Journal
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August 31, 2007Signs of autumn are in the air today. It seems early, yes, I know, but as we watched a Great Blue Heron land on a log at the edge of the lagoon, I noticed that clumps of grass are noticeably brown amongst the greens on the bank. The sky was dark today and the temperature has dropped dramatically, the clouds full of rain were ready to refresh the waiting plants and earth. It is the long weekend; of course it might rain but grab those last moments of summer while you can.
We were standing on the bridge taking photos of our favourite Green Backed Heron, it seems like they are always there now. There are three of them and today we saw all three in various spots around the lagoon. Sorry, I get distracted by the Green Backed Heron, anyway, while standing on the bridge, all of a sudden, we noticed a wake approaching us, no it wasn’t the lagoon monster, but the Beaver that we have heard so many people report sighting. There he or she was, motoring along the lagoon; diving, swimming under water and reappearing with head above the water, shiny and sleek.
We watched for awhile and as it passed near the Green Backed Heron, we noticed the Green Backed Heron turn its head and watch the Beaver sail past him.
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Autum Colours |
Green Backed Heron & Buddleia |
Frogs sitting on pathways near water’s edge hop into the water out of our way, with a little high pitched “eep” as they escape from their perceived danger.
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Frog On Path |
Frog Escapes |
Twin wood ducks, are beginning to show their differences, one is a hen and one is a drake. Although they are no longer identical twins, they still are inseparable. They paddle along together in the lagoon.
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Twin Wood Ducks |
Another sign that autumn is not far off, the geese are massing, flying over us in v shaped groups, some large and some just a few.
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Geese |
Grab a few more summer moments, even if it rains, for the geese are massing and the leaves are turning red from green.
August 30, 2007
We had a short walk this morning at the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve. It was, as usual, rewarding. As we walked across the bridge at the lagoon, we were not surprised to see the Green Backed Heron standing on his favourite spot, waiting for fish to swim by.
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Green Backed Heron Waiting |
Green Backed Heron Flight |
We have a theme in most of our photos for the day, as the water was like glass, smooth and reflecting everything in it clearly. You will hear the word mirror a lot and see a few of the mirrored images that we took today. The air temperature was already very warm at 8:15 A.M. so we didn’t need jackets.
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Water Like Glass |
There was a flock of Warblers garnering bugs from the leaves of trees and wildflowers in the area. While we were watching the Green Backed Heron, we noticed some lovely Warblers busy in the Goldenrod. Yellow birds, in yellow flowers, flitting about, and their voices filled the air with song; such a pretty sight.
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Warbler In Goldenrod |
We took a short walk around the Salwein Creek loop, as usual; there were a lot of song birds near the Creek and Salmon spawning channel. At the bridge, we stopped to watch a Flycatcher, doing what he does best (you guessed it) catching flies. He paused for a moment in the blackberries before continuing his quest.
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Flycatcher In Blackberries |
As we were going back, I saw what looked like an old black branch on the side of a bank, I knew that it wasn’t there the last time that I looked and used my camera to see what it was. It wasn’t a branch at all but a turtle sunning itself. As you can see, the water reflected him just like a mirror.
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Turtle Sunning On Bank |
Again, another turtle, sunning on a log floating on the lagoon, mirrored image of itself, floating below it.
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Turtle Sunning On Log |
As always, we enjoyed a peaceful, pleasant moment with nature. It is time for us to get back to reality and do our grocery shopping for the long weekend. Have a good weekend, everyone.
August 29, 2007
We had the usual wonderful walk this morning at the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve. Somehow, when we least expect it, some marvellous creature shows itself to us. Of course, we have been encountering the Green Backed Heron and Great Blue Heron quite often lately, so we were not surprised to find the Green Backed Heron fishing under the bridge at the lagoon. They are kind of flighty and don’t stick around if they know there are people nearby. We enjoyed watching this one though and managed to get a few good photos of him at the lagoon.
We went down to the east blind to see what we could find there. As it happened there was a Great Blue Heron fishing in the marsh, surrounded by cattails and sunshine, it was too pretty for words. As Bruce was taking photos of the Heron through the blind, I looked up and saw a Belted Kingfisher sitting on a tree branch overhanging the marsh, too bad that he was silhouetted in the sun or there would have been a beautiful close up. Still, it was a beautiful sighting!
As we were wandering along the Salwein Creek loop, we were lucky enough to glimpse 3 Otter, playing, swimming and fishing their way down the creek. We were lucky enough to get a few photos before they disappeared around the bend in the creek.
So many beautiful birds and animals, we really can’t recount them all today, but there were Warblers, Cedar Waxwing, Robins, Goldfinch and many more. Their colours flashing in the sun, yellows and reds, made it really worth the walk in the sun and fresh air.
We hope that you had some part of your day as nice as this.