Chickadees, Wild Turkeys and White-tailed Deer – out on the Greenbelt Trails again.
The sun was shining today but the temperature had dropped to about -10C overnight. Although it was a nice day to get dressed warmly and take a walk on the trails, the colder temperatures made the fingers tingle after holding a camera in the bare hands for a while. Still fun to be out in the fresh air with a camera in hand. Today, I decided to walk the Old Quarry Trail and the Beaver Trail for my exercise and fresh air. The White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus), the Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) and the Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) were in abundance today and getting lots of food from outstretched hands.
For those who wonder what it like to have deer come up close for a handful of grain or a carrot or two, all I can say is, “Don’t leave your camera bag open or carry food in your camera bag”. I’ve had the deer come quietly up behind me and take bags of sunflower seeds out of my back pocket!
Today there were at least 15 wild turkeys picking up seeds along the trail and, like the deer, they were quite willing to come in close to get their share of the available “tourist” hand-outs.
It was getting a bit dark on the area of the trail where the turkeys were feeding so, after taking a few shots at high ISO, I headed back out into the sunshine and decided to travel over to the Beaver Trail where I photographed a young boy feeding some Chickadees in dim light.
Sunday is Christmas Bird Survey day across the river in the Gatineau area. I will be joining my birder friends Gerhard and Ralph early in the morning to see what birds are still living in our designated part of the survey grid. With the warmer weather, we expect that there might be a few more migratory stragglers than in past years but, at the same time, some of the northern bird species might still be lingering in more northern woodlands. Looking overhead though, the Canada Geese are moving out. That is not a good sign. Winter temperatures might finally be arriving.
