Exploring The Cliff Dwellings At Mesa Verde National Park

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Exploring The Cliff Dwellings At Mesa Verde National Park

spruce tree house at mesa verde national park - colorado 5

It was becoming a habit, it seemed, for Bob and me to wake up between 6-6:30 a.m., and the day following our hike on the Bright Angel Trail was no different.  Because our leg muscles were way too spent for any other activity, our intentions were to drive across Arizona into Colorado to Mesa Verde National Park.  Once there, we were absolutely in awe of the excellent examples of preserved and protected cliff dwellings once used by Pueblo people. Read more

Great Black Digger Wasp At McKenzie Marsh In Aurora

Great Black Digger Wasp At McKenzie Marsh In Aurora

great black digger wasp - atkinson park wetland, aurora - pic 1

When Bob and I set off to explore the Atkinson Park Wetlands found at St. John’s Sideroad and Yonge Street in Aurora, Ontario, we expected to find ducks and herons, frogs and toads, but had not anticipated or planned on focusing on a number of interesting insects.  As I studied the frogs in the pond, Bob was absorbed in observing a curious black bug that turned out to be a Great Black Digger Wasp (Sphex pensylvanicus). Read more

A Northern Pearly-Eye Butterfly In Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario

A Northern Pearly-Eye Butterfly In Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario

northern pearly-eye butterfly - algonquin park - 2014 pic 5

This past summer, Bob and I undertook to hike the Mizzy Lake Trail in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario.  For a summer’s day, the temperature was not all that hot, but we were blessed with wonderful sunshine and a gentle breeze to cool us over the course of the 7 hours that it took to complete our hike.  Along about mid-morning, amidst the flickering shadows cast by millions of green leaves, a Northern Pearly-Eye Butterfly (Lethe anthedon) settled its dainty body on some foliage at the edge of the thick forest. Read more

Yellow-Crowned Night Heron At Colonel Samuel Smith Park

Yellow-Crowned Night Heron At Colonel Samuel Smith Park

yellow crowned night heron - juvenile - col sam smith park - etobicoke pic 7

For weeks, Bob and I had been hearing about a Yellow-crowned Night Heron  making a stay at Colonel Samuel Smith Park on Toronto’s lakeshore.  When finally we had a chance to pop down there for a look, it was quite late in the afternoon so we did not hold out much hope of seeing it since other people had been numerous times without success.  Lo and behold, after we circled the main pond on an obscure trail through the woodlot, we came out to a clearing and found the Night Heron perched nonchalantly on a rock. Read more

Our Close Encounter with Red Foxes In Algonquin Provincial Park

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photograph of a red fox in the fall in Algonquin Provincial Park, in Ontario, Canada.

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Earlier one fall, Bob and I set off for a three-day visit to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario.  We were on a mission to find and photograph a Bull Moose.  Given the time of year, the odds were pretty good that we might come across one.  Instead, we were rewarded with the opportunity to observe and photograph not one, but two, Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes).  I was ecstatic! Read more

A Lance-tipped Darner Dragonfly Along Algonquin Park’s Mizzy Lake Trail



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A Lance-tipped Darner Dragonfly Along Algonquin Park’s Mizzy Lake Trail

lance-tipped darner dragonfly along mizzy lake trail - algonquin park - ontario pic 4

When hiking the Mizzy Lake Trail in Algonquin Provincial Park, we took a lunch break near the top of the loop a short distance beyond Wolf Howl Pond.  Two small ponds made an inviting place to have our picnic lunch, and there was so much activity around the water that we were fully entertained while we ate.  One Lance-tipped Darner Dragonfly (Aeshna constricta) repeatedly landed on a submerged log directly in front of our picnic spot. Read more

Trumpeter Swan Happenings At Scarborough’s Milliken Park

Trumpeter Swan Happenings At Scarborough’s Milliken Park

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Earlier this past fall, visitors to Milliken Park in northeast Scarborough would have noticed that only two Trumpeter Swans were inhabiting the main pond where previously there had been a family of four.  Tango, the female or pen, was diligently caring for her one remaining cygnet after the untimely death of her other baby in mid-September. Read more

An American Redstart at Ashbridge’s Bay Park in Toronto



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An American Redstart at Ashbridge’s Bay Park in Toronto

american redstart female ashbridges bay park toronto 3

At the height of the past spring’s migration, Bob and I made a plan to check out Ashbridge’s Bay Park at the shoreline of Lake Ontario in Toronto.  Hundreds of sightings had been reported there the previous week, so we were up much earlier than usual and on site in the parking lot before the sun’s rays were much above the horizon.  It was fairly late in the morning, however, when we discovered this female American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) in the middle of a dense thicket of trees. Read more

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