Back from trip to Huntsville, Parry Sound area

Just in time to see the Trilliums blooming east of Sprucedale. Ontario's provincial flower.

An other pic from yesterday

At the Edith Lake rapids the water is flowing very quickly, all the rocks are under water around the boat launch. I walked up the river north towards Burke Lake a short distance to take this picture. Great to put the canoe in Burke and shoot the river.

Couple more HDR pics

Up the Edith Lake Rd today, lots of water coming down the river. Water levels in Edith very high. Went down the trail towards Obushkong Lake where I took some pictures last fall. Great area with lots of forest cover and ground cover all mosses Labrador tea, and Snowberry.

Something new

Blogger had some problems and they lost the last post on me. I'm going to try and recreate it. It deals with HDR photos. This is when you take three pictures using a tripod of the same thing with different shutter speeds. One is a normal picture, the second is shot with a slower shutter speed to show whats in the shadows and the last on a higher shutter speed to develop for the hilites. Combining the three together to get a dynamic range from the shadows to hilites all exposed correctly. You will notice under the rock you can see most of whats underneath.
I have also lost all the comments on this blog too.

Out ATVing again

Up the Bouche Rd and across the trail north of Firth Lake, south down the Holwood Rd. east on highway 560 to Elkhorn Rd and south as far as the road into Margueratt lake and into the cut to the east. The bridge has been taken out where Margueratt Lake flows into Elkhorn. Lots of good birch wood slash going to waste again. Finally back up to the highway and home. Good trip even better weather. The pictures are from Firth Creek north of Firth Lake

It's official Ice Out May 8, 2011

Weather has changed a lot and fast, dandelions coming up, grass greening, mosquitoes and lots of birds have returned. The ice was declared gone yesterday from the North Arm the official sign of ice out.

Fishermen are out on the lake

Yes, fishing is going on in between the ice flows, today most of the lake south of the town has open water the bays still have ice and the North Arm is all ice. Another couple of warm days and some wind will make a big difference.
Up the Bouche Rd. to visit a swamp before the bugs get to bad. Finally found something that is starting to bud. Around most of the swamps and bogs Leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata) grows like a stunted shrub and is very common. These will soon be bell-shaped white flowers hanging down in a row.

Clip of John Deere tree harvester

This is a clip of a tree harvester that does it all cuts the tree down, dlimbs it and cuts to size all with one machine and that is the end that does it all

Tonights ice

Just back from a couple of pics of tonights ice. And one from yesterday of the crack across the bay.

ATV trip on Sunday

Paul and I headed out on our first trip Sunday afternoon down winter cutting road to Stumpy Lake. The very first part of the trip is on the old existing road and from there its just carved out of the landscape. Rocky high areas and swampy low areas with rocks and trees holding the road up in the really wet spots. In some spots we made it through because the ground was still frozen. We made it down to the end but the trail ends before the lake we walked the rest of the way in to a small bay at the north end of Stumpy. The first pic is part of the trail through two outcrops and the other a sensitive part of the boreal forest.

Lake starting to break up

The ice on the lake this AM is all black, with a crack from Outlook Point to Auld Reekie with the wind blowing hard from the south you could just about paddle across the bay. High winds will start to chew up the ice now, tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and warm.

Pics are from MacIntosh Creek with the creek starting to show a lot better. The tree looks like has probably been hit by a Pileated Woodpecker looking for grubs. This woodpecker is the largest in Ontario.

Off to town **!&##*

My favorite job as you know, at least today I saw something on the the road. Stopped and got out with the camera and walked over to take a picture up close of course and the next thing I know its coming after me with his teeth just a chattering. I must have put him a corner, but I didn't expect the attack, after that I used the telephoto.

Duncan Lake Beaver

Went back out to Duncan Lake to see if the beaver was still there. I was hoping that he would be around as Kate (daughter) and Dave (boyfriend) were up for the Easter weekend and wanted to take some pictures. Sure enough he finally showed up and Kate got a couple of pics, we also found his lodge. He must be one of the rich beavers as they have oil heating by the look of the oil tank at the side of the lodge. I wonder who comes in and fills it.

The morning was spent ice fishing in front of the house, with 6 tip ups going Kate managed to pull up a nice whitefish, that was it for the rest of the weekend including today. Kate took my new profile picture while I was taking a pic of her.

This is the 500th post since blogging

Yes it doesn't seem like that many but the register doesn't lie. Along with that about 1260 pictures have been posted. Over 17,800 views from 10 countrys not to bad for putting Gowganda on the map and taking my picture taking to a different level. I started out doing this to get back into photography after a long layoff. I have the viewers to thank for all this and I will keep on trying to find new areas and ideas along the way.

Today while sitting at the landing at Duncan Lake a beaver started to take notice of me and kept coming closer all the time until he figured out he shouldn't be there. A short while later an otter came along snorting and trying to figure out who the stranger was. He finally crawled up on the ice and kept his eye on me from a distance.

More pics from MacIntosh Creek

Just a couple more from MacIntosh Creek, the first one looking south toward Gowganda Lake about 1.8 km. away. The other from just above the beaver dam that holds the water back to Hedlund marsh.

On a sidenote I drilled a hole in the ice across from the house there is 50 cm. (20 in.) of ice.

Another nest box on MacIntosh Creek

Put out another nest box, this time for Wood Duck. The box and the entrance are both smaller than the Goldeneye box. I was going to put it north of the highway but with the melt going strong it was water from shore to shore. My second choice on the south side of the highway at MacIntosh Creek which eventually flows into Miller Bay on Gowganda Lake. Lots of good looking Wood Duck areas down through there. This is part of our snowshoe trail down to Gowganda Lake. Another spot for good pics later on.

Diabase Lake ferns

Out to do some fishing at Diabase Lake, didn't start off to well, just about to break through with the auger and the threads strip on the handle. Pulled out the trusty cresent wrench and finished the hole. Needless to say I didn't start to drill another with the ice still 60 cm. Within 5 min. I had a small pike and that was it until 1:00 PM when I packed it in.

Took a few pictures of the fern growth sprouting out from under the snow. The fern is Common Polypody.

Putting up a duck nesting box

Out this AM putting up a Goldeneye nesting box. The Gowganda Fish and Game Association had about 15 made by Ed Barnstaple. The best time to put them up is in the spring just before the ice gets poor. Some were put on Gowganda Lake, Mosher Lake and some on Firth Lake. Ed asked if I would like to put one in Diabase Lake and thats what I did this morning. These boxes are used by ducks that nest in tree cavities, when there is a shortage of cavities along the edges of rivers and lakes the nesting boxes take up the slack. Three species nest in tree cavities around here, Goldeneye, Wood ducks and Hooded Mergansers. The Goldeneye has a bigger nest box than the Wood Duck.

I will monitor some of these over the spring and hopefully get some pics.

Weather has done a 180

Yesterday we had about 7cm. of snow along with snow pellets and fog, today cold and snowing on and off. Pic of Firth Lake from yesterday and the Wapus Creek starting to open up.

Spring has sprung

It's about time were getting some spring weather. Lots of snow but it's finally starting to melt, the lake hasn't changed at all, lots of ice. Out to Hedlund marsh to see if I could find a splash of green starting to grow, after plowing thru wet snow above my boots I did find a little bit but I suspect it was green under the snow too. The creek running south to Gowganda Lake is starting to open up too.