Vikings!

Icelandic Festival at Gimli

Viking Re-enacting warfare tactics?  Yes, please!  

April 10, 2013 Sandilands and area

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The day started with horses.  A brand new baby horse, as a matter of fact!  This guy was overdue, and HUGE!  He was actually bigger than the other colt, born a few weeks earlier!

 

 

Momma loves her freakishly huge baby!

 

 

Does he EVER have a cute face!  And cute ears!

 

We'd had a tip on a Bald Eagle, and there he was!  Wonder what the greenish tinge on his throat is?  Got a suggestion that it's bile from something he was eating...

 

 

There were LOTS of deer around.  These two were funny to watch, they even swivelled their ears in unison!

 

 

Gray Jays (Whiskeyjacks) were also very prominent, perching near the road to check us out!

 

 

A good number of Great Gray Owls were still around, too!  I think this guy thought he was hidden! 

 

 

Turkeys!!  It's hard to tell if you're seeing wild turkeys or farmyard turkeys, these ones are all wild-colored, but did walk under a fence into a yard!

 

 

Snow Buntings!!  We see them a fair bit, but it's hard to get pictures of them, they don't hang around once they spy you, and they usually just take off across fields.  This little flock was neat to see, and they were already in their breeding colors, which was even cooler!

 

 

This Ruffed Grouse was so cooperative!  They sure are tough to spot, but this one had total confidence in his camouflage, posed very nicely for us, moving this way and that...

 

 

This Sharp-Tailed Grouse was also cooperative, but a bit further away!  He was with a few friends in a small patch of field that wasn't snow-covered.  Almost makes it look like spring!

 

 

Sandhill Cranes, dancing!  Does that dude have some killer moves, or what??  Too bad his lady friend doesn't look that interested!

 

 

Another Great Gray Owl!  This one was being bugged by Crows.  This was interesting to us, because usually the Grays in this area don't get hassled.  Maybe the ravens are just used to them, and they don't usually overlap with the returning crows? 

 

 

Another Great Gray Owl.  This one was sitting right on top of a streetlight, right in town!  And I was the one to spot it first! 

 

 

Still another Great Gray Owl.  So nice when it gets to that time of year that we start getting that beautiful evening light!  Winter can be nice, especially when there are lots of owls about, but that harsh flat light gets kind of tiring! 

 

 

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Flowers At The Park, and a Butterfly!

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We only knew about the car show because we went to Kildonan Park on Canada Day, early in the morning, to take pictures of flowers.  Thought I'd be clever, beat the crowd and the heat, but we got there before they even turned the sprinklers off!  Took a break for Tim Hortons and came back to some lovely, water drop laden blooms!

How nice, they're sharing!  Said the spider to the (butter)fly!

So happy, finally got a nice butterfly pic!

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Car Show!

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For a change of pace, and because I didn't have any car photos, we attended a car show on Canada Day.  Very hot day, but lots of neat cars in attendance! 

Apologies, but I don't know what any of these are!

Very cool, a rainbow!

I really liked the extreme angles on the front end of this one!

This one was one of my favorites, all Bonnie and Clyde style!

Would LOVE to know the story behind that!

Got a real kick out of the matching expressions on the doll and the car!

Another one of my favorites!

Check out that rumble seat - too cool!

A Jeep!  A Willy's Jeep!  Too cool!

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Wood Ducks at the park!

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There's always a few Wood Ducks tucked in with the Mallards at our city parks, LOVE those colors!  These pictures were taken at St. Vital Park and Kildonan Park.

Ain't he cool?

You have to look close, but you can see a bit of iridescence on this female's wing feathers.

I was surprised to see that red orbital ring on that female!

Darn!  Almost got both in the frame!

This handsome male was keeping a very close eye on his lady who was feeding up on the bank with the Mallards.  Looked like he had a broken tail feather.

Love the spotty belly!

Another look at the broken feather.

 

 

A different male.

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