Sorry, more birds

Life gets pretty routine in the winter - Seniors Centre fitness classes, the occasional social visit, - mostly hooking, knitting, reading. When I go for a walk the camera comes along too.

First of all the hooking. Winter Fox, designed by Carolyn Stich, is finished and in the Woodhouse Gallery in Port Dover. I thoroughly enjoyed hooking him and am quite pleased with how he turned out.

 

Visit to the Silver Lake Market on a grey Saturday and one end of the lake is iced over.

The other end is still open with Buffleheads, Geese and Mallards.

Black Squirrel this time

all fluffed up on the cold.

Rick and I took our annual pilgrimage to see the Sandhill Cranes and they didn't disappoint.

Digging around in the corn stubble

in the fields along Front Road, Port Rowen.

Up in the air and

making their strange, warbling calls.

Crossing the Causeway

I think he is a Northern Harrier.

A patch of open water had Trumpeter Swans, ducks and Geese.

Driving back across the Causeway there was a Sandhill family close to the road.

Digging in the sticky mud of the marsh.

and drinking in the few available puddles.

'Tis the season...for duck photography

 The ducks have been forming huge rafts on the bay before flying south so I hoped there would be some variety at Silver Lake. I had both my Covid and Flu vaccines at the same time on Friday (I have since learned, in a phone conversation with Nicky, that, according to her naturapath, this is not a good thing to do to your body), was achy and lethargic all day Saturday but decided a walk would get me moving again on Sunday.

Taking the camera with me when I walk an area that I have walked many times before, keeps me interested and therefor likely to walk longer.

Plenty of Mallards around.

New Olympic Sport - synchronized dabbling.

 

Way on the other side of the lake

really too far for my point and shoot to get a clear photo, Buffleheads.

At this point I came across a woman with a much better camera than me. "Are you a birder too" she said and I replied "No, I can't identify them until I get them back on my computer, but I like taking pictures of them"

"Well those are Green-winged Teal" she said 

 

and I took her word for it

though I couldn't see a green wing on any of them.

She also said there were 2 Wimbrels on the mudflats but they must have flown before I got there.

I continued around the lake.

A really chatty Squirrel

but not much bird life at this end.

There are benches placed all around the lake

and every now and then I would sit and just enjoy the sun and the quiet.

The native plant area was all in seed

and most of the leaves are on the ground.

I turned round and rejoined my new birding friend. Yes, there is a blue patch on that ones wing!

The peace was disturbed and many of the ducks flew off as a Bald Eagle flew overhead

and landed in the far side of the lake.

She left one of her cameras on a bench and we both hurried along the shore

to get closer. We wondered if he had caught something

but I think he had just landed to take a drink.

We both clicked away like crazy and then he flew up into a tree. I drove, then parked and walked but couldn't get close and eventually scared him off.

I was taking pictures through bush here but - Hooded Mergansers

and more Buffleheads.

Edmonton - Nov 2025

 

This year I would be in Edmonton for the Port Dover Santa Claus Parade but I spent 2 afternoons, working with Brian and Janis, and converted a race tetrahedron into a Christmas tree surrounded by gifts of sailing lessons (not so subtly advertising the sailing school). Last year we converted 2 tetrahedrons into Mr and Mrs Santa. Janis will pull the tree along the parade route.

A very convenient Porter flight from Hamilton and then Edmonton greeted me with snow!

The kids were off school for their fall break so there was lots of time for walks in the snow and trying to make snow men even though there really wasn't enough snow for that.

Iggy (brown and white) and Benny (fluffball) compete for attention. Iggy has the personality of an elderly cat and Benny is a rambunctious puppy with a tendency to chew anything on the floor and eat anything left on the table.

It reminds me of when I used to take care of Heather and Sarah and school mornings started with hair braiding. But, with Maya, it happens the night before and she takes the braids out to go to school because she likes the kinky look (she calls it "the naturally curly look")

I had taken supplies to teach Maya to knit as she is crocheting up a storm, but she struggled a bit with it so we will leave that for now. I did however knit a hat for each of them while I was there. 

One night we had a great display of Northern Lights. Reds and greens streaking up into the sky, 

visible clearly from their back deck, in a residential neighbourhood.

This was taken with Aimee's phone and is brighter than they were in reality but the ones above (taken with my phone) are fainter than reality. They were somewhere between the two.

 

It was nice to be able to visit with Aimee and Mike, spend time with Avery, Maya and River, walk the dogs, shop for and wrap their Christmas presents, eat an ethnic variety of food not available in Port Dover and know that Rick was looking after Rasta and my house (including replacing a thermostat that suddenly stopped turning the furnace off!)

Now its back to my fall routine of fitness classes and rug hooking.