Day 273 - 30th September 2014 - Fall Colors on the Waterfront, Old Town Clock and a Dory

Say goodbye to September - another month is leaving us, it just flew by. Hard to believe that Wednesday will be the 1st of October, getting closer to winter but for now let's enjoy the fall. October can be a beautiful month and the days nice with cool evenings. The trees are glorious now in shades of reds and yellows.
Monday went well - did my walk on the waterfront - be glad to go back travelling with Nancy and have my regular jaunt. Quiet day at the office so I managed to get through a few things, also hit a couple road blocks in research so need to think about some other resources.   Exercise class last night - sure my knees will never be the same or the rest of me - it was a leg night!

 The baskets on the waterfront still look nice.

 A little pop of color at the Park.

 Another misty morning on the harbour.

 The Old town clock stands against a sky with a hint of pink.

 The mist was rising through the trees.

Mallards were coming toward shore.

A life jacket floating in the water, I found this somewhat disturbing.





Enjoy your day!

Day 272 - 29th September 2014 - Beaches, Sanderlings, Whimbrels and Peregrine Falcon

Oh it's Monday again - back to work. The next few weeks are going to be full and busy. I'm winding down my summer hours and will soon be off for the season.
Wow what a great day Sunday was. It made up for the rather unpleasant week leading up to it. We had breakfast and then headed out around 8 am, I was wishing for earlier but let Larry sleep in. Off to Cape Sable Island in search of shorebirds. They've been talking about a few that I've yet to see, but birding is  take your chance kind of sport. First stop was Daniel's Head - no people so this is good but it's fairly quiet as we walk the beach - some peeps! Sanderlings and Semi-palmated Plovers are around. Then I spied a Northern Harrier over the dunes. Time to move on to the Guzzle and Hawk Beach. Of course on Saturday the guzzle was busy but not so much yesterday with what I was looking for. I did find some other birders. I guess we were all out. They had seen some Pine Siskins earlier. While I'm in the road talking Larry spies the Snowy Egret but he's too far away for good shots. I did take a few, he's a new one for my list. Tide is almost high and the Hawk Beach is mostly busy with Gulls.  Off we go again, quick stop at No Frills for turkeys, then down through Villagedale to Baccaro. A visit at the Baccaro Light yielded three Whimbrels, which I really enjoyed following along the shoreline. On the way out Larry spied what he was sure was a "hawk" sitting on a rock along the road. It was better - another new lifer, the Peregrine Falcon. Homeward we headed but the ponds through Thomasville, Reynoldscroft were quiet.

 We were at Daniel's Head Beach and you could see the Cape Light in the distance.

 These Sanderlings are so cute.

 Semi-palmated Plovers resting.

 Northern Harrier.

I thought this was pretty cool.

 My nemesis - Belted Kingfisher.

 Lots of gulls around.

 Someone has been busy at Baccaro.

 We were also fortunate to find 2 Monarch Butterflies today.

 I love the Cattails.

 There were three Whimbrels at Baccaro.

 Thanks to my excellent spotter - Larry, we also found this Peregrine Falcon - new bird for me!










Enjoy your day!

Day 271 - 28th September 2014 - Sunrise, Misty Lake, Mallards, Common Yellow-Throated Warbler and Dragonfly

Beautiful star lite sky this morning. Looks like another nice day in the making. So today I'm playing the selfish card - forgetting about housework, woodpile and anything else anyone wants us to do. Going birding and will enjoy the fall foliage along our travels before we get rain and the leaves are all gone.
It was nice to get out for my walk in the hood Saturday morning even though I cut it short as I had to go work. The lake was gorgeous with mist and the sun rolling out above the tree line. Then it was off to town, the office til noon, grocery shopping and home again. I roamed again for a while. It's been a stressful few days so needed the calming influence of the woods and lake. Larry puttered around between the garden, wood and mowing. That may be the last time we mow this year. The power went out in the middle afternoon - was I in slight panic mode - yes! I hadn't ironed Larry's clothes, neither of us had bathed and we had a wedding to get ready - only out for an hour - then we were back to normal and good to go.

 Mornings like this I never want to leave the hood.

 I believe we live in the most beautiful part of Nova Scotia.

 I took a quick walk around after I got home in the early afternoon. A few of the Mallards were hanging out.

 Came across this Common Yellow-Throated Warbler.

 A little too much light but it was fun to watch him eat the berries.

 He kept company with this Swamp Sparrow.

 And this huge Dragonfly.










Enjoy your day!

Day 270 - 27th September 2014 - Crow, Spiderwebs, Gulls and Cormorants

A too early morning, my first for a while - going to be a very long day. Stars are all out - going to be a nice one. I'm working this morning til noon, some time we have to do groceries then have a wedding to attend this evening. I'd really like to snag an hour or two of birding but not sure when I can actually fit that in.
Friday came and went, a good day for the end of the week. Once again I roamed along Dock Street - nice but not like the hood. It was really foggy but I did see Cormorants, Gulls and the Great Blue Heron again. Was sitting on the deck last night before going to bed enjoying the night sky and could hear an owl, but not that close. Seems this is the only time of year I hear them in our area and we never see them anymore.

 Enjoying a roof top breakfast on a foggy morning.

 This was a huge spider web.

 I'll go this way...you go that way.

 Another web.

 Motoring along.

 Checking for better eats on the grass.

 More Cormorants or as we call them locally - Shags.

And the Great Blue Heron.











Enjoy your day!

Day 269 - 26th September 2014 - Cormorants, Great Blue Heron, Gulls and a Dory

Ah finally Friday has rolled around again. Nice to have the weekend near, except I'm working Saturday morning. Hoping on Sunday we can get out birding and catch some of the fall colors at the same time. No stars this morning, it's still dark but must be cloud covered. Two weeks from today and I'm done for the season, feeling that I need a break.
Thursday went along well. I got a short jaunt in along the waterfront and enjoyed watching the Cormorants and Great Blue Heron feeding. Oh yes there was a Kingfisher too, but like the ones in the lake he quickly laughed and moved.  A couple of researchers from the USA spent the morning as well as a couple closer to home - good to see them again and catch up. Of course it was one of those fluke things that everyone shared a family branch. So I didn't get much done that I was working on but nice to have happy people leave us. I skipped exercise class last night, felt a little drug out and tired after supper.

 Everyone was having breakfast (Great Blue Heron and Cormorants) - so I crept into someone's driveway to get a little closer, but didn't want to scare them.

 Down the hatch!

 There were lots of Cormorants.

 Misty on the Harbour as well.

 Another catch.

 Gulls on the roof top.

 Love the look of the mist and the boats.

Enjoy your day