Festival of Evening GrosbeaksIn the bird world of nifty birds there is none more so then the Evening Grosbeak. They are joyous, boisterous, gregarious and sport stunning good looks. The burnt orange of the adult male is unmatched in the world of birds. Evening Grosbeak
Sandhill Cranes, the EncoreI visited the Sandhill Cranes again in hopes of improving my photos. This time I used a 600mm F4 with 1.4X and 2X teleconverters. I have been experimenting with using exposure priority, usually 1/4000 to 1/8000 of a second exposures and auto ISO. Unfortunately this procedure produces a lot of noise since ISO launches into the stratosphere. Removing the noise thus produced also reduces the detail of the subject. So,... I'll return to my tried and true aperture priority technique which I've used for 25 years. Sandhill Crane
Sandhill Cranes in WinterI used a 400mm lens with 1.4X and 2X teleconverters to obtain these photos. The Sandhill Cranes were working the drainage ditch which still held open water and hence unfrozen goodies to eat. I have a 600mm lens but it remained in its case. Perhaps if these cranes keep their distance I will pull it out. Sandhill Cranes
Another Visit to Grand PréI visited Grand Pré once more and was not disappointed. Most of the American Pipits have left but the Horned Larks remain, for now. Black-capped Chickadee
The Black-capped Chickadee is one of our common winter birds, mostly a non migrant. I grew up in Vancouver feeding sunflower seeds to its cousin the Chestnut-sided Chickadee. The Rocky Mountains mostly demarc the Canadian boundary between the two chickadee species although there is overlap all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
Horned Lark
Northern Cardinal The Northern Cardinal is found along the ocean side dyke ridge and on the mainland.
The Story of Grand PréI visited the farmlands of Grand Pré yesterday to inaugurate my 2025 photography season. These farmlands are below sea level and were reclamed from the sea by the original settlers of this area, the Acadians. I've included their story at the end of my photo series. Although I have a competent four wheel drive vehicle with the best tires its easy to get in trouble if the ground is not sufficiently frozen to support the vehicles weight. American Pipit
Northern Cardinal
White-breasted Nuthatch
The White-breasted Nuthatches forages going down the tree trunk thus enjoying all the goodies missed by the birds going up the trunk like the Red-breasted Nuthatch or the Brown Creeper
Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia
Grand-Pré (French: [ɡʁɑ̃pʁe]) is a Canadian rural community in Kings County, Nova Scotia. Its French name translates to "Great/Large Meadow" and the community lies at the eastern edge of the Annapolis Valley several kilometres east of the town of Wolfville on a peninsula jutting into the Minas Basin surrounded by extensive dyked farm fields, framed by the Gaspereau and Cornwallis Rivers. The community was made famous by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem Evangeline and is today home to the Grand-Pré National Historic Site. On June 30, 2012, the Landscape of Grand-Pré was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.[1] HistoryGrand-Pré was founded in about 1680 by Pierre Melanson and Pierre Terriot. Pierre Melanson, an Acadian settler who traveled east from Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons's original settlement at Port Royal and its habitation. Pierre, an Acadian of French Huguenot and English extraction, had arrived in Port Royal with Sir Thomas Temple in the 1650s when Acadia was under English control.[2] Pierre Terriot was the son of Jehan born in Port Royale around 1654. Pierre Melanson was responsible for founding the parish of Saint-Charles des Mines while his friend, Pierre Terriot founded the parish of Saint-Joseph de la rivière aux Canards. The fertility of the soils and wealth of other resources in the area had been known to the French since the early part of the century when Samuel de Champlain, de Mont's cartographer, had surveyed the region. The settlers quickly employed their dyke building technology to the vast salt marshes; effectively reclaiming several thousand acres of productive farm land. The farms and the population grew quickly, making Grand-Pré the principal settlement in Acadia. Settlements spread from Grand-Pré around the Minas Basin, collectively becoming known as Les Mines or Minas after the copper deposits surveyed by de Mons at the entrance to the Basin. By the mid-1680s the population was sufficient to support a church and the parish of Saint-Charles des Mines was formed.[3] Queen Anne's WarRaid on Grand-Pré (1704)During Queen Anne's War, New Englander Ranger Benjamin Church, burned the village and broke some of the dykes in the Raid on Grand Pré.[4] In this raid, Church and his rangers got stuck on the mud flats of Baie Francais (Bay of Fundy), which gave the Mi'kmaq and Acadians time to position themselves to fiercely defend the village. They were eventually overwhelmed and Church burned the village and the fields. King George's WarBattle of Grand-Pré (1747)During King George's War, a French force led by Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Roch de Ramezay defeated a larger British force in a night raid at the Battle of Grand-Pré. This battle was the most significant and bloodiest victory for the French in Acadia. The village, however, remained in British control once the French retreated. Father Le Loutre's War
Acadian Exodus (1749-1755)During Father Le Loutre's War, the Acadians at Grand-Pré played a significant role in supporting the Acadian Exodus out of mainland Nova Scotia, which started in 1749. Grand-Pré willingly responded to the call from Le Loutre for basic food stuffs. The bread basket of the region, they raised wheat and other grains, produced flour in no fewer than eleven mills, and sustained herds of several thousand head of cattle, sheep and hogs. Regular cattle droves made their way over a road from Cobequid to Tatamagouche for the supply of Fort Beauséjour, Louisbourg, and settlements on Île St. Jean (Prince Edward Island). Other exports went by sea from Minas Basin to Isthmus of Chignecto or to the mouth of the Saint John River, carried in Acadian vessels by Acadian middlemen.[5] The Acadians from Grand-Pré also offered their labour to those at Isthmus of Chignecto to build a church and dykes. Siege of Grand-Pré (1749)The British built Fort Vieux Logis in the area during Father Le Loutre's War, which was attacked by the Acadians and Mi'kmaq in the Siege of Grand-Pré. The siege lasted for a week and the 300 natives took prisoners who remained in captivity for almost two years. Eventually the Mi'kmaq retreated. French and Indian WarBay of Fundy Campaign (1755)
During the French and Indian War (the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War), the Acadians were expelled from Grand-Pré during the Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755). There were various British soldiers who kept a journal of the deportation from Grand-Pré such as Lt. Col. John Winslow and Jeremiah Bancroft. The site of Grand-Pré during the expulsion was later immortalized by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow with his epic poem Evangeline.[6] Acadians from Grand Pré were dispersed in many locations and some eventually returned to other parts of the Canadian Maritimes such as Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and New Brunswick. Many Acadians expelled from the Grand-Pré area eventually settled in the New England States and travelling overland to South Louisiana in the United States after being dropped on the Atlantic coast. In Louisiana, the term Cajun evolved from the name Acadian. New England PlantersAfter the deportation of the Acadians, the vacant lands were resettled by New England Planters in 1760 and renamed Horton Township. A large town plot with a rectilinear street grid was laid between Grand-Pré and Horton Landing to the east, but the local farming population preferred to settle along the upland ridge in a spread out fashion, much like the previous residents of the area, the Acadians, had done. Several schools and congregations were formed at Grand-Pré including a meeting house converted into a church in the early 19th century, today known as the Covenanter Church. Over time, merchants and shop owners congregated at nearby Wolfville to the west, leaving Grand-Pré to continue as a farming community. One of the Planter descendants was Sir Robert Borden, the eighth Prime Minister of Canada, who was born in Grand-Pré in 1854. Grand-Pré continued as a rich and productive but small farming community. The Windsor and Annapolis Railway arrived in 1869, at first serving the community with a small rural station. Livestock and marsh hay became major exports, joined in the late 19th century by the Annapolis Valley's major apple exporting industry. Four large apple warehouses were built around the station to pack and ship apples. In the 1920s when the Dominion Atlantic Railway developed the Grand-Pré Memorial Park to attract tourists.[7] While agriculture remained Grand-Pré's major industry, the park made the community a tourism destination as well as a memorial to the Acadian people. The Park eventually became a National Historic Site and in 1957 was purchased by the Canadian Park Service.[8]
Grand Pre with American Pipits and Horned LarksGrand Pre farmlands are always worth a visit in early winter especially on the lookout for Snowy Owls. Short-eared Owls hunker in the drainage ditches to stay out of view of marauding harriers. I found Bald Eagles, Red-tailed Hawks, Northern Harriers, Northern Cardinals, American Pipits and Horned Larks but no owls. American Pipit
Bald Eagle
Blomidon
Horned Lark
The Magic of Snow and Ice Captured on Exposed Trees
Northern Cardinal (the males were all behind shrubbery)
Halifax on Christmas DayI toured the Halifax area on Christmas day for about three hours mostly on the eastern half of the Chebucto Peninsula. It was a good day for photography. Halifax on Christmas Day
Peggy's Cove After the Snow StormI went out to Peggy's Cove to test out some new for me photographic equipment. One would need mountaineering gear to scramble about the coastal rocks, smooth rocks covered with a layer of snow and frozen sea spray (yikes!) Peggy's Cove After the Snow Storm
December Snow In Nova ScotiaI took a drive around the Musquodoboit River loop after our recent snow storm to check out the scenery. Like all snow events its best to get out early before the wind sheds the trees of snow. December Snow In Nova Scotia
A Late Fall GaleThis is my last series of photos from late fall gales, this time at Martinique Beach, Nova Scotia's premier open ocean beach. Unfortunately, I cannot win this fall with surf photographs. This time time the wind was perfect blowing directly onto a large sand beach but the surf effects were still not impressive, this time due to the low tide. It's a long cold windy winter heading our way so there will be many more opportunities for surf photography. Early December Gale at Martinique Beach
December Gale Near Peggy's CoveOnce again I ventured out to Peggy's Cove and area to photograph the surf from a late fall gale. The difficulty with this type of photography is adding scale to the photo since no sane skipper would take his boat out in this melee and also spray and rain which will ruin any photograph if they get splattered on the camera lens. Early December Gale Near Peggy's Cove
November GaleThis late November gale mostly photographed at Peggy's Cove and area was not as fearsome as I hoped. Wave height is more a matter of wind direction than wind intensity unless of course your off shore where coastal effects and barrier islands don't influence the surf. November Gale Near Peggy's Cove
A Second Walk Among the Woodland FungiLaura and I enjoyed a second walk at Smiley's Provincial Park, looking once again to see and photograph the fungi, mushrooms, lichens and algae that burst out of the ground after a heavy rain. Fungi, mushrooms, lichens and algae
A Walk Among the woodland FungiLaura and I enjoyed two walks in Smiley's Provincial Park in the fall. This park is easily accessible year round. The park is a delight after a heavy rain due to the myriad of fungi that appear; mushrooms, algae and lichen. A delight on this walk was finding the swamp beacon, a genus of fungi in the family Sclerotiniaceae. Swamp Beacon
Courtesy of Wikipedia Mitrula is a genus of fungi in the family Sclerotiniaceae[1] first described by Elias Magnus Fries, in his Systema Mycologicum (1821). The common name for the matchstick-like fungus is either swamp beacon (US) or bog beacon (GB)[2] refers to the white stipe with yellow fruiting cap. The genus is notable for growing on decaying vegetation in shallow water.[3] The saprobiontic fungi depend on wet or boggy habitats, with plenty of rotting vegetation. They live and feed on rotting leaves and stems, breaking them down into smaller compounds on which various plants and animals feed. [2] The aquatic discomycete Mitrula can be found in Europe, Asia, and North America. They still hold an uncertain position within the Helotiales.[4] The species include Mitrula alba, Mitrula elegans, Mitrula lunulatospora, Mitrula microspora, Mitrula paludosa and Mitrula serpentina. Some of them are difficult to distinguish, for instance the match-stick fungus Mitrula elegans is often mistaken as Mitrula paludosa.[5]
Sandhill CranesThe Sandhill Cranes continue to be regulars along Rock Road near Milford, Nova Scotia. Prepare for a car wash if you wander up Rock Road. These elegant birds are found in large numbers in the central flyway but harder to find along the coast. They are uncommon here, not rare. Sandhill Cranes
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