In the continued absence of a good warbler flow locally, the Eastern Screech Owl remains a reliable photographic performer.
EASTERN SCREECH OWL
Double click on the leading wing feathers to reveal the small jagged serations which serve to soften the acoustic noise of the wing during a flight attack on prey.
Check out my video of a grooming sequence here.
The masssive earthquake in Nepal brought back a flood of memories from a hike I did there back in the early seventies. The following images are some legacy photos I took using an old roll film camera. I had only two rolls to support a year long journey round the world and so the “SHOTS” had to be extremely limited ( I only have 3 images to show for a week of hitchhiking through Afghanistan!)
” MATCHBOX” HOTEL, KATHMANDU
Far from a 5 star hotel, the Matchbox was a refuge for serious travellers. Did it survive? The Monkey Temple can be seen on the hilltop in the distance.
CENTRAL MARKET, KATHMANDU
Sherpa and Ghurka boys and girls would hump enormous loads of firewood down from the mountains for sale to urban elites. This practice quickly led to massive deforestation in the foothills. On the return journey they would carry similar burdens of modern canned goods back up to the villages above.
TIBETAN REFUGEE CAMP, BELOW THE MONKEY TEMPLE
Hundreds of Tibetan refugees followed their Dalai Lama over the central Himalayas for sanctuary in Nepal. Sad to think that thousands of Nepalis will have to live under canvas once again and face an uncertain future.
TRADER VIC
Last chance for supplies for those trekking up into the Ghosain Kunda!! I traded a raincoat for a traditional Nepalese yak wool jacket which I still have. (see example below).
RUDIMENTARY AGRICULTURE
Many of Nepal’ s spectacular valleys are lined with stepped terraces, the work of centuries, so that 10 – 15 foot strips of meagre horizontal land can be put under the plough (here pulled by yaks).
NEPALESE VILLAGE SCENE
Stepped terraces can be seen on the right. Peaks of the central range of the Himalayas can be seen in the distance.
BUDDHIST STUPAS
The need is great. Please be generous.
EASTERN SCREECH OWL
A seemingly bored Eastern Screech Owl gives perfect expression to those of us patiently waiting the arrival of the spring warbler migration. With the arrival of more seasonal weather they should be coming in droves any day now. Let’s hope!
GREAT BLUE HERON “ICE-FISHING”
This Blue Heron must be wondering why it flew north so early! Here he is fishing along the ice-choked Rideau Canal. Late into April, some sections of the canal are still bank to bank ice. It’s been a long winter!
Today the last two survivors of the original eighty participants in the famous Doolittle Raid, Lt. Col. Richard “Dick” Cole (100 years young!!) and Staff Sgt. David Thatcher were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor in a special ceremony at Emancipation Hall in the US Congress. The men will later fly to the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio where the medals will be donated for display in the permanent Doolittle exhibit. I’ve had the privilege of a private after hours tour of the museum and I highly recommend you check it out the next time you’re in Dayton.
The Doolittle Raid was named after its commander, Col. Jimmy Doolittle, who responded to the call by President Roosevelt to plan, organize and conduct a near suicidal revenge air raid over Tokyo in the brief months following the attack on Pearl Harbor. For the first time in aviation history, heavy bombers would launch from an aircraft carrier (filmed by future Hollywood director John Ford!) . With no chance of return and flying on fumes, the aircrews were expected to overfly Japan and to crash land at sea or on the Japanese occupied mainland of China. Three captured aircrew were executed. The raid was a mere military pinprick but of monumental psychological value in the grim days following the attack on Pearl when the Japanese went from strength to strength in their march across the Pacific.
This Saturday will be the 73rd anniversary of the Raid.
B-25 MITCHELL BOMBER
Star of the Doolittle Raid was the legendary B-25 Mitchell Bomber. The one shown here, “Hot Gen”, is from the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario. (Double click the image to examine every rivet in glorious detail)
HOT GEN
(Double clicking on this image for the revelation of glorious detail is NOT allowed!)
GUN TURRET, USS ARIZONA, PEARL HARBOR
Even after 7 decades, the sunken hulk of the battleship USS Arizona leaks gallons of fuel per day into Pearl Harbour! As Admiral Yamamoto headed home after the successful attack, he prophetically stated: “I fear we have merely roused a sleeping tiger,…. and given him a resolve!” He got that right!
Unable to attend today’s ceremony was Doolittle veteran Lt. Col Robert Hite who endured 40 months of captivity. He died two weeks ago at the age of 95. Ave Atque Vale!
The following 30″ x 20″ tableau was a custom commission for a Niagara conservation officer that was rendered in high gloss metal for a stunning display.
The central image of the Comfort Maple in resplendent fall colour, at 350 years of age Canada’s oldest Sugar Maple, has been selected for use by the Treefellers on their main website. You can check it out here.
Took advantage of the recent snowstorm to capture a modern image of an old steel engraving that has hung in my living room for the past several decades.
HOTEL SYMMES, AYLMER, QUEBEC
Engraving by W.H. Bartlett, British watercolourist. Images from Bartlett’s Canadian tour were printed in “Canadian Scenery, 1842”. Publication of this work in the UK with its romanticized vision of Canadian scenes became a significant draw for the wave of British migration to Canada in the middle of the 19th century.
HOTEL SYMMES TODAY
I had the chance recently to intimately explore the two Mississippi’s within the same week. The one in Eastern Ontario and the other, more famous one in the United States.
STONE ARCH BRIDGE, PAKENHAM, ONTARIO
Longest stone arch bridge in North America, the Pakenham bridge spans Ontario’s Mississippi river. Took this picture on my return from my recent visit to Algonquin Park.
THE FROZEN “MIGHTY MISSISSIP”, FRONTENAC, MINNESOTA
View across the Mississippi to the bluffs of Wisconsin on the other side. Named after New France’s most famous governor, Frontenac is not too far from Wabasha, film location of the movie, Grumpy Old Men.
ICE-FISHING, UPPER MISSISSIPPI, MINNESOTA
Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau wouldn’t have too much to complain about on a spectacular winter’s day such as this! Apparently, the parking is free.
I spent a beautiful winter’s day in Algonquin Park yesterday, clear and cold with lots of snow cover.
RUFFED GROUSE
BOREAL CHICKADEE
IMMATURE WHITE FORM GYRFALCON
Had to endure the intense cold and the barren wastelands of Eastern Ontario to bag this beauty, the largest North American falcon and a voracious predator…. a life bird for me!
