Honey I brought dinner!

I actually saw the male osprey bring a fish back to the nest today. It was an awsome sight! the chick is growing fast and needs more food than ever. Unfortunately I couldn't get a group shot of the feeding. but In the coming days I will try to go back as I don't want to disturb this nest too much.

There is one less tiger in the world

Today I got a heartwrenching email from Greenpeace. In this email I was told about a tiger that was caught in a steel trap and died from it's injuries. Please note these are not my photos. I only use these to show what I saw in the email.
 There are only 400 of these tigers left on earth and they are facing extiction!
The person responsable for this beautiful animals death is Sinar Mas. He owns a plantation that produces pulp for paper mills. The company he owns is called Asia pulp & Paper which is a subsiduary of his plantaion that he owns. Greenpeace has said that that the tigers habitat is down by 93%..They also have noted that in the 1930's there were three subspecies of this Tiger, two of which are extinct now.

 Here is a picture of a snared Tiger who later died because of the trap set.

 This really pisses me off!

Portrait of an Osprey

It's very rare that I can get close enough to this raptor let alone get some detailed shots of one when this close.

Osprey's rule the skies

Well they do around here for some months of the year. My canoe jaunt was about three hours today. each day I dare to get closer and closer and Momma lets me know when I get too close. In this region there is an Osprey Society. This group of volunteers assists the MNR to study and tag this magnificent raptor. Osprey's in this region that have been tagged have been known to fly as far away as the amazon in south amearica and return each year to the same place. Osprey's mate for life. If anyone is interested in viewing these amazing birds first hand let me know and we can get together.

Heroes in the Air!

In memory of Donald Kerr who served not only in the air force for Canada but also served as a Paramedic on countless endeavors. Ambulance Don as he was known to my family ( too many Don's we know) continued to serve even after cutting his fingers off after helping someone build their home. Don served his community with spirit, was always happy to see you and would go out of his way to help each and everyone he knew! Donald passed away this last month and in recognition of his life I dedicate this picture to Donald Kerr......

You will be sadly missed my friend!

Bird on a wire

The Robin is a very common bird found almost everywhere there are tree's and shrubs. Their song is beautiful. I captured this moment just before heading out last night.It is estimated that there are more than 320 million robins in the wild. Robins are also a host to the west nile virus.

Got To Love The Kawartha's!

Or anywhere there is a lake for that matter. I went out after dinner tonight in the old coleeman canoe. I knew i had about 2 hours of light left in the day to hopefully catch what I was looking for. The mama didn't like the fact that I was getting a little close and I talked to her  and took my time to get that extra special shot. I could have climbed into the nest, but decided not to as I didn't want the chick abandoned. God , what a beautifull raptor! You can see more of my outing on facebook!

In Flight

In the past few weeks I have gotten closer and closer still to the nests of the Osprey. However this day the Mother didn't want me that close and started to fly overhead swooping down to fend me off. I talked to her ( yes I talk to the animals LOL!) and advised her that all I wanted was her picture and that I would not get any closer to her baby. This shot was on approach towards my vantage point in a tippy canoe in the middle of a swampy area.

The Feeding

It wasn't that long ago that the Osprey was at a decline due to toxins introduced into our watershed. But, over the last few years we have learned that what we put down the drain and what we put on our lawns effects the food chain. Now the Osprey's have not only become healthy once again but their offspring has a chance. Today I visited a nest close by in a canoe. I was thrilled to see the  Some interesting facts to menton are that the Osprey is one of only  two birds that have an opposable outer toe to better grip its prey( the other being an owl). The Osprey can alsoo dive from heights of 130ft  above and dive straight down at a great speed and just before it plunges into the water will reverse itself plunging in feet first. the Osprey also has a unique feature wherein it can close it's nostrils so water dosn't get in.

I got Published

Last year for kicks I enetered a few contests with various photos that I am proud to have done. I never thought for a second I would be picked but thought You never know until you try. Today I received an email from the Kawartha Heritage Conservancy letting me know that One of my pics was chosen for their poster. Way Cool! Mine is shown on the bottom left hand corner.

Happy Canada day 2011

So I decided to bring out the old canoe and look for the osprey at a different vantage point. With all the traffic on the lake it was hard to hold still with all the waves and such.