Where Did All The Turtles Go? Autumn, Nature’s Accents & Abstract

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:45:35 +0000

Last week I read a story about the 30 lb turtle that was saved in Aurora by the Hadley Grange residents and the police. I never thought that our pond would have something that big.

I saved one may be that was less than 8 ounces. Having ponds near by roads it always will be an issue with animal crossings. I am glad that story had a happy ending after all.

So where were all the turtles today, the usual Red-Eared Sliders? We have not seen even one on the Nokiidaa Trail link boardwalk today. Day care children were looking for them, and could not find them. An older woman mentioned the turtles. No sight of them. We looked for them too on the way in and on the way back and there were none.

Children Looking for Red-Eared Slider Turtles

So where are the turtles, I am asking again? It was a nice sunny and warm day today. Usually they sit on the dead wood logs in the pond, but this time there were none. Well, I don’t have the answer. May be they are getting ready to hibernate.

What a beautiful day turned out to be after all despite the missing turtles. I am sure turtles will be back.

We got to observe other things. There were lot of birds, however, there are still substantial amount of leaves on the trees thus hard to spot them. Ducks were very loud and flying over the boardwalk.

The sky was perfect blue and the occasional clouds thus the occasional overcast created prefect environment for some good photography.

I don’t always have good days, but today was exceptional.

I like autumn photography the most just because of a broad spectrum of colors and earthy tones. I love the winding down and aging aspect of the nature. Very calming.

On the other note, remember it is also a flu season. Getting out on the sun, moderate fresh air and drinking lot of fluids is our way to deal with colds and flues.

A Sneeze

I mentioned my successful photographic adventure and it would be a shame not to share it. Have fun with the titles and imagination. Click on the image to proceed. Enjoy.

Wildlife Camouflaged, The Best Of First Observation Deck & Deceived

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 03:42:51 +0000

‘Fast, fast the flying Great Blue Heron! Over there, look over there!‘ – she directed me.

‘Here do you see Green Heron? Come here. Can you see him?‘ – she pointed out.

The Great Blue Heron landed on the tree behind the leaves and branches. No chance to take a single photo. For love of me I couldn’t see a single hopping Green Heron in the direction she showed me.

Green Heron

Now I had her back. ‘Matthew go, go fast tell the lady we found the Green Heron‘ – I told him. She came and we both started to take photos. She was very nice, moving away and letting me take photos from her spots.

She had much smaller camera. I felt bad, so I offer her my camera on which I had telescopic 100-400mm lens. The lens I have is like binoculars, you can zoom in on objects to see them closer. ‘I show you something‘ – she said as I was trying to hand over my camera. ‘Here look in my viewfinder‘, and I did.

A viewfinder? Who uses viewfinder to view photos these days. Obviously her. I looked inside. I couldn’t believe. Her Green Heron was closer than mine. ‘Ouch how did you do that?‘ – I asked surprised. Well, she had camera with lens extender and with her current lens she ended up with telescopic zoom, probably 500mm. And who said that the bigger is the better.

Killdeer

That was deceiving. Her too – she was a pro in everything, photography and wildlife. She was also right about looking through viewfinder. During bright day light it is hard to see pictures on the LCD view panel, which she obviously did not use.

Time passed, and I was still at the first observation deck. We drove today, so that was a short walk. But we had fun when we started to see all the camouflaged wildlife in the pond, the Green Heron, Killdeer and Sandpipers especially. The pond was abundant in Mallard and Wood ducks.

Sandpiper

Oh, no I just remembered -I have not seen Canada geese today.

So we were having a great conversation. We talked about wildlife and photography, and everything else. Looked like her main thing today was the Green Heron. I never had an opportunity to shoot Sandpiper, so this was my lucky day to get nice collection of close ups. He was hovering all over and looking for food. It was definitely a juvenile Sandpiper.

The Green Herons are much smaller than the Great Blue Herons. We saw them catching frogs and fishs for lunch. It is interesting to watch them fish, especially when they stretch their necks and do not move for periods of time. A very common characteristic. When the time comes, with a split of a second the herons dive their heads for whatever they were looking for.

Also, I don’t know why the would do that, but they like to perk up and all their feathers on the head stand up in the shape of Mohawk. They also have this amazing ability to sway their body side to side vertically from head to toe, just like a fish when swims. A very graceful movement.

Now speaking of ducks. They were everywhere. Speaking of turtles. They were everywhere. At some point I saw seven turtles (Red-Eared Sliders) surrounding one duck that was sitting near by.

Mallard

Matthew was hovering around the lady. Greeting everyone passing by. Talked to all the children that showed up at the deck. At some point Matthew was hovering around lady’s lunch box on her back, and I know why?

Mallard Again

We continued to talk. It was time for the introduction. ‘Matthew meet lady Patricia‘ – I said once we introduced ourselves to each other. ‘What do you have there?‘ – Matthew asked and pointed out to her bag. ‘It is a mint-chocolate candy‘ – she replied, and hand out one each. So this is why he was hovering around her bag. What happened to my shy boy? The small and shy boy he once was.

Yes, Mallard Again, But Why Not?

It was almost lunch time, and I was still at the first observation deck. More visitors arrived. At some point it must have been 10 of us standing, at least four groups. I can see that children do really enjoy this boardwalk, and they will for many years to come.

Pond's Architecture

By the time we left, the Great Blue Heron was gone and we didn’t even notice his departure. I never made beyond the first observation deck, but we had great time conversing with Patricia, observing wildlife together, photographing and socializing. It was one fun day today.

Living in Aurora, Town of Aurora, Ontario » Turtles

Where Did All The Turtles Go? Autumn, Nature’s Accents & Abstract

Wildlife Camouflaged, The Best Of First Observation Deck & Deceived