We have all experienced its heat recently. This much wished for golden orb on those past cold, wintery days , or rain filled spring days. Here it is in all its glory!!! The sun!!!! How great it is! A golden delight!
During our Ontario visit we continued to be amazed and delighted with daily nature sightings. This little rabbit above, we named "Clover" as he was breakfasting on clover on my son's lawn when we saw it. Two other rabbits seen previously were named "Hoppy" and " Lightening Bolt" But what kind of rabbit was it really? One look at its 'cotton-like blob of a tail sent me searching google for pictures of a cottontail rabbit. And "yes," I think I read the clues right. This rabbit in the pictures above is an eastern Cottontail Rabbit I think.
So I questioned my naming of it as a frog. Then I noticed red bumps on its body. And realizing a frog's body shape and that of a toad were very similar I did a search with the words,'miniature toad with red bumps'.... and voila! I found images similar to my little creature of a 
red-spotted toad!
Just count the number of ducklings!!! How many do you see? sometimes I count 13, sometimes I count 14! I know of two others who have seen this group and they say there are just 12! But such a large surviving group! Wow!Does anyone know the average expected size of a Mallard's clutch of eggs? When I saw them ahead of me walking on the same trail as I was, headed in the same direction, to a nearby pond, I couldn't believe my luck. And of course I followed them and watched as they entered the water, seemingly all in a jumble as there were so many of them.
If there were awards being given out for best duck mamas of the year I would nominate this magnificent Mallard Mama! She seemed very content and unhurried as she shepherded her large group into the pond waters. There must be few predators around as she appeared unworried as I stood close nearby taking pictures. I was anticipating and waiting for a shot of them all sailing across the pond, all in a line. But it never happened. They all stayed close to the shore in a group near their Mama.
I wonder if camaflogue is part of their survival technique? The photo above is the last time I saw them the next day, see how well they blend into their surroundings!
As a former art teacher I have always been fascinated at how a child's creative art work reflects their experiences and their surroundings. My young grandson, David, became aware of my interest in birds and would often point them out to me when he saw one in the trees. Before we left he drew a picture of my favourite bird sighting there and it definitely reflected the influence of the nature environment which had become part of his daily routine. David';'s family walk to the ponds nearby and on the forest trails daily.
Well done David! I love the wings in flight! I notice David has included some black on the bird's beak. I wonder if this might be reflecting the black bearded area of a male cardinal's face.
This tree above in David's drawing may have been influenced by the beautiful old Jack Pine seen in the center front view of the forest from their deck. And although we were wishing for rain all week, the rainbow in the picture was a beautiful image recalled from David's memory bank
above, a jack pine tree
above a silhouette of jack pine needles
Got pictures with yellow that you would like to share? Why not post them on Mellow Yellow Monday, a delightful meme that focuses on the colour yellow?Just clink here:http://mellowyellowmonday.blogspot.com/ to access this meme
Me on one of my daily walks, the above photo was taken by my five year old grandson, Jesse. Jesse immediately caught on to framing a subject within a camera lens. good job Jesse!
Shown above the first and closest pond featured ducks, goldfish,frogs, a turtle and a belted Kingfisher.
Each day began with a visit to the pond and a sighting of this adult female duck, shown above with her three ducklings, they were always swimming about in the first pond.
A wonderful delight awaited us when it was discovered that this pond held many cold water goldfish!What an amazing sight to see the schools of these tiny gold fish near the pond's surface. They did not come to be here naturally but must have been released into the pond by some previous goldfish owner. There are so many to be seen here they appear to be thriving in this pond environment.
An early morning dramatic sunrise is always an invigorating start to the day! On this particular morning we were up early and already en route to a destination three hours away by car. It was my day for part two,of and the last root canal session which has been begun ten days ago. No l;onger did I have any fear of what was ahead of me. Everything had gone so well and painless during the first session that I was anticipating the same for this time. The sky boasted some dark clouds but they only told of a shower later that morning. we did we a slight glimmer of a rainbow further up the highway, but only a glimmer, which proved to be evasive of my camera lens.
This tree topped version of the sky proclaimed a wonderful day after early morning showers.
This post is pretty well a repeat of the species I had posted earlier today with the addition of a Virginia Ctenucha Moth. isn't it so pretty with its yellow and blue colouring!As well as its neck and shoulders being blue, so is its body. I saw tens of these moths on the milkweed blossoms today.
And as I had said this post contains some species repeats from this mornings post like this Clear-winged Hummingbird Moth. The one shown above remained stationary on the leaf of the milkweed, maybe asleep? It was lovely to get such a good view as these little moths are usually seen in motion.
And this White Admiral butterfly appears to be a bit tattered, torn and worn on the outer edges of its upper right wing. What a precarious existence many of these beautiful creatures have, oh, the dangers and hazards that must confront them!
The Clear winged humming bird moth has long fascinated me. I await its arrival every spring with eagerness. I first saw this species this spring when our lilacs were in blossom. Now their favourite place where they seem to thrive is on the blossoms of the Common Milkweed. While at my favourite milkweed patch a few days ago, the blossoms were a buzz with them. I could count them in the tens! (like you can estimate by the hundreds, by the thousands, Can I say by the tens?) There were decades of them!!!! You know what I mean?
You might want to click on the photo above to better appreciate this little moth's beauty! It is an amazing little creature!
The milkweed blossoms are very popular with beautiful winged creatures such as this white admiral butterfly shown above.
Its as if this little warbler is saying,"Hello there!" and my reply would be. "How nice to see you again, Its been a long time" I have seen black and white warblers in our yard before but not often. Its such a visually lovely little bird with its crisp black and white stripes. Its naming is obvious isn't it? although I wonder if I showed it to my grandchildren if they might call it a zebra bird. Its so delightful!
I checked my blog archives and found a previous posting of a black and white warbler sighting on July 10th, 2008. The timing of their appearance coincides. There are a couple of identifying characteristic tips in this post found at:http://naturetales.blogspot.com/2008/07/black-and-white-warbler.html
See the white stripe down the center of its head in the photo above?!
This beautiful yellow-header blackbird was photographed by my brother Roger who lives in AirdrieAlberta, Canada. I have featured some of Roger's photos before as he graciously shares them with me. I once saw Yellow-header blackbirds many years ago( but definitely not here in New Brunswick, for they are not native here) while en route to Alberta traveling through North Dakota and Montana along U.S. highway #2. This handsome species fascinates me. Well done Roger.Thanks for sharing . Roger paints in oils and recently( currently) has one of his paintings on exhibit by Airdrie Transit having had one of his paintings selcted for Airdrie Transit's Art In Motion Program. Well done , Roger I anticipate seeing this Yellow-headed blackbird on canvas soon. My apologies for being a bit late with this posting as I was busy yesterday participating in part two of a root canal It went very well and is all done now! Glad to have it finished!
The reddish crown on this woodpecker almost confused me totally as I an used to seeing the male Hairy having a couple of red patches on the back of its head, but my husband insisted that it was a young Hairy Woodpecker and I believe he was right!. I checked my favourite bird field guide, ,The Sibley Guide to Birdsby David Allen Sibley, published by Knopf , New York, 2000 and an illustration was there on page 313 of a juvenile Hairy Woodpecker with a red crown and noted (July and August) the time period is rioght on.
The juvenile Hairys are still here. This picture above I took this morning just a few minutes before thid posting. and it still has its red crown. We have so many woodpeckers (both Hairys and Downys anf their familys)around here lately that we wonder if we should change the name of our bird feeder area from Bird Alley to Woodpecker Alley.
Summer Reflections at the conclusion of a great day at the beach!
