But hey, it’s only been a few weeks since the last one, right?

Gotta admit, Summer is busy.

We went to Ohio for a few days, ended up being in the middle of a heat wave, and yes, it was too hot. I hate using the car AC, but we really needed it then.

Went out to the car in the morning, and saw this little baby parked nearby. Reminded us of when our son was younger and took similar photos. Can’t help humming the jingle every time I see this.

We spent a day at the Columbus Zoo. Funny thing is we didn’t really want to go back to a zoo after seeing animals in their own environment during our travels. But here we are at the Columbus Zoo, during a heat wave, and looking at all the animals. Let’s just say that the midday sun, in the middle of a heat wave, when the animals just want to rest somewhere cool, is not conducive to any good action photos. None-the-less, we were able to grab a few of the following.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Just for information, two Bonobos Monkeys were en-route to the Columbus Zoo during 9/11. Although we didn’t get a chance to see them as they were in the back and not on display at the time, we did see one of Unga’s children. Gander, named after the city that provided a home for his mother during the airspace shutdown of 9/11.

• 

• 

• 

On our way home, we found some short term relief from the heat, by way of the Ohio Caverns. They offered a combo pack of 2 tours for a reduced price, and we figured why not. The initial tour is a history based tour into the caverns, explaining how it was found, cleared out of mud, damaged by graffiti, or by souvenir collectors, and preservation techniques. The second tour shows more of the real beauty, and if you only go for 1 tour, this is the one to do.  It remains a constant 54 degrees Fahrenheit in the cavern and each tour is about 50 minutes long. Caution if you plan on taking pictures, flash is allowed, but no additional equipment such as monopod or tripod is permitted, and you can’t rest against the wall, so everything is handheld.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

After returning home, life just seemed to catch up and pull us along at blinding speeds.

I did a slideshow presentation of one of our trips, to a wonderful group of people where my lady volunteers. This was my second time there and thankfully they are asking for more. Even though the presentation is only 1 hour, it takes such a long time to put it all together and come up with the condensed story.

Amherstburg has been having an annual car show for some time now, and we spent a few hours walking around there. Over 700 classic and antique cars were being shown by people from all across the county, and as far away as Florida.

While we were wandering the streets during the show, we met up briefly with former East York Mayor, MPP Beaches-East York, and Toronto City Councilor, Michael Prue. He moved from Toronto a few years ago, and is now a councilor for our area down here. Small world.

A couple of our friends visited us over the past weekend, and after the initial shock of being out so far in the country, they quickly came to understand why we live here. The people are so nice, the area is fantastic for birding, the weather is generally comfortable due to the proximity of both the Detroit River and Lake Erie, and the town is big enough to have most of the amenities that we need.

It was really nice that when we were showing our friends around, we found a few deer wandering in a field, and even a Green Heron that came to check us out. First one we have seen.

• 

• 

• 

• 

And now for an update on our local birds. The House Wren seems to have resigned himself to the fact that the ladies are not interested. He is still here, but his call is not as happy as before, and he’s not hanging around the nest that much. Our little hummingbirds have successfully brought us at least 2 young ones. We have seen a small male and female coming to the feeder, at times with the adults flittering nearby. The Orioles had left for a little while, but appear to be on their way back through. One male Oriole came to the Hummy feeder last weekend, and we had to quickly put out some food for them.

• 

• 

• 

• 

We had a really special sighting last week. We were up around dawn and went for a little drive, and just a few hundred yards away from our house, we saw about 10 Night Herons sitting it the trees. I had forgotten my camera, and by the time I turned around and came back, most had already left. We’ve gone back out a few times since, but haven’t seen them there again. They may be on their way back out early.

• 

• 

• 

Thanks for reading and hope you made it this far.

Don’t forget, if you haven’t already, click follow at the bottom right of the first page, and enter your email address so you get notifications when a new post goes up.

And yes, I’ll try to get them out a bit more regularly.