The World Through Our Lens
For my mom and dad, seeing a Northern Flicker is a fairly common occurrence at Oxtongue Lake, in Ontario, Canada. The birds frequent their backyard and beach property because both locations have sandy soil with a good supply of ants. When Bob and I visited in mid-May one spring, I was lucky enough to see a female flicker industriously trying to find some grubs in an old tree stump. Read more
Towards the end of May one spring, Bob and I were visiting my parents at Oxtongue Lake, in Ontario, and, as usual, we kept a keen eye on the trees for any visiting migratory or local nesting birds. As on one other occasion earlier in the spring, mass confusion was inspired when a Merlin Falcon erupted out of the pine trees alongside my dad’s driveway and spooked a number of the songbirds. This time, we were very saddened to see that a pair of Magnolia Warblers (Setophaga magnolia) had crashed into the windows of the sunroom. Read more
During the third week of May one spring, Bob and I found ourselves in the community of Oxtongue Lake, in Ontario, Canada. One of our objectives was to visit the Rookery where Great Blue Herons have nested in past years. When we first broke through the forest that surrounds the beaver pond, we saw only vacant nests. It wasn’t long before one of the majestic herons flew in and landed on its nest. Read more
Bob and I visited the community of Oxtongue Lake, in Ontario one spring to help celebrate my dad’s 90th birthday. Being early in May, there was lots of activity in the trees with migrating birds returning to their nesting grounds. Along Oxtongue Lake Road, we were lucky to see a Yellow-rumped Warbler singing merrily from the branch of a tree at roadside. Read more
In the spring of 2013, while communities floundered under the worst spring flooding ever, song birds were flocking to Oxtongue Lake as part of their seasonal migration. What a pleasure it was to see migrating birds such as Purple Finches visiting my dad’s bird feeder just outside the patio door. Read more
What promised to be a sunny, warm weekend was anything but that. Instead the rainy weather produced The Spring Flood of 2013 at Oxtongue Lake, in Ontario. Read more
One winter, Bob and I took advantage of the lovely ski trails at Oxtongue Lake to explore the woods along the west side of Patterson’s Bay. It is there that we located two Pileated Woodpeckers, a male and a female, working industriously for their breakfast. In this closeup, the bright red pointed crest is really conspicuous. Read more
Bob and I were able to observe a group of Pine Grosbeaks on a visit to Oxtongue Lake, in Ontario. What a marvelous opportunity to study their behavior and also take a few pictures. Much like Gray Jays, Pine Grosbeaks are not put off by people, and actually are very easy to approach. Read more
We took a drive up from Toronto, Ontario on October 1, 2012, to checkout the fall colors in the Algonquin Park and Oxtongue Lake areas. From atop the Dorset tower, the view of the color sure proved the drive worthwhile. According to the local people with whom we spoke, this was the best fall color seen in this area in 10 years. Read more