The World Through Our Lens
After our flight from Toronto to Regina, Bob and I drove directly to Grasslands National Park near the southern border of Saskatchewan. We were determined to complete a hike in the East Block of this Park and opted to do the Valley of 1000 Devils Route before traveling further west to Val Marie on the edge of the Park’s West Block. Read more
The day in June that Bob and I chose for our visit to the Carden Alvar was a steamy one in a string of hot days more characteristic of the tropics. Our first stop was at Cameron Ranch where friends had photographed beautiful expanses of Indian Paintbrush wildflowers only a couple of days earlier. The flowers were past their prime, but I came face to face with this Brown Thrasher as it waited to supply its nestlings with these freshly-caught insects. Read more
Our first time visiting the Carden Alvar had Bob and me astonished by the myriad sounds of nature that combined into a marvelous symphony: choruses of frogs, whirring of Wilson’s Snipes, echoing conk-la-rees from the Red-winged Blackbirds, and Savannah Sparrows raising their voice in song. On several occasions, all were overshadowed by another lively bit of birdsong that had us mystified…until we finally spotted this Brown Thrasher. Read more
An early spring rendezvous in Whitby allowed Bob and me to fit in a stop at Lynde Shores Conservation Area while in the area. The Cranberry West Tract turned up no birds of note, but we did spy a family of deer, a young buck, doe and two fawns, that kept their distance in the thick brush. We then popped over to Lynde Shores for a quick tour around the bird feeding trail. Near one of the feeders, a beautiful Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) was tucked low in the crown of a fallen tree. Read more