Miscellaneous March walks and a baby announcement

 We are being teased by spring. The warmer weather comes and goes but it helps the bulbs sprout in the garden (and I planted tons of them last year), the buds ready to burst open on the trees and a beautiful selection of wildlife to capture as I play with the new camera (both amazed and frustrated by its capabilities and all the buttons, menus and dials to get the hang of)

 

A racoon heading for its hole.

Observed while I was walking along New Lakeshore.

Rick and I had a muddy walk in the Turkey Point park

and another at EcoAdventures

before stopping for a beverage. The Marshside Patio has reopened!

Then another short walk at the Long Point Causeway.

Muskrat.

There were still Sandhill Cranes and lots of waterfowl but I am not good at catching birds on the wing yet. The camera is capable but I am not.

The Redwings kindly stayed still.

I continue to have daily video visits with Cigi

Her eyelashes are growing

But the big surprise was the receipt of this photo:

Mike and Aimee are expecting a third. Baby brother or sister for Avery and Maya, new cousin for Cigi, new grandchild for me!

Wildlife

 I try to have my camera with me all the time as I want to get used to it and so far I am very happy with it as I can get shots with the zoom that I couldn't on the other one and they are clearer.

Immature Bald Eagle scanning the lake.

Possum in the back yard.

Merganser ? (with a bad hair day)

Male and female Merganser and White winged Scoter (? maybe)

Bluff hunting

hard to tell, from this angle, what he is. Just after I took this shot he folded his wings and dove.

The black hoards have descended again - red winged Blackbirds, Starlings and Grackles  empty the feeders in a day.

And there is tons of activity there, House Finches

in large numbers.

The Red breasted Woodpecker

is so beautiful that

that I can't get enough of him.

OK, the Downy is cute too.

I have put up some new

avian accommodation

but they tend to like them a bit weathered

so I don't know if I will get any residents this year.

 Finally, guest photographer:

Peregrine Falcon in Hamilton

Photos by Rick.

Maya's second solo visit

 I took Maya back to her grandmother's and then she visited her cousins for a week. Then back to me. She is getting around!

Of course we visited CG on the way out of Toronto

and Maya fed her again and observed the changing and bathing routines, with lots of questions and comments.

She got quite proficient at the 24 piece puzzle

We went out for breakfast at the Dover Dairy Bar (DDB). That's chocolate milk in her cup, not coffee, but it made her feel very grown up.

We discovered a playground nearby. The only thing missing was other kids to play with.

As I have no need for a playground I had never even noticed it there, right beside Hwy 6. I had passed it a million times.

Daniele, Simon, Fi and Ruby gave her an early birthday package and her favorite gift was this racoon neck warmer. She wore it rather than a mask from then on.

We went for a couple of walks (one with Dan and Ruby) and then fed ducks and gulls at the harbour.

Back to Toronto again (the traffic is worse every time I go) and visited CG on the way

and inspected her nearly completed nursery. Maya loved the window seat which makes a perfect Maya-sized bed. (this picture is taken from the window seat)

Chris hates the big flower head band but Maya loved it and reminded us that she wore them all the time as a baby.

Playing with the new camera

 I drove out to Port Rowan to see if I could get some better pictures of the Sandhill Cranes with the new camera. It was a lovely day, blue sky and crisp. I took pictures of the marshes, Cranes and Swans, flying and in the fields. I was excited to look at them on the computer. Turns out that I must have changed a setting when I was looking through the menus the night before - they all shot in video! Learning curve!

Decal on the window (to stop the birds banging into it), at sunset.

Full moon through the trees. I had tried this shot with my other camera before, this one is much better.

Wren at the feeder. Such a loud song from such a small bird. I have put a Wren sized birdhouse out, hoping he will nest here.

Mr and Mrs Downy Woodpecker. They are rarely at the feeder together and appear to be living in a hollow branch of one of my trees.

These photos are taken through my front window

Clear enough to see her "whiskers".

Mum and Dad visited for a couple of days, so glad to get out of their apartment and get a different view. We drove to see the Cranes and Swans.

Dad said he had never seen that many in one area before.

I had not yet realized that my other crane pictures hadn't turned out so just took one.

The camera has a setting called "Sparkly water", not sure I will ever use it.

Mum (with a Gin and Tonic)

and I, sat on "the edge" for Happy Hour.

Watching the Golden eye ducks. The are still lots of Golden eye, Canvas Back, Mergansers and Red Heads around.

Mum and Dad left and Nicola came for a few days. It's so nice being out of "lockdown" even though there is still a lot of cleaning and sanitizing to do between visitors. Chris had asked us to do some sewing for CG's nursery. Curtains, bench cushions and slip covers for the rocker/glider didn't sound like much but turned out to be quite an onerous task.

Rasta being his usual helpful self. We spent the first afternoon at Lens Mills and had a video consult from there, with Chris, to double check that she was OK with the fabric choices.

He's not so good at Hide and Seek.

On the chair back - the quilt Nicola made. On the seat of the chair - a pair of curtains with little navy sailboats on them. Slip covers in blue with sailboats, canoes and fish pattern for back, seat and foot stool. Beside the chair - two cushions covered in grey for the window seat. That took all of one day (into the evening) and the morning of the next. I was the "sous chef", measuring, ironing, pinning and Nic did all the sewing.

All for this little girl.

Chris says that it is a "design flaw" that babies don't smile for the first 6 weeks.