Friday, April 5, 2013



Everybody needs beauty as well as bread,
places to play in and pray in where nature may   
heal and cheer and give strength to the body and soul"
                                                                                     


                                    John Muir

I have combined the photos from two trips to
a duck pond in the park. The ducks are quite tame
a lot of people seem to be feeding them. Even
thought it is not really a good idea to get them so
accustomed to people you can get close enough
to really see the beautiful patterns of the feathers.
The raccoons here are also quite tame one year
on a quiet evening Helen and I sat on a bench
we saw one then another until a small group of
raccoons sat in a semi circle in front of the bench
like family dogs. This raccoon came down because
a young man was feeding the ducks once the raccoon
finished some bread the fellow produced an egg from
his pocket, from the egg shells scattered around it
seems they are old friends.



Mallard

 




I had never appreciated the lovely colours and
beautiful feather patterns of the Coot until now.




Lesser Scaup, male and female





Common Merganser








American Wigeon





" Hold your hands out over the earth
as over a flame "

        from  The Outermost House
Henry Beston









4 comments:

WildBill said...

Having been bit by a rapid coon the last image gave me the heebie jeebies! I really liked the variety of photos here and the finishing words!

Guy said...

Hi Bill

Wow quite the experience, one of my best friends used to do rabies control here, we do not really have raccoons in Calgary but they seem to be moving north. Skunks seem to one of the main reservoirs for it here. I know that they have signs in Stanley Park warning about interacting with them.

I am glad you liked the photos, Beston's Outermost House is one of my favorite books.

Regards
Guy

Julie G. said...

How nice to be able to view the ducks up close and personal. One can really appreciate the stunning plumage when the water birds have little fear. Beautiful photographs!

Guy said...

Thank You Julie

I did really enjoy it, you just cannot appreciate the subtle shading and the way the colour changes with the angle of the light unless you can see them up close.

Regards
Guy