Nature noted

Distractions…Deer Me

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• by Lizann Flatt
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So there I am in my office trying to get some work done. I was concentrating on my computer when something caught the corner of my eye. Whoah! It was a deer! Here’s the view, messy office and all: There’s a deer there honestly. Look just to the right of the post. So now that I was thoroughly distracted I got up and took another photo through the window. I didn’t want it to run away just yet. Then another one appeared and they seemed to want to chase one another away. There must have been some tasty greens growing right there. I wouldn’t know. But later on one of them came back again. This time I took a mini movie.

Like the deer, I’m outta here!

May, Museums and Moose

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This past weekend we found ourselves in Ottawa for a family thing. Ottawa is such a nice city! We took advantage of being there by visiting a couple museums. The Canadian Museum of Civilization was great. They have an amazing collection of totem poles. They’re so tall! My favorite exhibit was the History of Canada hall. The interpretive guide in New France was truly entertaining. We could have stayed there all day and listened to her describe what life was like then, how she’d have put my daughter to work cleaning and cooking and how my son would be going off to work on a ship at age 12, a mere two years away. Here is Ottawa as seen from the side of the museum.

Another highlight was seeing the IMAX movie Sea Monsters. While I thought the sea monsters themselves would be the scariest parts of the movie, it ended up being a rock explosion scene that made me jump out of my seat. Doesn’t make sense? Well, just go see it and you’ll know what I mean. We also went to the Museum of Science and Technology. While I’ve seen them before, it never ceases to amaze me how incredibly huge those steamtrain locomotives are. I almost wish they were still in widespread use.

So on our way home we were all tired and eager to get home (not to mention the fact that I was running low on gas) but we were still hoping to see a moose as we drove through Algonquin Park. We drove and drove. We were almost through the park when there it was–no, there they were! Two moose on the side of the road. Can you see both of them here?

Then after we’d watched those moose for awhile we drove on. About a kilometre further we saw yet another moose. This one was in a marsh. My hubby got out of the car and took the still photos you see here. Me, I’m not so brave. While I love to look at them they’re really quite big. I prefer to admire them from afar…like from inside my car.

The moose really do blend in with the forest. Plus it was dusk. Here were were staring at these magnificent creatures but still, it’s hard to know how to feel when the moose become a veritable roadside attraction. We were the first to spot those two moose and stop, but shortly afterwards one more car and then another and then at least four others stopped. Some people came seriously equipped with their photographer paraphernalia. I’ll bet they got some great shots. Almost everyone was snapping pics, obviously myself included. What must the moose think of our odd behaviour? You never know what an animal will do when you start filming it. I had a bit of fun adding embellishments to my footage. Here’s my story of my first moose sighting of the year.

Made it home safely even if the car was barely running on fumes. Note to self: if you listen to your hubby as he looks at the gas guage and says “oh, that’s plenty of gas” while you pass by the last gas station you can possibly stop at until you’re home the resulting stress is NOT worth it.

The Buffleheads are Back!

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Every year the buffleheads stop in on their way further north. They’re hard to get a picture of because they’re small and they’re nervous of people. They’re diving ducks and I love to watch them disappear and reappear and do it all again. Find more on these marvellous creatures at this informative website from Cornell.

The mallards, however, suffer from no such camera shyness. They were among the first waterbirds I saw.

As soon as they can squeeze themselves into the narrow shoreline melt they start nibbling, heads in the water and butts in the air.

The Canada geese were a close second.

And once again there are busted bugs all over my windsheild. Truly the sights of spring.