Sunday, June 12, 2011

lost girl (#148)

I recently started volunteering with a Pathfinders unit and went to their camp this weekend in Fitzroy. We had tons of fun but it was sort of killing me to hear birds all over and not be able to just take off chasing after them like I normally do. We did see this fella from our site. It seemed totally oblivious to us. CUTE.

On Sunday afternoon on the way back I stopped at Bill Mason centre, which I hadn't been to yet this year. I met a woman on the boardwalk who was looking for virginia rails. Just after talking about bitterns, and me mentioning to her that I still had not seen one, one flew out right in front of us. Luck would have it that everything came together and I got a shot!

#148: American Bittern; Bill Mason Centre, Ottawa, Ontario; June 12, 2011.
One way to differentiate American Bittern from similar looking juvenile black-crowned night herons is that the top of the wing is distinctly two-toned in flight.
A few other things in the area...
look at those milky eyes...creepy!
not up on my dragonflies. workin' on it.

I thought I would try my luck in the woods and go for a geocache while I was at it. I ended up getting helplessly lost in the woods with a useless (dead) cell phone. I guess there's an app for everything but instant battery rejuvenation. Well, I made it out alive about an hour later, much worse for wear and nowhere near my car. Seriously...I should not be left to wander on my own...I don't know how my sense of direction is so terrible!

Despite the fact that I am covered in bites, bruises and scratches, I'm just loving summer.

Just noticed there is a new location feature for each post. Interesting...

3 comments:

dwaynejava said...

Awesome! I still have not seen an American Bittern. I'm getting bitter about it :^)

Stuart Immonen said...

I got similarly turned around near Banff a few years ago, with none of my companions knowing I was even gone. I dutifully told my wife about it later-- and my next birthday gift from her was a compass.

Funkysandman said...

good job with the "bird in flight" shot. those are hard to do even when you're totally prepared...and yep..not hard to get lost