Spring Fever - Recent Photos

ornithologist

 

took this one today...different lake..the ice is real thick on this one (looks like waves but its ice)

this one is so deep its fairly cool water even at the peak of summer when you swim in it the top is nice but your feet are cold


this view can be yours for only $300,000....thats just the property no buildings and bare minimum services ..just phone lines and hydro available at property line..(lake is big..this is just a bay view)

 

Nice...love all the pics.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOFiKSgsRmQ

("the bird is the word") hehe

 

i might have a pic or two to contribute here...

as Terminator says, "I'll be back"

 

I've dubbed this squirrel Flat Stanley. The first time I saw him lie flat like that last year, I thought he was hurt. But then he scampered off and was bounding around the park, obviously fine. This year I'm seeing it again. Don't know if it's the same squirrel or not. I had never seen a squirrel do this before. Has anyone seen this or know why they do it? Is it a defense mechanism and he's trying to hide, camouflage himself? Or is he just messing with my mind?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CXOOQ0-mVw

 

This is a short video of some honeybees checking out my uncle John's swarm trap. I don't think anything has moved in yet but they are sure getting interested. He has already caught two swarms in other traps (he has a total of seven) and plans on putting them in hives this week.

https://youtu.be/38wR_isPBJ0

 

So I found out the squirrels do it for two reasons. One is as I thought, to avoid detection, they lie flat and motionless trying to blend in with whatever they're lying on making themselves less of a target for predators. A second is to cool themselves in the summer (exposing their bellies to the cooler ground) or warming up in the winter (exposing themselves to the sun to absorb the heat). My squirrel was definitely in stealth mode. He still kept nibbling away at the peanut though.lol

 

graveyard

 

same place i usually post in the fall but this time i took it in spring (today)

 

Watching that video reminds me of a Darwin Award winner from several years ago.

This guy had a bees nest in his backyard so he decided to blow it up using a stick-of-dynamite. He lit the fuse and took cover in a small shed.
the concussion from the blast blew out the windows of the shed and the few remaining bees flew in and stung him.

He died on the way to the hospital from an allergic reaction to the bee stings.


Hotwater

 

I miss (looking at) water.

 

The bluebirds have hatched, but some of the eggs may have been duds. I'll go back and count later. Birds are kind of gross looking when they first hatch.

 

Great photo! At my old house we saw robins and mourning doves hatching. They built the nests on the porch light, of all places. And it was right beside the front door! The adult birds would usually fly off when we opened the door, but sometimes they'd hold fast and sit and protect their young.

 

While I took that picture I was being dive-bombed by the adults; they've never actually hit me but I could feel the breeze they created as they passed over.

 

The park is almost flooded from the high level of water in the lake. It's spilling over the side. They're working on the dam at the other end of town so they're not letting out water as often as they usually do in the spring.




Poor gull is wondering where his marsh is.

 

the ice is finally gone from the lake in town

 

Young herring gulls on the beach, flying into the wind.

 

I spent the day in London yesterday visiting a friend. I walked back along Victoria Embankment on the way to Blackfriars station, and took this shot of the riverbank. It was about nine o'clock in the evening. You can see the London Eye with Big Ben in the distance just to the right of it, and Waterloo Bridge. I like the multi-coloured reflections of the lights on the water as well.