Snow on the Mill Race Trail - and Lily

 Wednesday 02 December 2020

     It was a beautiful afternoon, sunny, and a pleasant minus three degrees, and having been inside the house all morning Miriam and I decided to take a stroll along the Mill Race Trail in St. Jacobs.

     Principally we were hoping to rediscover a Barred Owl (Strix varia) we had briefly seen when we last walked in this area with Heather and Lily.

     We were unsuccessful in our quest, but it really didn't matter. The walk was sheer pleasure; we enjoyed every step we took, thankful to be able to enjoy the crisp beauty of an Ontario winter.

     A vivid male Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) was enough to take your breath away.

    How could you ever become blasé about such a bird? We see them in our backyard almost every day yet they never become less special.

     The intense scarlet of Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii) matched the plumage of the bird.

     As frequent readers of my blog will know by now, Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) is regularly encountered, and today was no exception.

     Miriam and I are captivated by this aquatic rodent and are becoming ever more familiar with its behaviour and habits, and are delighted when we are able to meet up with it.

     It is now known that Muskrat and American Beaver (Castor canadensis) share a lodge, seeming to get along well together, and given the active and seemingly expanding beaver population, it is not surprising that Muskrats appear to be undergoing a commensurate population expansion.

     The picture below shows a beaver lodge and if you look carefully at the right, you will see a muskrat busily engaged in maintenance activity or food collection and delivery.

     Muskrats, it seems, have found safe haven along the Mill Race.

     No doubt a couple of them occupy this beaver lodge which is taking over part of the road, beavers and muskrats snug inside beneath the snow.

     Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) is our smallest picid, and judging by the reaction from even the most casual observer, our cutest.

     I have often wondered what it is about chickadees, all species of them, in different parts of the continent, that makes them so confident around humans, whereas most species retain their wariness about the most dangerous predator of all. To have a Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) land on your hand to feed is a sensation not soon forgotten, and never without a thrill - and a sense of privilege too.

     How can one not be humbled by this simple act, this union with nature, this association with a wild creature?

     And sometimes two or three at a time will magnify the pleasure.

     A White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) looked on.....

     ..... and decided it too would take advantage of an easy meal.

     Elation such as this is hard to beat.

     Another Downy Woodpecker was hard at work on a dead stump, and looked like it might venture onto my hand, but decided against it and carried on working away at the rotting wood, no doubt finding lots of juicy grubs.

     The light was perfect, the reflections were superb.

     The sun was beginning to set in the western sky as we made our way back along the trail.

     And a Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) came to wish us good afternoon.

     If it gets any better than this I am not quite sure how. Mere minutes away from home this trail is always there to enjoy. They say that "music has charm to soothe a savage breast" (William Shakespeare); but the Mill Race does a great job too! 

Friday 04 December 2020

     And to conclude this post (cue the trumpet fanfare) a few pictures of Lily taken last Friday on our walk at RIM Park in Waterloo.

     Chickadees and Lily in one post is about all the excitement I can handle! How about you?