Rondeau Ric

Come on in, the water's fine Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . Cold water training. Street clothes, jump in and see if you can get out. If you get out you passed. Don't get out and you fail, not that it really matters at that point.

Be afraid, be very afraid. Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . Any Nature Nut fans out there? They actually let this man on tv.

Between a rock and a hard place Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . Sam likes sitting, or sleeping on the wide windowsills at our new place. She squeezed in between the side of the window and the rock and use dthe rock as a pillow. Soft means somethign different to cats.

Have you ever been to a blog site where you need to input a "word" to verify and post? I think the computers have developed a new language, a little short on vowels and heavy on "q", but a language non the less. Possibly based on Polish or Czech. "Ipvdox fhxfnc lhtjtoxi ktneh Xbrpueb rmruts . Xmdfbw jyphra jjrwtc msvhm vatakhr aznmpkh evyaelq adcis flbeqzam ylsqnr." If this was wheel of fortune I’d say they couldn’t afford a vowel. Maybe the Italians or Spanish bought all the vowels? I find the structure of languages and words interesting. Why all the hard constants in some languages while others have a melodious, flowing sound? What were the influences that necessitated the different sounds? Distances, atmospheric pressure, humidity?

blackberry Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . The orgininal, it communicates with visual clues and smell. No batteries or internet required.

Pretty Boy Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . If starlings were rare we would likely enjoy them more. It's like cardinals and bluejays. We see them so often we don't look at them any more. All three are real good looking birds.

I thought this was worth a blog. lonely traveller Originally uploaded by lowfatbrains . This was one of those moments you can only really experience in Africa. Driving around the corner during our evening game drive in Umfolozi-Hluhluwe, we were the only car to come across this very well-tempered, solitary Ndlovu walking down the road. The funny thing about elephants is that, when they go downhill they're too heavy to stop themselves from picking up speed quickly, and they can't slow down until they get to level ground (which is why people often panic when they see elephants coming downhill, because it looks like it's charging at you).

Grounded nuthatch Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . Too much competion on the suet feeders from the woodpeckers, so he went scrounging.

barred owl digscoped Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . Taken near Toronto Ontario winter of 2005

It's nothing big but it is obvious. It's something that's not there.HILLS dammit! It is so flat here that when my boys were young they would get excited about overpasses on the highway, true storey.North West Ohio, southeast Michigan and Southern Ontario were a sea/lake bottom at one point. I thought the prairie was flat but it rolls some here it is just FLAT!

Help on bird ID Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . Is anyone good at silhouette ids? On the morning commute I took a picture of this Pillar of Venus. Once I saw it at home I spotted the birds. This was taken on the north shore of Lake Erie. I suspect they are Canada Geese but I’m not certain. Uploaded by ricmcarthur

Fowlers toad Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . Fowlers toads are endangered in Ontario, largely due to habitat destruction. A research project was conducted at Rondeau Provincial Park last year. These toads like beaches and dunes and need driftwood and shells to hided under during the day. People waking in the dunes can injury a toad and driftwood bonfires are a double disaster. The may be under the fire pit and cook, or at the least their hiding places are used as fuel for the fire.

Birds of Callaway Originally uploaded by Jimmy_Joe . This is probably the most stunning owl photo I have come across. Makes you want to duck... quickly!

Red bellied feeding. Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . With the mild weather since mid December the birds have had many sources for food. Saturday a winter storm arrived with a heavy wet snow which coated the forest. Our feeders came alive with species we hadn't seen for weeks. Three suet and three seed feeders were emptied in about four hours. Downey, Hairy and Red bellied woodpeckers toghether with Red breasted and White breasted nuthatches teamed up to empty the suet. Once they acompolished that they all moved onto the sunflower feeders.

Casey, our oldest cat, likes sitting in front of the keyboard. I play bird song cd's and she looks for the birds. She hasn't noticed the one behind her.

Get OFF my feeder Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . Having cleaned out three suet feeders the woodpeckers started on the tube feeders. There was some discussion between the Downey and the Goldfinch. The Downey made an offer the Goldfinch couldn’t refuse.

In the hands of children Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . At a presentation at Rondeau Park children are given the opportunity to hold any of the snakes used at the show. Actually anyone can hold them, but the adults seem to shy away. The future of the snakes is in the hands of the children.

Banding a tuffted titmouse Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . This is another biter. He's also very vocal and scolds the whole time he’s in captivity. When he was released, he dive bombed the banding table, then flew to a tree and continued voicing his opinion of the human race.

No Title Originally uploaded by ElseKramer . This phot is from Flickr, a great photo site. This one just struck my fancy. 'Fountain' by Merijn Bolink, Zeeburg, Amsterdam