Big Kahuna
All things must pass: Big Kahuna, the largest geyser to form on Ward’s beach, goes dormant after reaching a height that dwarfed all other ice formations.
Sunset Eruption
Like Old Faithful, a newly-formed geyser on Ward’s beach erupts into a million points of light under the full pressure of an incoming wave.
1830 to the City
The Ongiara streaks to the city at 6:30 P.M., punching through the January ice in this two-minute exposure.
Overflight
A great horned owl wings its way silently over the RCYC’s south island, displaying the fine patterns in its outstretched feathers. An absolutely awesome bird to see in flight.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Conflagration III
Spring equinox, and the humans come out to perform their annual rituals on Ward’s Beach. Oddly, the trees had a different burning pattern this year: their thermal columns were much shorter. Compare to this tree at last year’s equinox bonfire (thanks Alice!).