by Wendy | Oct 14, 2016 | Blog, Fish, WaterWays, Wildlife
Introduced from the west coast, these fish have made themselves at home in Georgian Bay, swimming up rivers like the Beaver River to spawn. They made it to the second their falls at Slabtown, where 50 or 60 sat under the falls with tails too long to fit, then they attempted to swim up the falls which were entirely the wrong angle for their efforts, most faded due to exhaustion and floated back down stream. In some of the photos you can see how the heavy fish would jump the first tier just to land heavily into the cement. It was kinda sad to watch, this dam could easily be re-engineered to help the fish.
by Wendy | Oct 13, 2016 | Blog, Fish, WaterWays, Wildlife
Fish were moving up the Beaver River during the fall spawning Run to get to the nesting areas. Rarely do I see so many jumping, so tonight was special. There seemed to be Chinook Salmon and Rainbow Trout. Why are the Rainbow Trout with the Salmon? Because they are actually wrongly named Salmon! These fish were jumping at the Slabtown Dam, so they had already made it through the Thornbury Fish Ladder, and Clendenam Dam. In the calm eddies you could see many larger fish resting.
This photo above is one of the very few that made it 🙁
Above: Chinook and a Trout leap at the same time, the heavier fish landed with a thud on the cement and the trout made it to the second stage of the falls.
by Wendy | Oct 12, 2016 | Blog, Hawk, Northern Harrier #62, Hawks, Raptors
We were so excited to see this different looking raptor, usually the adults we see are grey. The white band above the tail is the telling sign that this is a juvenile Northern Harrier Hawk hunting the hay fields. They are known for the way they hover in place while they watch or look for rodents.
by Wendy | Oct 11, 2016 | Blog, Perching, Sparrow, House #158, Sparrows
This was a busy little flock in downtown Toronto, the seemed infatuated with some loose feathers, I’m not sure why as it in October!
by Wendy | Oct 9, 2016 | Blog, Ducks, Wetlands, Wood Duck #113
Hunted nearly to extinction these beautiful ducks are making a comeback here in Ontario. Distinctively North American, they are not found anywhere other than the wetland forests of eastern North America.
