Thunderclouds and Birch trees

The ups and downs of life - nature, society,

This was on Monday, on the Carden Alvar.

Quite a changeable day,

We saw maybe a dozen different birds that we could identify with potentially many more for the experts.

Hope the ill wind brings some good to Carden and Ontario,

sincerely,

wob

A bit of a Hummer

I have seen the hawk-moth in Germany. And last year I saw something similar on a Carden Alvar called a hummingbird moth. However, it wasn't until yesterday that I saw one with a camera. (Can you imagine a moth with a Go-Pro?)

Waldo was easy to spot, wasn't it?

W O B

McGee has fallen

Saw a dozen or more "exotic" bird species yesterday on Wylie and Shrike. Took time to look at McGee, too. Fitzgerald Line might be interesting to visit for water monitoring - ?

Up and further up.
Side banks:

Down stream is very narrow compared to a few weeks ago:

But the real shock was at the bridge itself. I walked out on the "beaver" lodge to get a better view looking north with the stream flowing form right to left:

Maybe 10cm deep ? Have not seen it this low since August 2016.
Did not see any minnows but there were a couple of dragonflies, no damsels.25C, some showers and sunshine, breezy.

wob

Ten-Thousand

Ten-thousand saw I at a glance at Grant's Woods this afternoon - much better viewing than bird watching.

The canopy of green below the blue sky:

Trilliums among the fallen birch:

The traditional -

The red -

And some unusual -

A lovely afternoon

You can't see "Trillium white"; so it must be:

Wise Old Bird in Lincoln Green?

The Heronry is occupied

He also serves who stands and waits - good birding.

Yesterday:

Just one of at least a half-dozen seen yesterday.

W O B

Orioles

I went for a long slow walk on Wednesday and was rewarded with many first time observations - most won't make this blog. Actually the one that I have chosen is the result of an encounter Vicki and I had today with Susan and Bob.

On Wed I saw some Orioles - I think 2 male and a female:

At the time I saw it as a colourful courtship display.

I took more photos but did not understand them:

Until today when one of Susan or Bob named this as a nest:

Just slide/scroll back 2 images to see the change between Wednesday and Friday/today.

Arni will be leading a walk on Sat and the leaves will be thicker so here is a zoom in to the nest:

I am about 13m north of the sign post marked "5" and am looking East. I feel extremely lucky to
a)  have photographed the nest while it was being built, and b) having met people who could tell this blind person what he had been so fortunate to see.

How shall I sign off ?

Much wiser but more humble old bird ?