It's Cold!

Suddenly, it's a cold fall day. Only 4 degrees out this morning when the dog and I went for our walk. It almost felt like gloves and toque weather - far too soon for me! Trees are started turning, with a lot of yellows and a little orange, but in two weeks it will be a different world. Many birds have disappeared for warmer climes; we only heard blue jays and chickadees this morning. The heat has come on in the house, and the view in the early morning is clouded with mist, rising in the morning sun. Early fall is over, and the real fall is here.

Sunflowers in Bloom

Out for a drive the other day, and spotted a beautiful field of sunflowers. We've seen quite a lot of them this fall. Another reminder of the coming winter, when the birds will feast on sunflowers seeds.

The Talking Crow

We get crows around here all the time, and a few ravens. But this one was different. It sat in the top of the dead elm and 'talked' on and off for half an hour!

Its 'talking' was a guttural chattering sound of a few notes, the most unusual thing I've heard from a bird in a long time. It reminded me for all the world of a tree frog and its barky cough. It really did make me think it was talking to another crow someplace hidden in the lower trees.

Of course a raven's hoarse 'gronk' is very different from a crow's 'caw', sounding much more gutteral too. I've seen crows attacking a raven sitting in a tree not far away, and the size difference surprised me - the raven was nearly twice as big as the crows. At first I thought it was a turkey vulture.

But I did enjoy hearing this crow chattering away for a while.

Hummingbird

We've had a hummingbird or two buzzing around the pots of flowers outside all summer long. It is of course particularly attracted to the red flowers, but it comes to a lot of different flowers.

But I've managed only one picture, and this a black silhouette against the white garage door, taken from 30 feet away.

On the other hand, I've had several other close encounters with the hummingbird, without my camera near at hand. I've been up a ladder with a red paint can in my hand, and been buzzed closely by the hummingbird on four different occasions. A little disconcerting when you're up a 20 foot ladder - but it obviously likes the colour red!

Photography Outing

We had an interesting walk up the valley slope yesterday as part of a photography outing. Most easily accessible viewpoints over the valley are on the west side, so you're looking at the east slope. And of course the stunning high cliffs of Old Baldy are probably the most common single thing photographed in the valley - see one of my very first posts, Thanksgiving 2010.

But this walk was up through an old farm on the east side, where we got several views west. We missed the first one, above, on the walk uphill, but coming back downhill it just struck me as the nicest view we'd had all day.

These next two photos actually show approximately the same part of the western valley slope. But the second is taken at more of a telephoto setting, giving quite a different impression. I find it interesting to look across the valley and try and pick out what you're looking at, and where. The second photo encompasses about the upper left quarter of the first one.

Views of the Valley

One of the nicest things about the Beaver Valley region is the views that you come upon in many locations. The height of the Niagara Escarpment, with the Beaver Valley here and the Bighead Valley further north, provides lots of places to see distant views, either wide open like these, or glimpses through the trees.

This photo is taken from the Bruce Trail just east of the 7th Line, looking toward Georgian Bay and the old Meaford Tank Range, now officially known as the Land Force Central Area Training Centre. You're actually looking across the Bighead River valley here.

And this one is looking west from a new Bruce Trail property known as Webwood Falls. It's located east of Grey Rd. 7, along Sideroad 25, on the west side of the Beaver Valley.

The Markdale Fair

Enjoyed a visit to the Markdale Fair last week, a good old-fashioned farm fair, with horses and cows on show, and hundreds of indoor exhibits - from photos to veggies to baking to crafts, there was something for everyone.

As you can see by the pictures, we enjoyed the horse show - magnificent teams of clydesdales and percherons. These pictures are from the single horse and cart event.

Few things are more inspiring than seeing a huge, powerful and beautifully harnessed clydesdale coming straight towards you!