The baby fawn has been joined by an older companion. It’s common for mothers to feed during the day and leave their fawns to wait quietly for them. Codemonkey has snagged a couple of stunning shots of these beautiful creatures.
Two fawns stand still in dense vegetation. Image: Codemonkey.
The elder fawn looks towards the camera. Image: Codemonkey.
We’re having a spell of mild weather and a refreshing change from the 27 degrees and humidity that we normally experience.
Today, Mugsey and I explored the river and came down to the Humber Creek. This gentleman had parked his bike and was checking his phone and it seemed like a good composition.
Forget about city life and sit by the water for awhile.
Its a subtle change but during the July 9th storm, the old bridge abutment was shifted backwards by the force of he river. The old bridge was destroyed in 1954 during Hurricane Hazel and the abutments have remained, more or less in place to this day. There is a strong theory that before its destruction, the bridge held together long enough to form a dam which sent the full force of the river from the bottom left of the picture into the small community living in the area to the right.
The ‘before’ photo taken this April.
The same view with the Humber in full flood, July 9, 2013
The ‘after’ photo taken July 23.
I have tried to take the comparison shot from the same viewpoint and with water levels roughly the same. To my untrained eye it looks as if not only has the big lump of concrete been rotated backwards by the force of water, it also seems as if it is riding higher, perhaps having been pushed onto higher ground.
Or maybe it’s my imagination…
At the end of Raymore Park is a hill that takes the path over a small tributary of the Humber. The tributary passes through a culvert under Scarlett Road. Quite a bit of shale was moved by the force of water and this was projected through the culvert and has created a dam.
Humber Creek last January
After the huge volume of water and silt projected onto the creek bed, the creek is dammed forming a large and quite deep pool.
July 2013, the creek is blocked with silt (top of photo).
The new dam on the left blocking passage of water and creating a deep pool.
It’s been a while but a flood in the park was matched by a flood in my basement July 8th.
Codemonkey to the rescue. This gentleman is often seen in Raymore Park going after anything that flies, usually birds and insects but knows a good shot when he sees one. He is a true photographer, spending hours stalking his ‘prey’ and patiently waiting for the right photo to present itself. He has honed his skills over the years and where I take ‘snaps’, Codemonkey takes photographs.
Codemonkey at work going after a downy woodpecker on the tree stump.
Here are some examples of his work (posted with permission).
A beautiful yellow flower in Raymore Park.
The mother deer often seen in Raymore Park.
Codemonkey sent these exquisite rare sightings of wildlife that he managed to get on the same day (July 13).
An American mink.
If that’s not incredible, here’s another rare sight that I’ve seen in Raymore once in 20 years (and that was without my camera!).
A huge snapping turtle suns itself after the storm.
Thanks Codemonkey, you’re a lifesaver.
I did get out after the flood to take some pictures and will post these in the coming days.
Now that high summer is upon us, here’s an update on the pond that was created during the winter as a result of an ice jam. Thanks to recent dry weather, the water level is down substantially and the large number of tadpoles seen in the spring are no longer in evidence (hopefully they have graduated to better things).
A much reduced pond but still teeming with life.
Although the pond is much diminished in area and depth, there are still lots of minnows and pond-skaters and what I believe to be an American Toad tadpole, almost ready to leave.
Tadzilla on the left – there’s a much smaller tadpole to the right.
As the toad grows, it will emerge from the water with only a small tail and look more toad-like. The tail will eventually disappear. American toads thrive in dense vegetation where they can feed on insects and small invertebrates like slugs so the new pond is perfectly located for that. In the late fall, they bury themselves in soil or mud near their hunting grounds.
There’s been quite a bit of rain today so this should improve water and oxygen levels.
Yesterday, I saw the mother deer on her own in Raymore Park. She moved across the width of the park and moved slowly into the wild area right in front of my wife and I as we stood watching breathlessly.
White-tailed deer leave their young for hours on end while foraging and return to them to provide milk. Today the mother was on the Weston side of the river and waited until I moved upstream. The fawn will be safer on the far side as access is limited so hopefully, that’s where it is.
…standing motionless, waiting in the shadows.
She crossed the river slowly and disappeared into the vegetation which, thanks to the rain is very tall this year.
As I was leaving the wild area, I encountered a lady with four very active, off-leash border collies. On mentioning my deer sighting, she seemed to believe her dogs wouldn’t bother the deer and its fawn. In fact, she went told me that ungulates (yes, she used the word ungulates) are a leading cause of death to other animals and humans thanks to their hooves! She mentioned that one of her dogs had had an encounter with a deer recently and that the deer chased her dog and threatened it (with its hooves).
It’s not hard to imagine what would happen if any dog happened across the fawn while it was on its own and defenceless. In fact, any kind of encounter between wild and domestic animals should be avoided. To me, it seems irresponsible to invite such an encounter on a daily basis.
Not a particularly momentous occasion but the bleachers have been repaired by the smaller baseball diamond. New wood has been installed and while the bleachers’ principal use is to host late night drinking parties, at least they are safe and don’t add to the air of general air of dilapidation in that corner of the park.
It might be nice to install some garbage bins nearby.
The people who have painstakingly erected a course for their child’s toy car have set some boundaries for using the elaborate structure concealed in the bush of Raymore Park.
While the sign won’t win any design awards, it’s succinct and gets the job done using plain English and accurate spelling. Although a bright shade of fluorescent orange would have been more prominent, it would have surely stretched the bounds of taste and anonymity. In addition, these folks sensibly rejected the use of confusing pictograms, and aiming at the literate, told it like it is. Bravo.
It’s nice to know that their faith in people following the rules isn’t tempered by their own example.
It’s rare when someone is so blatant as to drop garbage in front of witnesses but on Tuesday July 2nd, this elderly gent had no qualms. His diet Mountain Dew had been drained and what’s a man to do when he’s on a fitness walk? Carry it to the recycling bin conveniently located in the parking lot? Not a chance. Why not just toss it and hope someone is there to pick up after him. Calls to get his attention went unheeded and he gamely motored on.
Interestingly, the group in the distance on bicycles consists of four officers out of a group of 25 who have been assigned to patrol the Weston area for the summer. If my wife can walk alone and without weapons through the park and streets of Weston, why oh why do our police feel a grouping of four is the minimum necessary to feel safe while on patrol?
Friends of Raymore Park 