Well, another year, another failure.  just heard from the neighbour at the lake that the loons abandoned the nest yesterday.  It then rained like crazy and they can't even see the nest any more.  There is a slim chance they might start a 3rd nest, but it's very rare.  I think we're done again.  They made it to day 20; only 9 more to go and then failure.  So sad.  Might try blogging again next year!

 

This is the second nest this pair of loons have attempted this spring. The first was washed out by the rising Lake of the Woods levels over the past few weeks. The Lake is controlled by an outlet to the Winnipeg River System (which eventually empties into Lake Winnipeg) and it seems like they haven't quite got a hold of how much water to let out or hold...  One would think that loons aren't so smart as they seemingly should build their nests higher up the land. The problem with loons is that they need to nest right next to the water as they are unable to walk on land. Their back legs are situated so far back in their bodies that walking is impossible. They actually drag themselves up on the nest with their wings!  This design, however, allows them to swim like a fish.  

This second nest and its 2 eggs were set up on June 1st and it takes about 29-30 days for the eggs to incubate. As long as the water doesn't rise, the eggs don't get wet, the local eagles don't eat the eggs (The loons leave the nest up to an hour at a time), I might have 2 baby loons to photograph right in the beginning of July! Hope to be out at the lake next weekend (June 23rd) to update the blog. 

The loon guy is back in business! By complete accident, while boating close to my father's cabin in Lake of the Woods, we found a new loon family with two young! The pair that tried 2x unsucessfully to reproduce last year because of flooding of their nest, never showed up this year. So finding another family, though much tougher to photograph than our friendly loons in our bay, was a great surprise. Check out more shots on my webpage!

Disney family trip 2011

Had a great time with Sheri's side of the family in Disney at the end of March. Was in a Disney park every day but one. Unfortunately we had two days that just poured buckets; made national weather news because of the amount and longevity of the rain. Didn't seem much like Florida those days!

Some of the highlights were rides we had never been on in other visits to Disney; Expedition Everest, Finding Nemo puppet play (way cooler than it sounds; check my webpage for shots) and The Hall of Presidents (okay, joking on the last one)

Actually, on a day where we dropped off our kids at Universal Theme Park, Sheri and I went back to Disney and went on all the "lame" rides that people don't generally go on. Had a blast and no lineups! Carousel of Progress, The Hall of Presidents, Country Bear Jamboree etc.

See a wack more shots on my webpage.

Jessica headshots

Had an old student call me up to fire off some headshots for her. Had a great time, and I think the photos are beautiful! Shot these just outside my art room at school. I love the abstract nature of lockers, seating areas, doors and tile squares when pushed out of focus. Jessica had great patience with me as I fumbled my way around!

MBCI Hawks win provincial semi-final vs Selkirk@

Trailing 2 sets to 1, and 7 points down, the MBCI varsity boys volleyball team scraped their way out of a desperate situation and went on to win the 4th set and take the match in 5; 15-13. See more shots on my webpage

The MBCI (Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute) varsity boys team defeated the 1st ranked Selkirk team on Friday, Nov 12th 3 to 1 sets. It was a great final (well, for us) with lots of noisy and exuberant fans showing up for both sides! To see more shots, visit my website