The drought has continued, the Ottawa River is very low, Mud Lake is very low. But all the usual creatures are still around. What you see on any one visit is never the same, but always worth while
A chipmunk, strongly backlit, greeted us at the trail entrance. It was not looking for a handout, it seemed more than content with what it was finding on the ground
The scene at the observation rocks was quite telling, there was little water in front and to the left
There were one heron and one egret that we spotted. Both were a long way out.
Wood ducks were in great supply. Most of the males had "recovered" from their molt
A lone grebe was busy bobbing for food in the shallow water. The backlit was very strong, I was unable to get a decent still shot.
There were lots of little guys around too. White-throated sparrows seemed to be everywhere. The chickadees and nuthatches were happy to see us
At one point a chickadee chased a nuthatch away...
And then the next moment a nuthatch flew in, buthe chickadee was in no mood to move, there was a discussion and the chickadee retreated but refused to leave
Four turkeys had passed us at the entrance, we caught up to them further along the trail. (A larger group was slowly coming up through the trees from their overnight roost)
Cardinals were "squeaking" in the bush, but only one showed its face
The squirrels were busy collecting nuts
And working to get to the kernel inside
A grey squirrel put on quite a performance for us.
After spending some time on the railing, it climbed up the tree, turned around to look down, secured it's hind legs, stretched out the front paws, then dug them in. Flattened against the tree - soaking up the sun!
Last year's (?) pine cones having dropped their seeds
The trees were having a tough time producing the usual bright fall colours, but there were some nice leaves
Buckthorn and winterberry berries
There still are a few flowers blooming. Dames Rocket (a flower I associate with early summer) bigleaf aster(?), blue wood aster(?), sowthistle/Queen Anne's Lace, Goldenrod (most is past) and viper's bugloss which has grown a dense cover of small leaves on the stem.
The bees were quite interested in the viper's bugloss
A long slender tail slithered into the underbrush, and a head stayed still between the many leaves long enough for me to grab a photo of the garter snake
Down at the river a merganser duck and several geese were riding the current
There was one muskrat lodge built but the beavers are in trouble if the water level does not rise before winter
A few photos of the low water level
The fungus growing on the large tree trunk on the path to ridge seemed to have regnerated themselves
A kayak out in the Ottawa River and a neighbourhood cat that drops by the area from time time
