Follow the Leader
A mixed formation of ducks fly through the eastern gap, mergansers playing follow-the-leader with a female long-tailed duck (née old squaw).
The Last Cormorant
One of the last cormorants to be found in 2010 swims near Centre Island, caught here in the deliciously low light of November.
Weremerant
A cormorant creates a partial eclipse of the sun by Doughnut Island, momentarily turning day into night in the camera.
Chickadee Isolation
A Chickadee puffs itself up against the cold of winter, searching for food behind the filtration plant.
Mink Details
The carnivorous details of a perfectly preserved mink skull, found in the Sans Souci region of Georgian Bay.
Waiting for Gala Days
An almost-full moon turns night into day around the snowbound WIA clubhouse, silent for the winter and awaiting future Gala Days.
Phoenix Rising
Bruce Smith’s stunning Phoenix becomes a blazing beacon for the new year at the AIA’s 2009 New Year’s Eve Dance (Thanks Bruce!).
Surprising Teeth
A beaver, teeth stained red from a winter diet of nothing but bark, floats in a hole kept open in the ice off of Snake Island.
Remote I Liftoff
While we don’t get too many space shuttles around these parts, it was the Island’s environment that let me build and test the remote camera enclosures that led to this photograph, the launch of space shuttle Atlantis (STS-132), from beside launch pad 39A. While launch is targeted for a specific date, things don’t always go […]
VAB Liftoff
Shedding over 20,000lbs of propellant (both solid and liquid) every second, space shuttle Atlantis (STS-132) clears the tower as seen from NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building.
VAB Focus
Checking focus on Canon’s 800mm f/5.6 L IS lens on the top of NASA’s VAB, in preparation for the ‘first final flight’ of space shuttle Atlantis. The final photographs from this setup can be seen here and here. Photo courtesy of Trent Smith, NASA Pad B Transition Project Lead. Lens courtesy of Lens Rentals Canada.
VAB Panorama
Space shuttle Atlantis, STS-132, soars into a clear Florida sky on her ‘first final flight’. This is a 180° panorama taken from the roof of NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building, showing the sprawling space complex and the myriad swampy waterways that crisscross the area. Click the image to view larger.
Cormorant Overload
A huge number of cormorants, seemingly all of the cormorants from the Leslie St. Spit, congregate in the inner harbour. I only had a telephoto lens with me at the time, this photograph really wanted a wideangle: there are literally thousands and thousands of birds in the inner harbour.
Baker’s Dozen
One of the lovely things about living on a major migratory route is seeing the migrations happen: large groups of birds travelling long distances together. When they first arrive here on the Islands, they often remain together for a week or two before splitting up to build their nests. Flocks of 50 blackbirds at a […]
Rude Awakening
Startled from its nap, an early black-crowned night heron waits for the photographer to leave so it can get back to some serious sleeping.
Centre Mom VII
A Canada goose sets up shop in a planter on Centre Island’s boathouse dock. Very possibly Lucy, her normal planter wasn’t available due to renovation work.
Rocky Exercises
City of Toronto preparations for the G20 meeting of 2010 brought us some strange scenes. Here, the William Lyon Mackenzie (the city’s fireboat) practices dingy drills in the still-frigid water just off of the Ward’s Beach breakwall.
Arch
One of the first turtles to emerge in 2010, this little fellow basks on a log off of Doughnut Island, the background showing a still-total lack of green in the environment.
Backlight Moon
Reflected light from the rising full moon frames a beaver in silhouette on Ward’s Beach.
Sing Your Heart Out
A blackbird, back on the Island for another season, sings its heart out in the Ward’s wet meadow.
Missing Link
Walking upright out of the water, a Toronto Island beaver carries mud and vegetation in its arms to build a scent mound, territorial markers to let other beavers know that this area is verboten.