Musings on a Small Life

Those of you who have stuck with me for years probably can guess what this post will be about: picking (subconsciously) one of the coldest days of the season to feel like taking my little pocket p&s camera down to the water.  That day was Monday (Feb 19th), our Family Day holiday. (It's called various things, province by province, like "Heritage Day" in Nova Scotia. But here in Ontario, it's "Family Day.")   So I took myself off to Trailhead Place and Lake Ontario Park and thoroughly enjoyed traipsing through the snow, meeting a few people out with their dogs, and just reveling in the glorious sunshine and invigorating air. After our snowstorm of Sunday, it was fabulous to be out!   And while I was warm, bundled as I was in thermal layers, I think I'll wait for Spring to do this again. 😁   Pics are in chronological order. There were SO many geese, as well as a few ducks. Often the water is frozen (at least along the shore if not further out) at this...

On Sunday morning I headed down to Trailhead Place and Lake Ontario Park for a long walk along the waterfront paths. It was a gold mine of wildlife! There were so many mergansers, though I'm posting only these two. A few geese also, but not as many as I thought there would be. I guess they're hanging out elsewhere. But I got lucky and spied this fox on the other side of a little cove! She(?) was going back and forth to what I assumed to be her den, so perhaps she was out hunting. (Is it too early for pups?) I was at full zoom (40x) with my little point and shoot, so she was quite a distance from me. This was the best of the pics I had snapped. (She's a bit clearer if you click and enlarge the pic.) There was a lone swan; I hope he finds a mate. I had to Google for the type of duck, below. I think they're long-tailed ducks; you can see those long tails in the second pic below. There were a few "regular" ducks too, though not as many as I was expecting to see. N...

This will be a mish-mash of things, and probably very long/picture-heavy (birds!), so feel free to skip it. Friends R & C came up for a visit on Sunday February 12th, and I went back with them for a couple of days, for a much-needed mini-getaway. Time with friends, out in Nature, is the best kind of therapy, IMO. Above, we had gone to Presqu'ile Provincial Park late Sunday afternoon and again on Tuesday morning, walked along one of the trails where the birds (mostly chickadees) are accustomed to being fed. However, we got lucky, as there were two nuthatches around, one of whom was persuaded (with much patience) to come down to us. The first pic above is mine, the second was snapped by R -- that's my gloved hand holding up the seed. What a joy! The chickadees were plentiful; the one above was on R's hand. Below, Miss Kitty, the stray Siamese that R & C took in several years ago. She's a spoiled princess now, as she should be. More pics from the two-day visit: I r...