Le réfuge faunique Marguerite-D'Youville

Across the river in Châteauguay is a wonderful park: Le réfuge faunique Marguerite-D'Youville. It sits on an island surrounded on two sides by the Châteauguay River where is flows into the St. Laurence River (the part of the island facing the St. Lawrence -faces the section which is Lac St-Louis). The island was once owned by the Grey Nuns. Some years ago I stayed at the convent (now a hotel) when the Montreal Recorder Society rented rooms for the weekend for a workshop. I've written about this park before
here and here



The nuthatches are amazingly tame - swooping down to feed from one's hand. They are wary of the chickadees and stay away until they see the coast is clear.



The chickadees take turns, perching on nearby branches watching for a moment to dash in. Sometimes they fill their mouths with more than one seed and then fly off to eat.



You can hear their wings as fly in and then off.

The park has different ecosystems: the forest, the swamp, fields - each with different aspects to enjoy.



We walked past the swamp just as the sun had set. The stillness was palpable - broken only occasionally by a splash in the water. Fish? An otter? The list of animals that live in the park is extensive.



As we left the park, a buck strolled out of the woods foraging for food. A delightful place to walk!!

Deer from Crete

Deer from Crete, a photo by susanvg on Flickr.

Funny this photography bug -I'm trying for now to keep up with a photo a day. I've joined a group called Today's Posting, hoping their daily suggestions will inspire me. Today's challenge: find a statue, sculpture, or fountain and make a photograph of it today. Consider the time of day and light.

A weekend in Casselman does not provide many opportunities to find public art or fountains. So I hunted around for a sculpture and found this one. According to my spouse, who acquired this in Crete, the deer were revered, as they killed snakes. Here is a sculpture he remembered seeing in Chania (we found it via Google maps).

The Rockies

Morraine Lake 2, originally uploaded by susanvg.

I've been home for a week, trying to sort through the myriad of photographs. Our Arctic trip ended with a flight from Resolute Bay to Edmonton, so we spent another 9 days in Southern Alberta - first time in the Rockies. I had been before, so the mountains and lakes were not quite as astounding as the first time, but their beauty and grandeur are incredible. Glacier fed lakes and rivers are every shade of turquoise and green.

Although we didn't see a lot of large wildlife, we did see some delightful smaller creatures.

Lake Louise is breathtaking with the mountains towering over it and the glacier perched on the craggy mountains at the far end. Red canoes dot the lake dwarfed by the peaks.

As these splendours are in a national park, preservation of wildlife is paramount. As you drive the highway through the park, you pass under overpasses built as animal crossings. Cameras have proven their effectiveness. Some of the deer in the area are so tame, they come to feed in the town of Banff. Once made a meal of the flowers in front of our hotel.