The Massey (west of Sudbury) Breeding Bird Survey requires a 50 km drive on a dirt bush road to reach the starting point for 5 am. Naturally I saw no other vehicles and it was high beams the entire way.
Here are some pre-dawn photos:
The road is very narrow and the bush thick so, try as I did, I only came up with one (poor) bird photo: a White-throated Sparrow.
However, audio-wise, it was superb. So much variety and so many warblers – a real challenge to the ears for identification. The most difficult two are the Chestnut-sided Warbler and the Magnolia Warbler. If they stick to script they are easy to identify but now and then they wander and start to sound like each other. My grandfather, who was a master at birdsong identification, used to refer to the “undecided Chestnut-sided.”
MYSTERY PLANT
I will identify it at the end of the poat.
Other photos from the survey:
My next survey is in Terrace Bay on Lake Superior. Driving there from Massey is about the same distance as driving from Toronto to Quebec City. Too much for one day so I headed to Chapleau and stopped numerous times (still listening to an Edison biography) to take photos.
Some botany:
MYSTERY PLANT
Some of you may be thinking Rattlesnake Weed or Mouse Ear, but this plant grows beside the roads here – Dandelion.
NATURE POETRY
It is the month of June,
The month of leaves and roses,
When pleasant sights salute the eyes,
And pleasant scents the noses. – N. P. Willis (1807-67)
Miles Hearn