Watch your Step

It rained last night and then rained a little more this morning. A stay at home day I thought. But the day brightened up and the clouds became broken. Time for some fresh air and a walk with my cameras around the Borden Wetlands. I took a shortcut this time, through the undergrowth, along a steeply sloped drainage ditch. I saw two small birds, one which I was unable to identify or photograph had a speckled chest, the other was this ruby-crowned kinglet:


The walk took a fraction of the time. I stood at the edge of the trees and looked past the shade, into the dappled light. The wetlands seemed more inviting today:


The sunlight lit up the fall leaves in stark contrast to the tall, slender tree trunks:


An unusually warm day for October which brought the insects to life. These dragonflies were everywhere:


They jostled for position to bask in the sun:


I'm not one to stay on the beaten track really, and it was during my walk through the undergrowth that I came across my second garter snake of the day. The first took off pretty quick, but this one didn't move much at all. But where was its head:


Found it!! I thought that this was a great opportunity to get close for some detail with my macro lens:


Apparently, snakes don't like it when you get too close with your camera! Lesson learned:


There are some strangely bent and twisted trees in the wetlands. It makes you wonder what tortured them into growing that way:


I was in the process of photographing that strange tree when I noticed a group of mallards in the background. They are so timid in the wetlands. Any movement on my part and they would move in the opposite direction. Some of the mallards appeared to have really dark colouring. It was hard to tell at that distance, but a quick look through my telephoto lens showed them to be wood ducks.


There were 3 other males as well as this male and female who were all happily sifting the green algae on the surface of the water:


Copyright © wildlakeside.blogspot.com 2019 Scott Atkinson All Rights Reserved.
Location: Borden Wetlands, Kitchener, ON N2E, Canada

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