Closing Down for Now - Thanks to Google!

Google has changed its format for Blogger, and no longer supports my computer's browser. I can't figure out the new format, which no longer fits on my computer screen. Frustrated as always by big corporations, software with no instructions, and computer technology, so I'm giving up. Good-bye for now; I may return in the future if I can figure it out.

Crazy Snow in April!

Well it's not that unusual to get a little snow in April, but it's nearly 20 inches now and still snowing steadily. Thirty hours ago flowers were out, leaves were emerging, we'd been working in the garden for weeks. And now it's all covered in a deep blanket of white. Snow tires are put away; snowblower is detached and stored - who knows when we'll even get out our driveway!

Crows and a Raven

Lots of birds are around now, though on cold mornings they stay mostly quiet. The robins and mourning doves are nesting on or near the house, and I see or hear goldfinch, song sparrows, bluebirds, woodpeckers, flickers, and a drumming ruffed grouse on my walks around the neighbourhood. Sometimes a killdeer flies overhead, or a meadowlark calls from the distance. And there are almost always turkey vultures silently soaring overhead.

Yesterday for the first this year I heard both some chipping sparrows and a field sparrow (which I think of as the ping-pong bird, because its trill increases in speed as does a ping-pong ball when dropped on a table).

And the other day I watched two crows chasing and dive-bombing a raven. I never realized how much bigger the raven is compared to the crows. The pair of crows chased the raven low above the trees, but then the raven landed and perched in a tree only 50 feet away, so I had a really good look at them. The crows continued to dive near the raven, and after a few minutes it took wing and they all flew away.

The size comparison was striking when they were seen close together. The raven was nearly twice as big in bulk as the crows, perhaps half-way between the size of a crow and the size of a vulture. And of course the raven has a very different voice, much more of a hoarse croak compared to the crow's 'caw'.

Early Spring Flowers have Come and Gone!

I can't believe the early spring flowers have bloomed and wilted so fast! In that extreme warm two weeks we had, the aconite, snowdrops and crocus all bloomed almost immediately, then wilted in the unusual heat before I even got a picture of them (they are adapted to cold early spring weather after all). Now the tiny dwarf iris, primrose and squill have equally had their moment in the sun and disappeared. It's disappointing, because these bright flowers in early spring normally stay around for a while, and are such a colourful harbinger of warmer days in the garden to come.


One of our favourites, a small primrose. These appear quite early with small clusters of pink, purple or bluish flowers, and bright green leaves. We have several of them along the front edge of the garden where they welcome spring.


My own personal favourite is the dwarf iris, a tiny little flower that blooms before its leaves appear, standing only a few inches tall; we also have a few yellow ones.


Finally, a new addition to our garden, a striped squill, perhaps an unusual flower to many, but a nice spring bulb that appears equally early in the garden.

The Birds are Back too Early!

Two weeks of warm weather before we even got to the last week of March, and a lot of the spring birds are probably very confused. At least they've arrived back far earlier than usual.

We had the robins, grackles, red-wings and turkey vultures on time, in the 2nd week of March, but in the next week we had song sparrows, flickers, and our favourite blue jay, all of which don't usually arrive back til the 2nd week of April! I just hope the returning cold weather doesn't do them in.

Another Waterfalls - Webwood Falls

Webwood Falls, on a property newly donated to the Bruce Trail Conservancy, is another falls formed by the Manitoulin Formation. It was also the site of an old mill many years ago, a small wall of which remains. The stream flowing over the falls has carved out a deep, steep-sided gorge in the easily eroded Queenston Shale downstream.


In the closer view below you can see the thin limestone layers of the Manitoulin Formation, as well as the Ordovician shale below, in this location a bluish grey colour.



Webwood Falls is located on the 25th Sideroad east of County Rd. 7, one concession south of County Rd. 40. Unfortunately the falls faces directly away from the road, though it's only perhaps 50 feet away. You'll have to get out of your car to see it.

Hidden Waterfalls

Waterfalls in the Beaver Valley don't always fall from the top of the Escarpment. In fact, there may be more waterfalls created by the Manitoulin Formation that by the higher rock layers. This one, a short distance south of Johnson's Sideroad, is along the 'Falling Water Trail', that part of the Bruce Trail extending south of Bowles Hill,

Visiting some of the waterfalls along the trail may be one of the easiest places to see the Manitoulin Formation up close.


The thin limestone layers of the Manitoulin Formation form the hard upper layer, over which this waterfalls plunges.


At the bottom of the falls, the very top of the Ordovician Formation, here a dark reddish shale, is exposed.


In the winter, this falls was just a vertical curtain of ice; by now it will be flowing heavily.