Rondeau Ric

Teezel and the grape Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . Anne did it! Not me! I feel like a little kid blaming some one else for something. No blame here. I gave Anne the camera and had her take this photo out of the car window. Slowly but steadily I'm getting her hooked.

Terminal velocity Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . A Caspian tern in a full out dive. Not a great shot, but with the light and speed of he bird it is as good as I could get.

Tigger Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . This is Tigger from West Virginia. He lives in an unofficial dump beside the road. A birding friend, John Acorn, was quite taken by Tigger and Tigger a subject of disscussion. We went back for two more visits and Tigger was still there.

Come a little bit closer you are my kind of man Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . The way he was looking at me made me think of the song. By the way, NEVER try to pick up a snapping turtle from the front. When they are on land they feel vulnerable and the will bite. Believe me it hurts. If you need to move one off a road, approach from the rear and pick it up by its shell, never its tail, just behind the rear legs. You can support the turtle and not get bitten. Be careful, they can turn around quickly.

Hey Mr. Heinz....you need tomatoes? Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . One of the cash crops in the area. In a few weekd we will have 50 trailers full of tomatoes snaking down the roads. All of the tomaotes are for commercial uses, ketchup, tomatoe sauce etc. Food fight any one?

Sora rail Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . This little fellow finally came out of the reeds long enough to get a his picture taken. He was indifferent to us as he looked for food but didn't come out of the cat tails.

Calling sandhills Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . We have ha a couple of great days out in the marsh at Rondeau. Last night a pair of Sandhill Cranes flew over, calling contunously to each other. This was a first, we have sen them, and heard them but not at he same time. Amazing. The day before we had six Sora Rails, a Green backed heron and a least bittern. The day before that we saw thre least bitterns and a green heron along with all the other usual marsh birds, such as common yellow throat, swamp sparrow, marsh wren and various swallows.

Solar Powered Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . An immature great blue was getting a little solar energy at the edge of the channel last night. I knew they did this but hadn't seen the behaviour before. Alternate title: The Flasher

The Dragon and the Lotus Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . At a neighbours lotus ponds. This dragon was nice enough to pose, so I thought it was only polite to take his picture.

Soap box derby Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . I think this may be the only grocery cart that has all four wheels going in the same direction.

A handful of corn, snakes that is Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . An annual event at Rondeau Provincial Park is an educational evening about snakes. After the presentation any one who want to hold a snake can. These are corn snakes a common pet species.

blue berry lotus Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . The seeds in the pod reminded me of blue berries. From now on they are Blue berry Lotus a favorite of the frogs. The make pancakes on the rocks

Darter Originally uploaded by iwasfixin2 . I was amazed by the quality of this photograph taken in northern Brisbane, Queensland Australia. It looks like an Audubon plate. You can check out more Nathans photos on Flickr.

Natures Filter Originally uploaded by ricmcarthur . Went out side about 7.30 Saturday morning to see what was around. Humidity was very high and the moisture was acting as a filter, softening everything. Once I load the photos onto the computer I realized that I may have had condensation on the lens. Air conditioning to high humidity and temperature, not good for electronics. Sometimes unplanned photos can be interesting.