Something to trumpet about

If the person who sent me her photo of a pair of Tundra swans would  write and give me permission  to publish the pair in flight (Mar 22, 2015), I would compare Tundra with Trumpeters.

Vicki and I were at Washago on Saturday. There were only 6 Trumpeters - but all were unbanded and adult - no cygnets, no yellow wing tags, not sure about the leg bands.

There appear to be "knobs" but no metallic features.

For being unbanded, the swans were certainly not shy. One came very close to me, so that I felt just a little put upon:

The 6 came and went without regard to my presence - except to see if I had food(?) for them.

So I do hope that I will be granted permission to use NF's photo so I can compare Tundras with Trumpeters in flight.

W O B

Me and McGee on Thursday

A week earlier our friend Arni gave a great talk, loaded with insider tips - very generously shared with the audience. He mentioned something which resonated with me this afternoon - and lo and behold, I captured it yesterday by accident. So this blog is dedicated to friends who are as hard as rocks and endurable as diamonds - I hope you recognize yourselves:

It may not be well known that there are diamonds in Canada, let alone, here, in Ontario. But there are. In fact, there is a pipe near by:

Here many kinds of diamonds are to be found floating in the Carden pipe:

Colour appears:

Emeralds and Rubies, too:

Diamonds can be woven, also into floats:

And of course, diamonds may be worn:

  

All that glitters ...

W O B

Observing with WOB on Sunday

It was quite a learning curve for me on Sunday. I did observe some patterns:

These have conventional interpretations.

Then there was the porcupine:

- some might say a squirrels' nest, maybe.

And the the great owl:

with the wind ruffling its "feathers" - maybe another squirrels'  nest or drey, maybe a wasps'.

Like this one:

Where would we be without all these apps?

But I still cannot track!!

W O B

Into every life must fall

And the only thing I ever did wrong was to save her from the foggy, foggy dew:

The weathernetr showed +11C but the balcony thermo "only" showed:

I rotated the drops through 180 degrees to make 3 tiny lenses.

The fog didn't really look like this:

Just playing.

W O B

Old Dog, new trick

I have seen these so often that I think now I should retire my title of being an observer! It started this way, this morning.

Evidently, some old dogs get lost, sad.

There was a light dusting of snow this morning. And on our walk, I saw, several saw the grey-black dust on the snow. Only I thought that it was from a dirty atmosphere. Instead, Carol took out her magnifying glass and looked at - snow fleas or Springtails, technically not insects! - beyond me.

These animals are alive - one burrowed out of sight while I was trying to focus on it. They are quite small, but very very numerous - as black specks on white snow. I have seen this "phenomenon" many times without "thinking" twice about it. However, they have a bag of tricks and are scientifically/medically very interesting. My bias and prejudice exposed for me to see myself.

Springtail

a wiser old bird! (maybe?)

Trumpeters at Washago

We were back at Washago yesterday - what a contrast to Sat Jan 20 -   
 where there had been 100 Trumpeter swans, there were now maybe 10; we saw 8 and there were Trumpeters out of sight, 1 or 2.

We saw 3 fly in about 30 minutes before sunset (17:46) :

There was 1 Goldeneye:

And several Mallards:

I guess that the mild weather has allowed the birds to disperse more.

W O B