Posts Tagged ‘Pointe au Baril’

Still taking pics of the hummingbirds up here on Schengili-La Island up near Pointe-au-Baril. There’s at least two females and one male who keep chasing the other two away from the feeders when they find them there. Erika noticed that the two females seemed to be tolerating each other somewhat, waiting for the other to be chased off by the male so that the other could swoop in and get in a good feed.

Here are a couple of pics of them from earlier today:

Hummingbird on Branch with Back Facing the Camera

Hummingbird by Feeder

There’s been a lot of dragonflies up here, but so far none have let me get close enough to take a decent picture of it.

Then Annie found this one, dead, down on the island. It must have been freshly dead since it still had lots of colour. Don’t know what killed it, though “old age” seemed the likely culprit, as its wings were certainly chewed up from use.

We put it up on the mantelpiece where I took some shots.

Dead Midland Clubtail Dragonfly (I think)

I think it is a Midland Clubtail Dragonfly (Gomphus fraternus), though there are so many similar-looking Clubtails it is hard for me to be sure.

Discovered that I had not brought along my camera battery re-charger, so was being very sparing of the pictures I took today, as my battery indicator was low when I shot this.

Arrived yesterday, chiefly because I couldn’t miss this event: the Junior Regatta at the Ojibway Club, where Annie and Vanessa would compete in various water-based competitions. Annie had been practicing her dives, and Vanessa was all keen on tackling some canoeing events with a friend her age from another island.

Vanessa was keen to show me this year’s regatta poster, as we were both featured on it. I finally got to see it when we were there: it was taken at last year’s regatta, during the canoe tug-of-war. Vanessa’s on the dock, chearing on her team, and there I am in my bright red shirt, holding my camera and laughing at the scene. Here’s a scan I stitched together of the full poster:

Junior Regatta 2011 Poster: Vanessa Can Be Seen to the Left, and I am in a Red Shirt, Holding a Camera, on the Right

I’m pretty much a weekend visitor to this region — especially this summer — but after several years there were several other parents there I knew and had the chance to chat to. Am beginning to feel like part of the larger community here. At the conclusion of the competitions I also got corralled into handing out the ribbons for the third place winners of the various events.

Vanessa came away with a second place win for the canoe crab race (where the canoe-ists use their hands rather than their paddles) and did the marathon canoe race with her friend Ana. They didn’t place but I was proud that she tried her best. Annie only won a “Participant” ribbon for her efforts, but she had lots of fun, which is the whole point. As a treat I bought Vanessa a cool-looking “OJIB” t-shirt, and Annie a neon-pink “I ♥ PauB” (Pointe au Baril) baseball cap.

A fun day was had by all. And to prove it, here are the pictures:

Here’s a link to the pics I shot at last year’s event.

Most of the time when I am up at the cottage in Georgian Bay, I feel I am lucky if I manage to get to see and photograph a single loon, usually from a great distance.

So I was thrilled to find no less than three loons had landed relatively close by in Oberlin Bay early this morning, just in view from the deck of the cottage. At first I thought maybe it was a family with a fledged chick, but from their behaviour I could tell that this was simply one round in a fight for territory by at least one of the birds.

This is the best picture I took of the trio, of what are presumably two males sizing each other up with a female watching the outcome:

A Trio of Loons Sizing Each Other Up

Here’s the “fight sequence” that came immediately before it; mainly a lot of posturing with none of the birds actually taking a stab at each other.

Had a fun time at the Ojibway Club, watching the kids compete in various events during the Pointe au Baril Islanders’ Club Junior Regatta.

I got some fun shots of the Canoe Tug-of-War (where two canoes are joined together by a length of rope, and, well, it’s a tug-of-war using paddle-power), and of the “Decades” race, where four people are in a canoe who were born during different decades. Lots of fun.

Here are the pics:

Worked up north at the cabin for the morning. Managed to see the girls off to their day camp at the Ojibway Club, and settled in there until lunchtime, checking emails and working away on the netbook that I had brought up with me.

Left not long after lunch. Just before I did, I took this pic of three lonely-looking Muskoka chairs on the deck of the main cottage on the island. I hope to return again sometime next month.

Came home by Ontario Northland bus via Got home to an over-ripe smelling Toronto (no, the garbage strike did not end while I was away) and settled in to finish the work I had started (and couldn’t really work on the bus, though I tried) on earlier in the day.

Am guessing that this is some sort of mayfly. Was at least 6-8 cm long.

The most fascinating creature I managed to take pics of was this Eastern Fox Snake that lived in a hole in the rock between the two cabins. Saw him (or her?) three times in one day, so I managed to take a lot of pics. This was a long one, I would guess at least 1.3 meters in length. I bet there are a lot fewer mice on the island thanks to this snake.

Beautiful but deadly: a foxglove plant that has insinuated itself in a patch of ground not far from the cabins. Luckily the other adults knew what it was and warned the kids away from it.

This giant green dragonfly (I would guess about 10-12 cm in length) landed on a rock and was patient enough to not only let me take plenty of pictures, but even to let me change lenses so that I could get close enough to use the macro lens.