Although all my earlier memorable canoeing experience was on northern rivers, here in the valley we do have some nice small lakes that are attractive for a paddle. This one is Bell's Lake, a small mostly protected lake that is really just a widening of a small stream, but because it's all wild, it's fun to paddle. It's like a bit of northern wilderness plunked down here in southern Ontario.
At one point you literally paddle across the top of an old fence!
But once you get there you've got a ot of interesting shoreline to explore.
At some point the water level has risen and killed off a lot of trees, so today there are stretches of shore that are a tangled mess of fallen tree trunks, with lots of reflections.
What struck me about all the paddles we've done on this lake (I think we've been here at least three times), was the bird life. The Kingfishers were common, each patrolling its own stretch of stream or shore, At one point we saw a Kingfisher dive into the water and come up with a tiny fish. I consider myself lucky to have got this shot; Kingfishers are known for flying away down the shoreline in front of you!
And this is a Kingbird, easily recognized if you get a good look at it by the white band across the bottom of the tail feathers. It feeds on insects, catching them on the wing as it swoops over the water.
Puttering along the shoreline I spotted this shrub, a Swamp Rose I think. But I had to move up through a tangle of branches to get the picture!
Can you spot the same group of blossoms in this picture?
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Meanwhile, here on the home front we've had more snow.
A lot of snowblowers going on the street this morning!
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