11 July 2013. Cabot Head, ON. After yesterday’s storm the world is now all about tranquil summer again. We took an exploratory trip looking for ferns, wildflowers (orchids especially) and such birds as would oblige us. We had not expected to come across a Black Bear though, but as we headed along a little-travelled and gravelly country road we spotted one just over the crest of the next rise. We drove closer to where he was plodding along, but as soon as he saw the car he turned sharply and headed into the bush. I think he may well have cut across someone’s back yard but that’s probably commonplace around here. We did find ferns, a beautiful array of Maidenhair Spleenwort and Bulblet Fern growing from a mossy rock crevice, and we also found wonderful displays of wildflowers and orchids: Pitcher Plant, Rose Pogonia and Grass Pink among them.
(By the way, we’ve learned that many of these multi-photo gallery uploads will only display on the blog website, not if you’re opening this from an email.)
But my Bird of the Day was found before the day had really got started for most people. I’d taken a pre-breakfast birding walk and spent several minutes watching and admiring a Merlin that had arrived atop a nearby Jack Pine. I hastened to get a long-distance photo then moved a few steps closer before taking another, then few more steps more and so on until eventually I was quite close, every time getting a better photo. Still it stayed where it was, calling to its mate or nestlings before eventually flying off towards them. It was only after I took a closer look at the photos that I saw that it was apparently carrying food, it’s hard to tell quite what but its colour suggests a Cedar Waxwing.
