Saturday, April 26, 2014

Coming And Going

Coming 
Although Starlings live in this area year round,
we have hoards of them come to the feeders in the spring.
 
 
Brown-headed Cowbirds are arriving.
 
 
 Going
There are a few stragglers hanging around.
Most of these little birds have already flown further north to breed.

Junco
 
 
Red-breasted Nuthatch
 
  
And then of course, there are those that are ever present!
 
Black Squirrel
 
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Thursday, April 24, 2014

Good Fences -5

 
A great fence for basking in the sun!
 
This little black squirrel is moulting.
Squirrels moult from head to tail in the spring, and from tail to head in the fall.
 
I'm joining in over at TexWisGirl's new meme, GOOD FENCES
Click on over to The Run *A* Round Ranch, have a look and join in!
 
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Tuesday, April 22, 2014

My Favourite Bird and Earth Day

Carolina Wren
 
The birds seem to love the blue feeding dish in the cedar tree.
Especially when it snows...and it was snowing last week at this time (April 15).
 
 
Five days later (April 20), it was warm enough to enjoy the beach on Lake Huron.
A little shell heart for Earth Day!
 
“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” —John Muir
 
Happy Earth Day!
 
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Monday, April 21, 2014

A Week Later

We took another day trip to The Pinery Provincial Park on Easter Sunday.
 
 
 The Ausable River
 

 
 The beach on Lake Huron, looks a lot different than last Sunday!
You can see the difference HERE
The lake is no longer frozen!
 No editing on these shots, the sky was really that blue.
 
 
 

Merfy and me (this photo by Hubbers)
 
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Tuesday, April 15, 2014

A Busy Week

"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once."
Albert Einstein
 
Well, everything is happening at once, but it's all good.
I have a very busy week ahead, so I am taking a blogging break.
See you next week.
Cheers!
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Sunday, April 13, 2014

A Day Out

 
Saturday was our first real spring like day. The temperature was 17C degrees.
 
We took a trip to the Pinery Provincial Park (Ontario, Canada).
 
Within the park is the Ausable River, where these photos were taken.
There was no snow in the woods, and the river was ice free.
 
 
Lake Huron also borders the park, where the photos below were taken.
Unlike the forest area, the lake was still frozen.  
Those are not white cap waves, it's ice. 
The brown areas are snow banks (on the frozen water) with sand on them.

 
 There was about 4 feet of open water at the shore.
I took off my shoes and socks, rolled up my pant legs and waded in!
The water wasn't as cold as you'd think!

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BLUE MONDAY 
MOSAIC MONDAY
OUR WORLD TUESDAY
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Friday, April 11, 2014

Spring!

 Spring is here!
 
 
The robins have returned
 
 
 And the squirrels are moulting!
 


 
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Beep (my granddaughter) is joining in on some memes this week.
She's thrilled when people drop in to Beep's Blog (Click here)
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Textures, Mud And Bubbles

1. I found Kim Klassen's  Textures In Ten (free) texture tutorial. I have been joining in on her "Friday Finds" meme for a couple of weeks. I always admired the textured photos, but didn't know how to achieve the look. Well now I do! Thanks Kim! If you are interested in fabulous textures, click on over to Kim's site.
 
 
2. These are my first attempts at using "real" textures, which is quite different than having an online photo editor overlay one on top of a photo. It's not much more difficult though, and you have a lot more control over the final result of your finished photo.
 
 
3. There are subtle differences in the two photos. I like the second one the best, as I was trying to spotlight the main flower.

The original

4. In other randomness today. It's raining, the snow is melting and the backyard is a muddy, seedy, peanut shell MESS. Wow, spring yard work is going to be heavy duty this year.

5. I am addicted to acquiring useless interesting iPad apps. Bubble Explode is the latest. As if I don't waste spend enough time on the computer already, now I have another techno gadget to play with! Ah well, I'm sure the novelty will wear off in a few weeks!

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where you share 5 random facts about you, your day,
your pets, your kids, whatever



Beep (my granddaughter) is joining in on some memes this week.
She's thrilled when people drop in to Beep's Blog (Click here)

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Good Fences -3


Off road parking
Aylmer, Ontario
 
 
 
I'm joining in over at TexWisGirl's new meme, GOOD FENCES

Click on over to The Run *A* Round Ranch, have a look and join in!
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Monday, April 7, 2014

A New Bird

Each spring, I look forward to spotting migrating birds passing through, and hopefully stopping in for a bit at my feeders.
 
A couple of days ago, this handsome guy showed up under the feeders.
 
 
A strikingly marked, oversized sparrow, the Eastern Towhee.
 

Eastern Towhees are birds of the undergrowth, spend most of their time on the ground, and usually nest on the ground. Only 1 percent breed in Canada.
 
 
They eat seeds, fruits, ragweed, grasses, acorns, insects, spiders, millipedes, centipedes, and snails, as well as soft leaf and flower buds in spring.
 
 
The Towhee will spend the spring and summer in our area, but will nest and live in the forest, so I was lucky to have him drop by the yard.
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And of course, where there are seeds, there are also MANY...
 
 squirrels (Rafe, Black Squirrel)
 
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Saturday, April 5, 2014

Grab Bag

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Yes, it's Stoney Braveheart again...
peeking at me while I was taking bird photos out the window. If he is the yard, and hears me open the window, he races up the trellis (one and half stories high), to say hi. Well, actually he is just looking for a peanut handout...which he got! I don't dare leave the window open if I step away, I think he would come right in!
 
Oh, and this little guy hanging out below is Bandit,
another one that comes a 'running when he hears the window open.

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  I'D RATHER B BIRDIN' 
 A mouthful- Blue Jay
 
 Doing lunch- male House Finch, female Cardinal
 
It's spring? - Robin
 
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