saw a Yellow-shafted flicker working its way along the road, picking ants out of the gravel.


A family of Broadwing hawks hung in the sky over Crescent lake. This I believe is a juvenile.


The best moment of the day came when this little Cedar waxwing went from a nestling to a fledgling. Lisa had noticed the nest in a black spruce in our campsite. I tried to get a few shots of it but it was pretty well hidden. That afternoon, while we were all right there in camp, this little bird made its inaugural flight, fluttering and sputtering across a short opening and landing, rather ungracefully, in this poplar.


It sat there for several hours, peeping plaintively. By evening it had moved farther into the trees between campsites, and continued to peep well after dark. The parents had been feeding it, and we were sure they were nearby, but we worried that its calls would bring a nighttime predator. However, we heard the peeps again the following morning and felt relieved. Not long after the family moved out of the campsite, following their babe as it tried out its wings.

Next: day two and the Pictographs

Artwork--"Let's Play" in progress

Just a quick post on the progress of my new piece. I have a show in Bowling Green, Ohio this weekend and am planning on taking this. I have since finished the second crane and am trying to figure out what to do about the ground they're standing on. Hmmm...



Close-up of crane #1. It's not really that blue, just bad lighting.


Part of the wings on crane #2. Almost a shame to color them in. Maybe I will do a few pieces over the winter in just ink.

Water Water Everywhere

Karin and I decided that since Lisa and Lori were new to the park, the first stop of the trip should be the visitor's center. We would then drive up to the Pinguisibi (Sand) River for an easy hike. We packed sandwiches and piled in the car.

The visitor's center is fairly new and has exhibits about the region, including the Group of Seven, Canadian artists who captured the area in gorgeous works from the early to mid 20th century. After looking at the displays and taking some pictures of a few of the taxidermy animals (great for reference!) I went out the back door. The center is on the beach, and the sands of Agawa Bay looked so inviting I thought it would be a good place for a picnic!

With the sun high in the sky Superior glowed blue and green. The fresh air off the cold waters was an elixir. Lori walked the beach, looking for stones.


A cloud like a flame arrowed across the sky, and I played around with some shots of it with driftwood.




Superior's famously rocky shore means lots of wave polished stones to examine. I could spend hours looking at rocks!


After lunch we drove up to the Sand River, the remnant of a much larger channel that was formed when runoff from receding glaciers carved the softer rock out of the granite. Geologists believe the rock here is ancient, three billion years old ancient, remnants from one of the first mountain ranges on the planet. That amount of time is nearly inconceivable.

Lovin' the blues and greens and golds.




This is the largest of the falls along the river that we saw, although I think there are bigger falls farther upstream. I later climbed down to get closer and was cooled by the spray of these falls.


While Karin and I found places along the river to sit, Lisa and Lori had moved on upstream and emerged above the falls. I would not do this on a rainy day as the granite can become quite slick. But this day was perfect for exploring the river and falls.


Love this shot of Karin.


Looking down river from near the top of the series of falls. Waters are low in late August, and there were many pools in the polished stone. On a warmer day I may have dipped my toes in one.


Next: birds of Ontario and the pictographs

Crescent Lake Campground

For our annual summer vacation, we went back to where our friend Karin and I had spent a few days in June--Lake Superior Provincial Park in Ontario. Situated on the eastern shore of Lake Superior, it is a varied land of lakes, marshes, rivers, high hills and sheer cliffs. It lies in the area between the boreal forests of the north and the mixed coniferous/broadleaf forests of the south. Thanks to this tremendous mix of habitat, and its proximity to Lake Superior, this park is full of surprises, with constantly changing weather and landscapes. I was excited to share this place with Lisa and Lori, and so was Karin, who was coming along for the trip.

The weather on the drive up was pretty wicked. The winds picked up the farther north we drove, and we started getting some squally weather as we neared the UP. Sitting on the bridge to Canada, in line at customs, was unnerving as the wind blasted us, making the RV rock. The drive up Highway 17 took forever with a number of resurfacing projects closing a lane here and there. After nine hours we finally arrived at the campground.

We were disappointed to see that the campsite we wanted--the one Karin and I had camped at in June--was already occupied, but we were surprised to see only three other campsites being used. We looked carefully at the sites, trying to find one that would fit our RV, the trailer with kayaks, and Karin's car and tent. The pickings were pretty slim, but on the second time around the loop we drove towards the boat launch. There we found the best site of them all, amazingly unoccupied, one of only two sites in the campground with a clear view of the water from the site. Lori and I left Lisa there with the trailer and rushed to the park office to stake our claim. Once we got ourselves situated, the sun had nearly set, and I took this picture from the campsite:

It doesn't get much better than this.

Karin arrived late, having made several detours looking for fuel for her stove. Too late to set up her tent, we had dinner in the RV and then crawled into our various beds and bunks. The night was chilly and a few showers fell. By morning the skies had cleared, and mist from the lake hung over the water and in the valleys.


Not wanting to make a lot of noise so early in the morning, I left my kayak on the trailer and went for a walk along the shore instead. The moon, still full, shone on the calm surface of the lake.


Mists rose from the warm waters into the cool morning air and glowed in the sun.



Later that morning we went for a walk around the campground. Early signs of fall were everywhere.


Lori spotted this on a tree near the road. We looked it up in Joe Walewski's field guide Lichens of the North Woods and determined it is lungwort. It grows in "rich, unpolluted and often very old forests." It says it is a favorite food of moose, but this was out of reach of even the tallest animals.


Later, Lisa, Karin and Lori soaked up some sun on the beach.


Another view from our campsite.


As the day wound down, the afternoon sun lit the opposite shore. The reflections on the water were irresistible. Monet, anyone?



Next: Lake Superior and the Sand River

Quick Pics

I am back from Ontario and under a mountain of work already! I don't have time right at the moment to write much, but wanted to post some pics from our week at Lake Superior Provincial Park as a sort of a teaser.

Enjoy!

Artwork--"Let's Play!"

First, an admission--these are pretty bad photos! I shot the piece as it sat on my drawing table and the light is very uneven. Rest assured this piece does not really look this blotchy!

I have been wanting to get a new sandhill crane piece going for quite a long time. Now that I have an exhibition coming up in October with my other Bear Track Studios girls I figured I ought to get going on some new work. This is a big piece, 34" long by 27" ? high. It is based on a few of the photos I shot several weeks ago of the cranes at Appleton Lake who were playing on the shore. Check out the post Crane Play and see if you can figure out which ones I've used.


This is the full image. I know it's a bit hard to see. The basic outline and feathers have been inked in, awaiting color and detail. Remember you can click on the image to see it a bit bigger.


Here's a close up of the wing that's almost done. It's a bit tedious, but it's work that I love, and I am already excited to see this piece finished.

We are heading out of town for a much needed vacation. I hope to have scads of new images when I get back! Until then, peace to you all.

From the Backyard

The heat wave has finally passed here in SE Michigan, and I spent the morning a few days back out playing with my new lens. I had found a patch of milkweed the day before with monarch caterpillars busily munching away. I'll be keeping an eye on this bunch!



Note the frass, or caterpillar poop, on the leaf by their heads.


This adult monarch was sunning itself in an autumn olive.


We planted five big bluestem plants last year at the top of a small rise near some black cherry trees as an experiment to see how they'd do. I was thrilled to see them blooming, and plan on clearing some of the ground around these plants in the hopes that they will self-sow. This native grass grows to over seven feet tall--these were around six.

After four years of not mowing every inch of the property as the previous owners had, some native plants are starting to return.

Hairy bush clover,

round-headed bush clover,

and slender bush clover have all cropped up.


Thanks, Julie Zickafoose, for your timely post of a link to a great pdf of Ohio's dragonflies and damselflies! This is a spreadwing damselfly, though not sure whether southern or northern.


This amazing spiderweb glowed in the morning sun.


And the wren rambles on.