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Days in Pictures

The wind beneath their wings

Flapping up or sitting down

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Seems I’ve gotten a bunch of really good flying captures in all three spots we visited! Well, the last one wasn’t so much “flying” as “flapping”, but it looked so good and I make the rules so there we go.

Serpentine Fen

Serpentine River seen from the bridge. The water is mirror smooth, reflecting a few wispy clouds in the blue sky. The river is lined by stony banks on either side. Tall trees on the left
Serpentine River

The main stars were a couple of Belted Kingfishers flying around, screeching and… I don’t know, fighting? Courting? Or, since this is the end of summer, it may have been divorce proceedings? Regardless, they gave me some excellent shots.

Blackie Spit

The remains of the boardwalk across a small bay. A bunch of pilings of varying sizes, and a few boards connecting them. Nearby land is covered in yellow-green grasses, and across the water are hazy blue mountains
Old boardwalk

Now we’re talking Purple Martins. I still have no idea what their actual schedule is, they seem to appear later and later every year, but there were a bunch of them zipping back and forth from their condos out in the water to our location. I managed some quite good shots, and a really excellent photo (that’s totally going on my store) showing off every lovely detail of its backlit flight feathers.

Also some pretty good shots of a Killdeer in flight, something I’ve never managed to capture.

Don’t ask me about the chair, though. I’d never seen it before, will probably not see it again, but it looked like the perfect artsy shot… and in a way, it’s kind of a throwback to the very early days of my daily photo challenge, before I found birds, where I’d shoot anything and everything that caught my eye. It feels nice, a small reminder that you can’t just look up 24 / 7, and there are always weird little things all around you just waiting to be noticed.

Brydon Lagoon

A female Wood Duck swimming along, seen in profile. The water is calm, and we can see her reflection pretty well.
Wood Duck

There weren’t a whole lot of birds around, oddly enough, and none in flight. I did capture a super cute Wood duckling. Plus, various assorted waterfowl, including a lovely Mallard hen flapping away. I love how incredibly fluffy her underwings look!

The photos

Serpentine River seen from the bridge. The water is mirror smooth, reflecting a few wispy clouds in the blue sky. The river is lined by stony banks on either side. Tall trees on the left
Serpentine River
A Great Blue Heron standing on one of several pilings, body mostly facing us. There are more low wide pilings behind it.
Great Blue Heron
A wide view of a Great Blue Heron standing on the closest of a line of low wide pilings in the Serpentine River. The water is very smooth and blue and its reflection is clear. To the right we see a bit of the river's rocky bank
Great Blue Heron
A Great Blue Heron flying away from us, over a stretch of blue water. Its wings are extended, up and out in a V shape
Great Blue Heron
A Great Blue Heron flying away from us, over a stretch of blue water. Its wings are in a curved shape
Great Blue Heron
A bumblebee's butt, pollinating some tansy flowers
Bumblebee butt
A female Belted Kingfisher flying directly above, wings extended, against a solid blue sky
Belted Kingfisher
Two Belted Kingfishers flying in the same direction, against a solid blue sky
Belted Kingfishers
A pale brown grasshopper on gravelly ground
Grasshopper
A grey grasshopper on gravelly ground
Grasshopper
The Serpentine River, with a shallow muddy bay to the right. Far away are power lines
Serpentine River
A seagull on the water, holding a big fish in its bill
Seagull fishing
The Serpentine River, with a gravelly trail along one side and power lines in the distance. The water is still, reflecting the blue sky
Serpentine River
A hoverfly on top of a cluster of pink flowers
Hoverfly
A field in Serpentine Fen. All sorts of little bushes, tall grasses, and trees in the distance
Serpentine Fen
View from Blackie Spit: Blue water, some buildings on the opposite shore. Behind that, towers and residential neighbourhoods. Behind that, hazy blue mountains
From Blackie Spit
A Purplish Copper butterfly, resting on the dry ground amongst pebbles and little bits of twigs. We see part of its inner wings (bold orange and brown patterns), and its outer wings (plainer light brown with small dark spots)
Purplish Copper
A Purplish Copper butterfly, resting on the dry ground amongst pebbles and little bits of twigs. Its wings are up and together, and we see the plain light brown and orange pattern with small dark spots
Purplish Copper
View from near the Maple Street Pumphouse. Low coastline with little sandbars, short grass. In the distance across the water are some houses, trees, and mountains far away
From the pumphouse
A female Western Tanager up in a tree, seen in profile, against a blue sky
Western Tanager
A Greater Yellowlegs walking in shallow water, backlit and surrounded by shimmering reflections
Greater Yellowlegs
A Purple Martin in flight overhead, against a blue sky. Its wings and tail are spread fully, and we can see every detail of the light shining through its flight feathers
Purple Martin
A Killdeer in flight, over water. In the background is a shoreline with some bushes, and a Greater Yellowlegs standing in shallow water
Killdeer flying
A Killdeer landing, its back to us. The ground is muddy with some sparse grasses. In the background is water
Killdeer landing
A group of pilings out on the water. Trees on the opposite shore, and some hazy blue mountains far away
Pilings
A wooden chair by itself near the trail. It is surrounded by various tall grasses and some trees, under a blue sky
A chair
A couple of people sitting down on a sandbank out on the water. There is a small boat passing by. On the opposite shore are a few big houses surrounded by trees. Behind that, hazy blue mountains
On a sandbank
A sand wasp digging into sandy ground
Sand wasp
An immature White-crowned Sparrowon a branch, backlit in harsh sunlight
White-crowned Sparrow
Landscape shot of the Maple Street Pumphouse (a quaint little red house) and the creek leading up to it. On the opposite side are masses of bushes and short trees. Sky is solid blue
Maple Street Pumphouse
The remains of the boardwalk across a small bay. A bunch of pilings of varying sizes, and a few boards connecting them. Nearby land is covered in yellow-green grasses, and across the water are hazy blue mountains
Old boardwalk
A crow in flight against a solid blue sky. Its wings are spread wide, and it is rising rapidly
Crow in flight
A Pied-billed Grebe out on the water. It is seen in profile, and the water is light blue
Pied-billed Grebe
Close up of a Wood Duckling, seen in profile. It is mostly downy, with its juvenile colours. In the background are some larger rocks, with shallow water between them
Wood Duckling
A female Wood Duck swimming along, seen in profile. The water is calm, and we can see her reflection pretty well.
Wood Duck
A female Mallard on the water, rearing and flapping her wings. The wings are very white and fluffy underneath, and there is a single white feather floating nearby
Mallard duck
A grey grasshopper, slightly patterned with darker spots, is on the gravelly ground, extremely well camouflaged
Grasshopper

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