When I saw the temperature at -21 degrees this morning, I wondered if the car would start. It did and I arrived at Lambton Woods at dawn.
A hardy group of walkers appeared for the 8 am walk.
In the middle of the woods, as if on cue, a Pileated Woodpecker landed just in front of us accompanied by its characteristic ringing and staccato call.
These 16 – 20 inch in length birds were named because of a certain resemblance to the pileus cap worn in ancient Greece and into the Roman Empire:
Other birds:
MYSTERY BIRD
I recently received this photo. The bird is about starling size. Can you identify it? I will give the answer in Monday’s post.
NATURE POETRY
But pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flow’r, its bloom is shed;
Or like the snow falls in the river,
A moment white—then melts forever. – Robert Burns (1759–96)
Miles Hearn