With the west side trails under reconstruction for the next 3-4 months access is restricted to the east side, the "Ridge" and the Ottawa River shoreline.
A gigantic clump of mushrooms was growing in the woods near the river. My hat tries to add scale to the mushrooms.
The clump was giving off orange spores; more large mushrooms were growing nearby
Someone or something had cleanly torn a fresh mushroom leaving it in the grass.
A month or so ago this tree had smudges of white on it, now it has bracket fungus growing where the smudges were. Some of them seem to have have faces.
A pileated woodpecker was hanging around the bottom of a tree about 7-10 feet away. He allowed me to get a number of pictures, including one with his tongue out.
At least one of the male cardinals was through his molt and was curious whether we were going to leave some seeds for him...
The (red-breasted?) mergansers were fishing in the river catching crayfish.
(They were a long way off so the photos aren't great)
As a bay-breasted (?) warbler watched, cedar waxwings were flying quickly and erratically from the branches catching insects making it impossible to get an in-flight shot.
A female wood duck resting on a fallen branch and a female mallard with two late hatched offspring.
The male wood ducks were starting to get their colourful plumage back in mid-month (left photo) and by month-end a good number were in full regalia.
The photo on the left, male and female wood duck flying in, is not 100% sharp, but I thought it was a neat shot. (Click on it to see a larger version)
The one of the right, male wood duck landing, thankfully is in focus.
A mallard pair flying in down at the river.
I enjoy trying to get ducks doing a wing-flap (shaking off the water after having a "bath"). I managed to catch a female mallard in the "conductor" position. Two male mallards need to practice their synchronization.
While shooting a small group of mallards and woodies, I noticed a different duck in their midst. It was a female hooded merganser. I've never had a hooded merganser so close, they are usually very shy.
The chickadees, a few nuthatches and at least one downy woodpecker were happy to have hand-outs.
A first for me - a ruby crowned kinglet stayed still for a half second!
A belted kingfisher was flying back and forth along the river, chattering as it flew.
A green heron was fishing in a small pond between the road and the ridge.
They were a long way away, but great black-backed gulls, ring-billed gulls and cormorants were resting on the rocks in the Deschenes Rapids on the Quebec side.
The squirrels were enjoying the fallen nuts, including the large walnuts.
A northern water snake crossed the road slowly but picked up speed when a car approached.
A very large toad didn't seem to mind sharing the path with us.
Viper's bugloss, eggs and butter (bread and butter) and forget-me-nots were blooming.
At the end of the month I found a new flower, for me, a linseed blossom.
Swamp milkweed was going to seed and close by fall asters were in a spot of sunlight.
Two bumble bees had spent the night on the viper's bugloss and were feeling the cool temperatures and covered in dew.
The poison ivy leaves are turning and the ditch stonecrop (new name to me) was going to seed as was the thimbleweed.
Fall colours are showing in the trees
