Not Narcissus

Not Narcissus
[Photo By KPA]

Temporary Lull

Temporary Lull
[Photo By: KPA]

Horizon

Horizon
[Photo By: KPA]

A Boat in the Horizon

A Boat in the Horizon
[Photo By: KPA]

Lakeshore Lace

Lakeshore Lace
Photo By: KPA

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Trillium and Queen Anne's Lace
[Design by KPA]

Lakeshore Flora

Lakeshore Flora
Port Credit, ON
[Photo By: KPA]

Lakeside Lilies

Lakeside Lilies
Port Credit, ON
[Photo By: KPA]

Lazy Summer on the Lake

Lazy Summer on the Lake
Port Credit
[Photo By: KPA]

The sailboat has removed it sails, and is floating lazily on the lake in the welcome breeze.

Wisdom

Proverbs 4:7

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

Swan Under the Leaves
Lake Ontario, Port Credit
[Photo By: KPA]

Swan Under the Leaves

Swan Under the Leaves
Lake Ontario, Port Credit
[Photo By: KPA]

The Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper
By Lake Ontario,
Port Credit
[Photo By: KPA]

My little bird looks like it might be floating on water. It barely stayed five minutes on the rock, and I was hoping it would move, maybe jump on from the lower ledge to the top. It looked around, and flew off, skimming the water.


John James Audubon (American, 1785–1851)
Spotted sandpiper...View on Bayou Sarah, Louisiana, pl.CCCX , 1827–1838
(Caption at bottom of illustration:
Spotted Sandpiper
Totanus Macularius
1 Adult Male, 2 Adult Female
View on Bayou Sarah, Louisiana)

The Spotted Sandpiper has a wonderfully extensive range, for I have met with it not only in most parts of the United States, but also on the shores of Labrador, where, on the 17th of June, 1833, I found it breeding. On the 29th of July, the young were fully fledged, and scampering over the rocks about us, amid the putrid and drying cod-fish. In that country it breeds later by three months than in Texas.

- Illustration and caption from John J. Audubon’s Birds of America.

Audubon's "In that country" of course refers to Canada, where he studied the birds in the province of Labrador.

He might have saved a long trip "north" by just coming across the New York border to southern Ontario. He'd find the bird mid-June in the more northern Newfoundland and Labrador, but further south, probably by late June, which is when I photographed this bird (June 26th).

It's a delicate and strange little bird, with its extra long pointed beak, and long spindly legs. And a screech/call that is high pitched, not quite shrill, and audible through the wind and waves.

Audubon describes its song:

While flying out in these wide circuits, agitated by superior feelings to those of hunger and necessity, we hear the shores re-echo the shrill and rapid whistle of 'weet, 'weet, 'weet, 'weet, and usually closing the note with something like a warble, as they approach their companions on the strand. The cry then varies to 'peet, 'weet, 'weet, 'weet, beginning high and gradually declining into a somewhat plaintive tone.

- From John J. Audubon’s Birds of America

Video from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center

I tried to find why this bird was called a sandpiper. Perhaps because it "pipes" through the sand as it looks for food (Insects, crustaceans, other invertebrates. Feeds on wide variety of insects, also earthworms, crabs, crayfish, small mollusks, small fish, sometimes bits of carrion - source Audubon's Guide to Birds of North America)?

The National Geographic has this explanation, more on the sandpiper's cry than its feeding methods:

When airborne [sandpipers] tend to be vocal animals. They sound off with a distinctive three-note, piping-like cry - often represented as “twee-wee-wee.”

Audubon describes the bird bobbing its tail as it sings. I didn't see this, but what I noticed was an endearing bend forward of its longish neck, perhaps as it contemplates flying off.

Below is a map of eastern Canada, showing where Audubon traveled to study the sandpiper.


Highlighted region: Newfoundland and Labrador

Four Boats

Four Boats
Lake Ontario
[Photo By: KPA]

Three Swans

Three Swans: Lake Ontario, Port Credit
Photo By: KPA

Sailboat on Lake Ontario

[Photo By: KPA]

Yellow Flowers

Yellow Flowers
Lake Ontario (Port Credit)
[Photo By: KPA]

I believe they are Leopard's Bane.

Swan Grace

Swan Grace
Photo By: KPA

This beautiful swan, which has the full command of the shoreline, swims out further into the lake and back again. Its other companions were not visible (I have seen them in the nearby Port Credit Harbour Marina area), save for one, which swims farther out into the sea, and back again.

I was struck by the graceful bend of its neck.

Two Swans

Two Swans
Lake Ontario, Port Credit
[Photo By: KPA]

Lakeside Blossoms

Lakeside Blossoms: Port Credit, ON
[Photo By: KPA]

Lake Ontario: Golden Horizon

Lake Ontario: Golden Horizon
[Photo By: KPA]

Lakeshore Butterfly Blue

Lakeshore Butterfly Blue
[Photo By: KPA]