Wildlife at Home, the Wetlands and Lakeside Park

Viewing the expanse of Shoemaker Lake from the bottom edge of the lake is a great way to start a morning's birdwatching. The whole of the lake is visible and with the aid of binoculars or a camera equipped with a telephoto lens, it's easy to pick out the great blue heron, the kingfishers and on the odd occasion even an osprey. I'd already located the kingfishers and this really is a great time to watch them hunt as the young have fledged and are busy honing their fishing skills. They are numerous and at times present all around Shoemaker Lake. Scanning further around the lake, I located a heron much smaller than the great blue heron. Not a night-heron as they have sadly been missing from Lakeside Park this year, this was a young green heron perched on the dead branches of a black walnut tree. It was way over to my left, standing out, highlighted in contrast to the shade of the black walnut's leaves behind it. Some kingfishers were also on that side of the lake, and so I

The belted kingfisher is a bird that I regularly see and hear every morning at Lakeside Park. They give off flashes of white from their flight feathers that contrast against the shaded trees on the far bank of Shoemaker Lake, as they swoop from perch to perch,. They call when they approach anywhere near, warning others that I'm there. I feel at times that they are mocking me... I see you! Their eyesight is so keen that it is almost impossible to get close enough for a photo, from any angle. The only time I have been able to photograph them was when the fledglings appeared last year and had not quite developed their sense of what to be aware of,  https://wildlakeside.blogspot.com/2019/07/kingfishers-at-last.html . I was quite happily photographing bumblebees and sweat bees, as they busily worked on a group of buttonbush (Cephalanthus Occidentalis) shrubs on the sunny side of Shoemaker Lake when I first heard the belted kingfisher this morning. The kingfisher was

What on earth was the beaver doing out and about at this time in the morning? That was the question running through my mind as I noticed the deep ripples running over the surface of Shoemaker Creek. It was hard to tell from the distance I was at, but the beaver appeared to be diving repeatedly in the same area, which was really unusual behaviour. It submerged again and so I moved closer watching the trail of bubbles. The thought of the beaver being caught on one of the fishing lines that I regularly pull out of the creek flashed through my mind. The beaver surfaced. This was no beaver, it was a large mass of shells and claws tumbling through the water. I'd stumbled upon two huge male snapping turtles and these two were looking to best each other for ownership of this stretch of Shoemaker Creek and the breeding rights that go with it. They were both attempting to hold their rival underwater. Their nostrils spewed out jets of water from what they'd inhaled.

I started this morning sitting on the bank of Shoemaker Creek waiting for the beaver to appear. I waited and waited. I kept one eye on its lodge and the other on the surface of the water. My imagination kicked in, I visualized the coyote stepping out on the beaver's lodge as it had one week ago. I remember that in total I saw the coyote three times that day: Driving home from work was the very first time when I glanced left across to the trail as I passed and there it was, a coyote, backlit with the sun streaming along the pathway. I wanted to stop but knew that I shouldn't and what was the point anyway, I didn't have a camera with me. By the time I had taken care of my chores at home that morning and finally taken a position at the lake, it was already a little too late to watch the beaver, but I waited in hope. Two families of geese swam down towards me along the Creek and then took to feeding on the aquatic plants that had spread over much of the surface water.

Commonly known as the bullhead lily, and the yellow pond-lily, Nuphar Variegata's leaves are now well distributed over the surface of Shoemaker Lake and Shoemaker Creek in carpets of floating green. They provide shelter for underwater insects, snails, crayfish and fish. A convenient place to hide from the keen eyes of aerial predators like this Caspian tern. On the surface, the lily pads act as a resting place for insects and occasionally frogs. The plant is also a host for several species of beetles and their leaves and seeds are also eaten by the painted turtles in Shoemaker Lake. But for one female red-winged blackbird they are a convenient hunting ground on which she can easily find food for her fledgelings. And when you're as light as a red-winged blackbird, the leaves of the bullhead lily provide just enough support for walking on. One more photo of the female red-winged blackbird as she set off on another successful lily pad hop fo