One of the advantages am I insane???? there are no advantages whatsoever to this kind of weather of record-breaking humidex temperatures is that I can totally justify staying indoors to edit past photos. ANN: not a word about my outstanding Pelee trip, please!
However, that being said, I caved and put out a water bowl belonging to our dogs for any of our back yard critters that may be in need of it, including chipmunks, rabbits, squirrels, and assorted birds. Finally one of my American Robins showed up to drink from it, panting all the while as that's how their body temperature is regulated:
A humidex today of 48º was too much for this poor squirrel who stretched out on the ground in a feeble attempt to cool off, poor thing!
As I kept a watchful eye on my backyard critters from the comfort of my air-conditioned home, my photo editing dated back to cooler times just last week at the Toronto Wildlife Centre, a Northern Mockingbird showed off its white patches while performing wing stretches on the ground, a behaviour that I've never seen before...
...while a pretty Savannah Sparrow checked me out...
...and then began singing his heart out:
Last Friday in south Whitby the resident Mute Swan family was on the prowl with a few pretty young cygnets:
As the crowds at Lynde Shores rarely pay heed to the posted "Please Do Not Feed The Birds" signs, these swans were fearless as they approached me looking for food:
"Feed me, what's wrong with you, why don't you have anything for me like everyone else does??"
The dingy cygnet flipped me the bird tipped itself over looking for food the way it really should be....
...and righted itself back up as it forgave me for my lack of food handouts:
On Sunday evening I returned back up to the cottage for a few days, enjoying yet another killer sunset from the dock with mom on Monday evening:
On Tuesday morning as I was cleaning the dock, I was thrilled to see my pair of Common Loons sauntering by, as it had been a few weeks since I last saw them. They seem to prefer calmer waters in our little bay as they casually swim by the docks checking out what's on the menu for the day as they frequently dunk their heads under water and come back up with a meal, this was one of them on July 5th:
On Tuesday, though, it was a casual drive-by swim-by that I enjoyed, double-click on any of these to better see the details:
The sound of my camera shutter has always appealed to this particular Loon as it made a closer approach to me on the floating dock:
...and then it began to make its tremolo call as it got closer and closer to me, I stayed as still as I possibly could on the dock so as not to disturb it...
...and then off it swam, continuing along the shoreline of the lake as it eventually caught up with its mate!
And don't ever let it be said that I don't photograph gulls, this young "whatever" probable I don't have a clue Ring-billed Gull flew by, most likely upset by my presence on the floating dock as several of them had apparently taken up residence there based on the amount of whitewash I had to scrub off in advance of our lunch guests' arrival!
And so ends another posting before I totally melt away, I really must work on that Pelee trip....
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