Cold morning

We cannot say that we had many cold mornings so far this year.  But there has been colder spring.  In the Outaouais region, we are very fortunate by the quantity and variety of waterfowl that we have.  This is possibly due to the wide variety of habitats and to the warmer climate.  In the spring, the newcomers follow one another and use the different spring or swamp openings to feed and to take shelter.  When you have late springs like in 2007, it is not only deers that suffer but other animal species.  During that spring, many different species used the opening that was created at the mouth of our small lake.  This particular morning, a Wood Duck and a Black Duck couple had a rest while awaiting a ray of sunlight.  Good day.  Louis      

Back in the past

This is back in 1992 on the south-east shore of Anticosti Island at less than 2 km from the Chicotte river mouth.  The year before, a blue whale known as Pita, the first blue whale to be formelly identified as a whale coming back year after year in the St-Lawrence river to feed in these rich waters, stranded itself on the beach.  She was part of a blue whale group which were individually identified because of their unique tail pigmentation that could be observed during their dives.  The blue whales and the humpback whales are the only two cetaceans to raise their tails out of the water as they dive.  We came back on the scene to see the skeleton state and with the hopes of bringing back a giant vertebra in souvenir since the skull was way to big to bring back on my back… Have a good day. Louis     

Antenna

May I present Antenna, a superb Alberta buck that I had the chance to photograph during my second guiding season in that province, which was 12 years ago.  This buck crossed one of my game cameras during daylight at three occasions in an area of less than 1 square km.  Not only did he have an unusual rack but he also had an impressive deer track.  I could see his tracks every two days in different areas.  I was either ahead of time or too late and he finally did not have the chance to meet one of my hunter clients… and he spent Christmas in the woods with the wolves instead of cooling off in our freezer.  The year after, he disappeared just like many other western bucks.  Good day.  Louis.

A small washload

A souvenir.  That was 20 years ago when we were in isolation in a camp at Cormoran on the south-east side of Anticosti Island to realize a study on foxes. Let’s just say that the closest washing machine was not around the corner, as many other things… Have a good day. Louis  

Angry because of the weather

Here is how I feel this morning.  There is an inch of snow on the ground and I am pissed just like these two foxes… that my spouse photographed at Anticosti during the first snowfalls of October.  Good day. Louis

Summer colors

Here is an almost totally made up picture… These are ladies slippers from the Canadian Rockies, known as cypripedium acaule.  This is a team picture that Jose (my spouse) and I realized to try to win a photo contest in the plant category. We had installed a large focalisation lens to be able to work further from the plant, at about 4 yards.  We would spray the plant with a garden hose to simulate a rainfall and finally, we used two lighting flashes setup at different angles so that there wasn’t any possible shade.  Our goal was almost reached, as we won the second prize.  Have a good day and enjoy the sun for those who may. Louis

The gannet

Hi to all, many persons wrongly believe that the gannets live exclusively at Bonaventure.  Yet, a gannet colony installed themselves at the Falaise aux Goélands, on the north east side of Anticosti island.  They were around 50 couples which had installed themselves right in the middle of a large colony of Black-legged kittiwakes (10000 of them).  Even if the cliffs were not of easy access as compared to Bonaventure, the early morning sun of the east would allow many beautiful photographic situations.  On occasions, whales and seals would come close to the cliffs, eagles and falcons would try to catch kittiwakes and even the foxes would venture on the cliffs for the same reason.  One day in this mythical spot and you were almost assured to be back with one or two pictures worthy of being in magazines.  This picture got me my first canadian contest title in the Canadian Geographic magazine.  Have a nice day. Louis