Iain Leitch Photography

This weekend I finally got around to going out for a nice walk again. It was a fairly cold day in Ottawa so that meant a rather short walk. We went to the Fletcher Wildlife Garden's which is right beside the Experimental Farm here in Ottawa. Other than some Red Squirrels and some birds there was not a lot of activity but that was to expect on a cold March day.  The first photo is of a White-Breasted Nuthatch which was found near a feeder that had been set up in a stand of trees. The second photo is of a male Northern Cardinal sitting in an evergreen tree near the same feeder as the Nuthatch was near. The third and final photo is of a Red Squirrel drinking some sap out of a young tree. Seeing as the sap is just starting to run this was rather interesting to see, as I watched the squirrel move from branch to branch for about five minutes drinking the sap. 

Recently I finally had the chance to go to Mud Lake in Ottawa and boy did it not disappoint. The number of birds I saw was quite impressive, but I think the most impressive thing to me was a section of trail through a wonderful section of maple trees that were all yellow and golden. Sadly I didn't get a good photo of that trail but here are some other photos I did get.  The first photo in this blog post is of a wonderful reflection of some fall colour on the lake.  The next three photos are of the beautiful Wood Duck. The first two photos are of a male Wood Duck while, the last photo is of a female Wood Duck. The male ducks do not disappoint as they are wonderfully colourful. I got these photos on this one section of trail that crosses a portion of the lake. The ducks were up on the railings eating some food that people had left them and sunning themselves. This all made for great photos in my opinion. This was also the first time I had seen a Wood Duck so I was quite excited ...

These two photos do not relate to each other in the slightest, in fact, I don't think I even took them on the same day, however, I still wanted to post them. The first photo is of a Via Rail trail that I took, with some beautiful fall colours in the background. While the second photo in this post is of a Perigon Falcon that I took down by the Rideau River one day.   

Last weekend I went camping in Sharbot Lake Provincial Park. Here are some photos from that trip. The first two photos are from a hike I went on in the park. These are mostly just tree appreciation photos as they show how magnificent the trees are and how grand and cathedral-like I personally think they are. This photo is of an Eastern Garter Snake that I spotted while returning from the previously mentioned hike. I am guessing this snake will soon be finding a place to hibernate as it has been getting rather cold at night. The last two photos in this blog are just scenic lookouts that were on two different trails in the park. The first is overlooking Black Lake, while the second is overlooking Sharbot Lake which is what the park is named after. You can see a touch of fall colour in the last photo as well.  

I went on my first camping trip this year to Bonnechere Provincial Park. I just stayed for one night but it was still quite enjoyable. The campsite that I was at backed onto an oxbow lake, and had plenty of mushrooms around the edge of the campsite as well. The first photo in this post is of one of those very mushrooms. I saw this beautiful yellow mushroom at the edge of the campsite and knew I needed to get a photo of it. Lucky for me the mushroom was framed quite nicely by two little saplings. The following two photos are of tree bark. Normally I don't post photos like this but because I got a tree ID book for my birthday, there is going to be a few more tree photos posted. The first of these two is a Eastern Hemlock, while the second photo is of a Yellow Birch. The fourth photo in this post is of a bale (group) of turtles. These particular turtles are Midland Painted Turtles which are fairly common in Eastern Ontario. These turtles were just resting on a fallen tree in an oxbow ...