I took a chance on finding lodging last evening in Gore Bay Manitoulin Island after the long drive from North Bay (I finished the Johnny Carson audio book en route and am now well into a biography of Edison.)

Luck was with me as I found a room above the real estate office. Two problems however – super SLOW wifi and an overhead light in the room which flashed on and off twice a second all night. Nothing I could do as I was the only one in the building.

3 am comes awfully quickly and that is when I departed for the starting point of the Gore Bay Breeding Bird Survey. This one worries me as, in previous years, I have had to drive through foot high grass to a very remote road’s end. This year though, there has been a logging crew here and the road was well used.

Surprisingly, despite the fact that a clear morning was predicted, there was 4 and a half hours of fog.

Bird photography was next to impossible except for this Crow.

Just as I finished at 9:30 the fog cleared.

My most interesting birds during the survey were a Whip-poor-Will, Sandhill Cranes, and a Northern Harrier. Most common birds were Robin, Red-eyed Vireo, Ovenbird, Crow and Raven.

MYSTERY PLANT

I will identify it at the end of the post.

Next the drive to Massey for tomorrow’s survey.

I stopped once for a short hike

and was rewarded with some gorgeous wildflowers.

MYSTERY PLANT

This one can be found almost anywhere in dry open places and is named for what it looks like – Pussy-toes

NATURE POETRY

Tis June, and all the lowland swamps
Are rich with tufted reeds and ferns,
And filmy with the vaporous damps
That rise when twilight’s crimson burns.     – George Arnold (1834–65)

Miles Hearn