The Day of the Loons

Each day I am here at the cottage I look forward to seeing another of the usual wildlife residents...and so far I have not been disappointed. The beaver, the heron, the birds - finches, phoebes, hummingbirds including some new ones, have all made their appearance! But the loon, my favourite, has been missing in action...until today!   

At last, they showed up! This lovely pair of loons swam in from the bay out front and spent the afternoon fishing around in the bay behind the cottage, coming quite close to where I was sitting on the dock stalking them with my camera. ( extra) What a treat! I sure hope they decided to stay. 

I was so lucky to have the chance to enjoy the loons and get so many photos; I was not so lucky in other encounters. This morning our lone chipmunk went racing past on the deck, and - surprise - he was followed by ANOTHER chipmunk, (we thought we had only one) followed by....a mink! I rushed for my camera but the little mink was too much of a challenge to photograph. He didn't run away, but he kept darting in and out of the rocks next to the deck and would even peek up at me over the edge of the deck, teasing me...  and then finally darted off. I managed to get pix of the little guy but they were not focussed enough to post. Maybe next time?  

I have missed some wonderful photo-ops since being here. Yesterday it was a large turtle who surfaced for a moment right next to me while I was sitting on the dock, but he quickly realized that he was not alone and swam off. We suspect that he was the snapping turtle who sometimes hangs out here and who is not exactly welcome... 

Today, I missed the black bear. My daughter and SIL were visiting us again today and my SIL spotted the bear on the shore of the little bay behind our cottage.By the time he could get our attention, the bear had meandered off back into the bush! Drat! I will be sure to keep my eyes open for his of her second appearance..

But the loons made up for everything....

PS: quelle surprise! A third chipmunk has shown up! Yay..We had hoped that our chippie would somehow get some companions. It would be a really lonely existence if he did not.