Rising sun

Just before sunrise over the barley field.

Smooth water

A calm evening made for some smooth water for kayaking / canoeing on Big Lake at sunset.

Calm

Tranquility at sunset on Big Lake

Asking for it

Juvenile Blackbirds use a construction fence near the Sturgeon River to hound their mom for food.

Rafting on the Sturgeon

Yellowlegs use floating weed beds to graze for food on the Sturgeon River.

Catching the light

A Song Sparrow in the wetland catching the early morning sun.

Ruddy Mom

A female Ruddy Duck keeps a close watch on her brood in the wetland.

Happy Mom

Ruddy duck with some of her brood in the wetland.

Ruddy brood

Ruddy ducklings in the wetland.

Flicker

One of three fledglings chasing each other around the bushes a the edge of the wetland.

Junior

One of three fledgling Baltimore Orioles that were chasing around the boardwalk then flew into the nearby bushes.

Black on green

In the wetland.

Making noise

A juvenile Coot makes it's needs known to all around in the wetland.

Sora Rail

A juvenile at the water's edge.

Moving over

After cleaning out Salamanders from a section of the pond this GBH moved to the other side.

Salamander toss

A GBH successfully hunts an area of the pond for Salamanders and used the toss technique to swallow them.

Salmander delight

A pair of gulls fight over a Salamander.

Coot chase

A Coot chases the young ones away from the herons.

Osprey Tower

An adult had just come in to feed a young one .

Siblings

Juvenile RWB on the bank of the Sturgeon River.

Sunset over the barley

I awoke too late to catch the spectacular sunrise today, which I watched through my bedroom window, the sunset made up for it. More here https://www.wildstalbert.com/A-year-in-the-wild/Sunrises-and-Sunsets

Monoculture

Nary a noxious weed or winged beastie in sight in this canola field in Sturgeon County. Downtown Edmonton is on the distant horizon.

Butter wouldn't melt.......

When the Black Terns first took up residence in the wetland several years ago they were so aggressive that the Parks people shut down the boardwalk for several weeks, now they sit on the guardrail and happily pose for photographers!

Waiting

We spent quite some time waiting for an adult to come and feed a morsel to this juvenile (we being the juvenile and me). Eventually it flew off and fended for itself.