I did lots of closeup and macro photography on my recent vacation to Ontario. I haven’t had time to go through everything yet, but here are a couple that I really like from my early edits. I love how the water beads up on these Nasturtium leaves, and how the droplets sparkle in the sun.
This is the first Muskrat I’ve come across this spring. It had a mouthful of some building material that it carried right past me and took into latest construction project. These animals are plentiful in the Calgary area and in summer they can often be found sitting on the edge of a slough eating. They are quick to spook though so you need to approach slowly if you want to get close.
Muskrats and Beavers are often confused for each other by the casual observer. Although they are related, and very similar in appearance, there are two major differences that can be used to distinguish between them.
The first difference is the overall size; muskrats are very small and typically only reach the 2 to 4 pound range (1 to 2 kg) while Beavers are much larger and are more typically in the 30 to 90 pound range (14 to 40 kg).
While this massive size difference should be enough to tell the animals apart, the second difference is equally distinctive. While Beavers are well known for having a flattened tail, Muskrats also have flat tails, only theirs are flattened vertically instead of horizontally. To the common observer the Muskrat appears to have a typical round tail as you can normally only see a small part of the tail sticking out of the water while the rat swims.
I was at Carburn Park for a walk with my family this morning and there were photographers and bird watchers all over the place. Many of the photographers were set up on the small pond watching a Grebe that was hanging out in the middle. Not wanting to disturb the birds (ie. scare them away from the other observers) we continued on our way around the park. When we got back to the pond I noticed that many of the photographers had bunched together to chat, and that the Grebe that they were watching was still way out in the middle of the pond.
But I also saw that a second bird had come to the surface around the corner from them, and that it very close to shore. I started walking towards it and then ran the rest of the way as soon as it dove back under the water. I wanted to be as close as possible to it, without scaring it away when it surfaced again. Fortunately it came back up in almost the same spot and I was able to make some really nice images!
I can only imagine the rude awakening these Avocets felt as the weather suddenly switched and the temperature dropped from 20 °C one day to below -7 °C the next. And a significant dump of snow to go with it! Fortunately it warms back up above freezing temperatures during the afternoon on most days…
Of course this is not actually the biggest frog in the world, not even close really, but it really was big!
I was out for a paddle around the pools in the Bonnechere River below my Wife’s family cottage last summer when I came across this huge frog. This incredible creature just sat there while the canoe slid closer and closer. I almost sideswiped it before I was able to gently backpaddle away, and he never moved at all. I was even able to paddle all the way back to the cottage to get my wife and daughter to take them out for a look. He stayed right there the whole time, and only jumped away after we backed away from him on the second visit…
Interestingly, I posted this image on Flickr last summer (with the same caption) and it has long since become my most popular image there. Until recently I had thought that it was just a really nice picture. However, after reviewing some of the stats that Flickr makes available for images posted to the site, I now realize that it gets hits from search engines all over the world from people who are honestly searching for (shockingly) pictures of the largest species of frog in the world.
I did a quick Google search myself to and quickly found out that the real answer is the Goliath Frog. I don’t have any pictures of Goliaths, but I do have several other nice images of reptiles, including Green Frogs and Tree Frogs that I’ve made near the cottage over the last couple of summers.
The cottage is on the Bonnechere River in Ontario and is one of my favorite places to relax, wander, and make images. I’ve been lucky enough to make some of my best and most popular images while there. Enjoy!