On my way to a nearby town but not being in a hurry AND as always, having my camera on the seat beside me, I stopped to check them out.

They were relaxing in a grove of small birch trees and I nearly considered jumping the fence to get the angle I wanted.

Just about then….well…..just BEFORE I made that decision I chanced to see this fellow coming out from behind them.

Even though he seemed docile AND very politely invited me to come over and pet him….I declined.

Took a few quick snaps and back to the car….no hurry.

I don’t know what breed he is as there are mostly beef or dairy cattle around here and this is not a breed I am familiar with.

If anyone knows…feel free to let me know.

My best guess…..Longhorn……duh!

She usually has little or no trouble hiding in the brush beside the road and as they stand very still….in fact you can get quite close to them and the still usually don’t move.

Apparently she saw me coming and decided that the usual and ALWAYS successful strategy is to stand still and let your coloring ‘blend’ you into the background brush.

HMMMMMMMM….didn’t work so well right away but later, as you can see, she made it to the side of the road and she is MUCH more successful.

One of the local farmers was going from his house to the barn he has across and down the road a bit.

I have to admit it isn’t a regular sight, someone out with the horses and sled but this particular farmer does it a lot….summer and winter.

A few years ago I got a nice shot of him with his sled full of wood on his way to his sugaring off cabin.

Hope you enjoy this ‘view from the past’.

The ice had just melted in places and the little bit of open water was like a rest stop on the highway.

They came and went all day.

By the way although I’m sure you already know there are male and female Mallards.

P.S. The show-offy one is the male!

We saw him ( her ) on the side of the road quite some distance away and slowed down in order not to frighten him.

I wanted to see if I could get a half-decent picture and was sure he’d run away as soon as the distance would be NEARLY perfect.

He on the other hand couldn’t have cared less if I had a clown’s nose and a brass band with me, he blithely went on drinking from the ditch and eating the fresh young greens on the side of the road.

Eventually we ended up right beside him, not more than 12 or 15 feet away and got a bunch of lovely pictures of this charming little fellow.

I’m not too knowledgeable about them but I will assume they are born in the spring and he’s not THAT young so I’d put him at just a 1 year old cutie.

First time EVER I’ve been that close to a wild one.

Generally the people that use them don’t steal anything and don’t abuse them and as a result many lakes have boats that have been there for years.

This particular one is about 10 Km from my house and has been at the lake for 3 or 4 years so far.

This particular evening was late in the fall after a heavy rain and the, probably leaky rowboat had settled in to the lake…looking particularly comfortable.

I’ve never used this one as I have a lightweight canoe that I prefer to put on the top of my car when I go ‘sploring.

Nonetheless it looked pretty and decidedly worth a shot.

I usually take the dirt side-road and every year I see the kids enjoying the farmer’s flooded fields as a super-sized rink.

2 nets ( always available around here ) , a group of kids ( any number or gender will do ), and the game is on.

As I was taking the shot MORE kids were arriving. The cell phone I presume has replaced the ‘bush telegraph’ of my day.

As an interesting sidelight notice only 1 person is wearing a helmet…..2 are wearing the traditional toque and one of them is a girl!

I found this one many years ago when we first bought this property.

You would think with 80 odd acres to choose from I would have found something FAR away from my house yet this spot, although well camouflaged is not more than a 1/4 mile from my house.

Not on my bush road I found it one day while ‘exploring’ my then new property.

The rock is my ‘thinking’ place and it has served me well over the years.

I ALWAYS go there alone…..or with the dogs but never with people….that would defeat the purpose of it…..for me at any rate.

All the madness and stress of life melts away when you sit on the rock….and listen to ONLY the birds call and the rustle of critters around you going about their business.

No cell phones,,,,no traffic noise…….no nattering people wanting your attention for something or other.

If I stay long enough the animals….small ones anyway, ignore me and seem to venture closer to find out what this new ‘creature’ is.

This year….a few days ago I saw signs of a new ‘adventurer’ from my rock……and I realized I was the intruder in HIS world…not the other way round.

I know they are afraid of us so I don’t usually fear them but this time of year one has to be cautious as when they are with their young….and kids are ALWAYS curious….they are VERY dangerous.

I would NEVER think of venturing back there without my dogs…..they are sufficiently noisy and active that no Bear would venture very close….not even a cub.

The tree, by the way, shows a typical marking of a mature Bear which ‘claws’ or marks the tree as a way of both sharpening their claws….much as a housecat does AND defining it’s territory….NO PROBLEM….I got that part.

These marks are VERY fresh and I would estimate they were done within the last few days,,,,not much longer as the bark hasn’t had a chance to even begin to curl.

It’s a little scary but I can assure you…..you DEFINITELY feel ALIVE!

Unlike Ron…..we don’t get a lot of sea shells and such…..what we have is logging trucks and typically most roadside debris is from them.

Usually some kind of steel or iron and this is no exception.

It’s not, as I said a very complex image but I think that in it’s simplicity there lies something special….with no ‘special’ atributes to distract you ALL you have is the iron and gravel and how they interplay.

Not for everyone I guess but it sure tickled me.

This little beauty is a Downy Woodpacker…I believe I have posted pictures of them before and I only include this because they are so CUTE and absolutely unafraid.

They come to our feeders and while they won’t eat the regular seeds they LOVE the suet blocks.

This is on a dead tree on the edge of our front yard.

Now to the main attraction.

For the past 2 or 3 weeks I have heard the LOUD and persistent hammering of a woodpecker on a distant tree.

Several years ago we had one who tapped away on our steel mast for our then used T.V. antenna tower.

Since there were obviously no bugs to be had we figured out he was using the reverberations of the hollow metal tower to announce his presence….maybe for mating…maybe as a warning to other males….I don’t know.

Finally my curiosity got the better of me 2 days ago and I decided to track down the NEW culprit.

After quite a long hike in the woods, every minute hoping you are getting closer, I heard him again.

Now I hear him loudly tapping only for about 3 seconds every 5 minutes or so and although I could have moved more quickly IF I chanced upon him too quickly he might either fly away or be quiet and not let me know where he was.

About an hour later I knew I was close and yard by yard I moved closer until I could see him.

They’re QUITE shy and the sight of a human will usually make they leave for a long time so I had to move up on him ONLY when he tapped…a foot or so at a time until I figured I wouldn’t be able to get any closer without jepordizing my chances for a decent shot.

The first shot shows him at an old hollow dead tree which he was using I believe as a megaphone to make himself heard.

It was, by the way, EASILY heard several miles away.

As I crept closer he moved to another tree very close by and I thought I might have frightened him away but no….he was not at a purpose-built hole for his/her young…..in other words a nest.

They create one in a nearly-dead tree and hollow it out JUST big enough for them, line it with wood chips they have created and it’s all done.

The next three show him in profile and as I got closer I saw him insert nearly his whole body in the cavity and a second later he’s outside…making it bigger.

According to my bird book these birds get to an astounding size of 41-48 cm…..about 17-23 inches…..that’s pretty big.

I reckon this was in the smaller range although all these pics were taken at 200 mm as he got twitchy as I moved closer so judging size was pretty difficult..

Quite an adventure for me…lasting well over 2 hours in all and I think WELL SPENT!