Water falling....

....and no I am not talking about all the rain we've been getting. Some readers will know that I really enjoy waterfalls. I haven't been to very many lately, but last week I had the occasion to visit a couple near Hamilton, a.k.a. the City of Waterfalls. Being on the Niagara Escarpment provides lots of settings where waterfalls are present.

One of the more accessible ones is Sherman Falls. It is a mere 200 metres, more or less, from the nearest road. It is on private property, but since the Bruce Trail runs right along it, it is accessible for viewing. This is the first view, showing the water falling in two stages for a total of about 8 metres from top to bottom.

 And a slightly different view.

Admittedly it isn't as colourful at the moment as it is at a warmer time of year, such as this next photo, taken in September. But the place isn't as crowded with hikers, either.

Another easily accessible waterfalls very close to Sherman is Tiffany Falls. It is on property owned by the Hamilton Region Conservation Authority. It is a little farther from the parking area, but well worth the easy hike.

Nonetheless, in winter the trail can be snow-packed and icy. Such was the case on this visit. There is a viewing platform at the end of the trail, just visible at the lower left hand side of the above photo. The trail was extremely icy in spots on this day, however, and we didn't venture as close as we normally would have since the uneven and wet slippery surface along side the jagged rocks were not something we wanted to contend with!

Tiffany Falls often flows all winter. The water drops about 10 metres in total. In the coldest part of the winter, there are massive ice columns and walls that are created and, with special permits from the CA, people who want to practice ice climbing are allowed to climb up the ice walls at Tiffany.

There are some excellent resources to finding and photographing waterfalls in Ontario. Probably the most useful one I have found is conveniently called  Waterfalls of Ontario.

Much closer to home, I noted more than the usual bird activity in our yard one day. There were at least 10 American Robins, more than I had seen so far in 2017.

It seems that there has been a deluge of American Robins in southern Ontario over the past few weeks, with most Christmas Bird Counts recording them in record numbers. Are these late migrants, or do they represent an influx of Americans who were threatening to move to Canada pending the results of the US election :-) ??

A Red-breasted Nuthatch shows up regularly in the yard as well.

Of course there are the more regular bird species, including Dark-eyed Juncos, House Finches, American Goldfinches, European Starlings, House Sparrows Downy Woodpecker and even the occasional American Crow :-) !

Not a yard species yet, but the Snowy Owls continue to show in their usual places. The numbers aren't as high as the last couple of years, but on a good day it is still possible to find anywhere from 2-5 birds in the area between Chatham and Wallaceburg, with the 2-3 birds near Meadowvale Line being the most predictable.

The photographic appeal of falling water

I'll come right out and admit it---I am fascinated by waterfalls. Maybe it is because I live in such a flat part of Ontario, where there is so little topographic relief that waterfalls seem so foreign to me. How flat is it you ask.....I mean it is so flat, that some rural drains have to have the water pumped out since there isn't enough water flow to drain out on its own! Whatever the reason, I will go out of my way to check out waterfalls and see them at different times of the year. And sometimes when the birds and other wildlife aren't terribly abundant, a waterfall can be a fascinating diversion to focus my energy and the camera on.

As in any landscape photography scenario, light is critical, and it is constantly changing. To really get an appealing outcome, one has to plan ahead for it. Bright contrasting light is generally unsatisfactory for most of the settings unless it is entirely out in the open, at least for the way I like to capture them. If at all possible I purposely choose an overcast day where the light is more even.  Cloudy bright is probably ideal, just to get a bit of shadow for effect.

For most waterfalls, I like a sense of water movement, giving a silky smooth look. That means low light, a slow shutter speed, no wind, a camera body with mirror lock-up, a cable release and a sturdy tripod. Sometimes a neutral density filter helps out, which cuts out the light by several stops, enabling some photos to be as long as 30 seconds. Most of the time one can get away with shutter speeds of as fast as 0.8 seconds, but usually one or two seconds works well.Obviously under these conditions, hand-holding a camera will not work, so a good solid tripod is necessary.

Some people use a very small f/stop, even as small as f/22, to result in a slower shutter speed. I prefer an f/stop in the f/8 to f/11 range, since that is typically the sharpest f/stop of most lenses......going too small, will invariably compromise the sharpness of the image.

A word of caution: One has to remember that slopes near waterfalls are sometimes unstable, wet, often muddy and slippery. There is definitely a risk to life and limb in getting too close, as well as a risk to expensive camera gear!

There is one great little waterfall not too far from home. It is at Rock Glen Conservation Area, at the edge of Arkona, east of Sarnia and only a little more than an hour away from home. It is a treat at any time of the year, although in mid summer the water may just be a gentle trickle.

Rock Glen in November--view from downstream

Rock Glen in February--view from the stairs

But for most waterfalls I would have to travel at least 3-4 hours to get to. There is a wonderful selection at various spots along the Niagara Escarpment.

Of course one of the best known waterfalls in the whole world is this next one, a combination of Niagara Falls on the right and the American Falls on the left. It is a panoramic photo stitch, and is at the southern end of the Niagara Escarpment in Ontario.

Hamilton is often referred to as the 'city of waterfalls' since there are sooooo many to choose from in the greater Hamilton area. Some are small and delicate, some are large and powerful. The ones along the escarpment are often known as 'plunge' falls, since the erosive action of the falling water undermines the weaker rock material below so that the water seldom touches any other rock material before it gets to the bottom. Sometimes the water may plunge in several stages.

Considerably smaller than Niagara -- and what falls in Ontario isn't -- is Felker's Falls. It is adjacent to a municipal park next to a subdivision.

Felker's Falls

 This next one doesn't even have a name that I am aware of. I came across it on my way to get to a lower vantage point to photograph Rockway Falls.

Sherman Falls is very much a favourite of mine, and very accessible. A good trail leads to an excellent viewing point about 200-300 metres from the small parking area.

Sherman Falls

 Tiffany Falls is another very accessible one, and just a short distance from Sherman Falls.

Tiffany Falls

 About 300 metres upstream from Tiffany Falls is Washboard Falls, obviously named by the gentle change in the rock strata which resembles a washboard.

Washboard Falls

Washboard Falls close-up

At the other end of the scale is Webster's Falls. It is large and almost always has a good volume of water going over. I didn't use a slow shutter speed for this, as I wanted to capture the feeling of size and power. To get an idea of its size, look closely at the upper right of the falls to see some people.

Webster's Falls

There are many more falls to search out in the Hamilton area.

A bit farther north along the escarpment north of Hwy 401 in the Milton area are a few others. This first one is Hilton Falls. It is a pleasant 25 minute walk from the parking lot along a forest trail in the conservation area by that name.

Hilton Falls

 While looking for another falls, I came across this tiny one along the road side. Some folks may not even recognize it as a true waterfalls, but even though it is small, it has its own delicate character. I don't know if it has an official name or not. I've called it Snow Creek Falls, as I believe the trickle of water is part of Snow Creek.

Farther north yet along the escarpment there are some impressive falls. Right at the edge of the town of Durham is McGowan Falls. One has to choose certain angles to keep man-made objects out of the view, however.

McGowan Falls

Another favourite one of mine is Hoggs Falls, just a bit east of Flesherton. It is not known by many, although most times when I have visited there has been one or two others there. The first view is from the upper level.

Hoggs Falls

For the more adventurous, there is sometimes a rope available to climb down a slippery slope via tree roots and rocks. The view from the lower level is worth it, but the risk isn't for everyone!  

Hoggs Falls lower vantage point

One of the best known waterfalls along the escarpment is Inglis Falls, near Owen Sound. To get an idea of scale, look at the people at the upper right hand side as they sit on the rocks beside the falling water.

Inglis Falls

One that takes a little more effort to get to, and therefore is not busy, is Indian Falls, a few kilometres north of Owen Sound. It requires good sturdy hiking footwear, and is about a 20 minute walk from the parking lot yet even the walk which involves a bit of climbing is quite enjoyable.

Along the trail to Indian Falls

This is definitely one where you want overcast conditions, as otherwise the light is very contrasting, and you have to look into it.

Indian Falls

There are other falls in southwestern Ontario, which I may get to in a future post. And I will definitely try to show some of the ones I've explored in eastern and north-central Ontario!

Something a little different

A few days ago we re-visited parts of central Ontario and the southern range of northern Ontario. We do this 2-3 times a year, since our daughter and hubby live in North Bay.

It is always a treat to experience a landscape where forest, hills, lakes and rocks dominate instead of the flatlands of the extreme southwest.

We were hoping to catch some of the brilliant colours of autumn, knowing that the predominant hardwoods would have more colour in the southern parts compared to the more subdued colours of predominantly conifers of the more northern extent of our travels.

The weather was generally overcast, with occasional days of rain. I think during the 6 days we were away, the sun only came out for a few hours on two of those days. But the overcast conditions provided some saturated colours to enjoy.

Brooks Falls, a few kilometers north of Huntsville, and even fewer kilometers east of Hwy 11, is a favourite stop along the way. The Magnetawan River tumbles over and through a series of rocky rapids, including one drop of about 3-4 metres. It is very accessible, and one can park just a few metres from where your first glimpse of the falls can be had. This first image was taken more or less from the edge of the parking area. There was a light rain at the time.

Brooks Falls

 A fairly steep trail leads from the edge of the parking area to almost the water level, with several spots along the way to capture the falls. When the trail is wet and/or covered with leaves and needles, it can be difficult to navigate, so extreme care is needed especially when one has lots of expensive photo equipment to carry!

Our main destination was North Bay. Fortunately there are a few places to explore close at hand. One of my favourites is the 97 hectare (240 acre) Laurier Woods Conservation Area, right within the city limits. It can be good for birding as well as giving one vistas of a typical northern landscape. Being within the city, and very close to the traffic of Hwy 11, traffic noise is always present to some degree, but it gets buffered by the forest vegetation. A few scenes from along the several kilometres of trail follow.

There are two small lakes within the conservation area, one of which is maintained by beavers. From the lookout for the image below, I noted Common Merganser, Mallard, Wood Duck, Green-winged Teal and Hooded Merganser.

Birds elsewhere along the trail were few, but included White-throated Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, American Robin, Common Raven and Downy Woodpecker. Migrant warblers were non-existent at the time I was there, but maybe if I had spent more time looking through my binoculars instead of through my landscape camera viewfinder, I might have seen some :-).

Another natural feature worth visiting while in the North Bay area is Duchesnay Falls. It is immediately adjacent to Hwy 17 at the western edge of the city. A trail runs along both sides of the falls and river, providing excellent views. The first image was taken from the Hwy 17 road allowance.

This next image shows the eastern offshoot of the main falls, which is worth visiting all in itself.

The main falls is featured in this short video clip, with a stopped action shot of this same site immediately below. (The original video clip was ~50 mb in size, but I got it re-sized to 2.4 mb to include here. However the quality does not show the clarity that the original does. But uploading a 50mb file here isn't an option. If anyone has suggestions, I'm open!)

 This next photo shows the shallow but busy set of rapids just upstream from the main falls, and are attractive in their own right.

I have always been interested in old growth forest. There is something very appealing to me about exploring a forest that is about as pristine as it gets, at least for the time we live in. One can read the descriptions of the early explorers to get a feel for the magnitude of the forests they encountered. Unfortunately the opportunities are few and far between to even get a basic feel for such forest conditions any more, and one has to actively search out the small remnants.

I acquired a recently published book entitled Ontario's Old Growth Forests, and take the opportunity to check out some that are highlighted in this book whenever I am in an area where they persist. One such site is just north of Marten River Provincial Park, which is about 60 km north of North Bay. An Eastern White Pine reported to be 127 cm in diameter has been seen in this small strip of forest a short distance from the highway. Other lesser sized pines are also present, as well as large, mature Yellow Birch. A forest reserve occurs along the eastern side of the highway, both north and south of Marten River PP. I took the opportunity to explore this for an hour or so, trying to take in the characteristics of what an old growth forest of this type can look like.

The White Pine in the centre of this image didn't measure 127 cm, but was in the 100 cm range as far as I could tell.

Old growth forest is more than just large trees, although large trees are often a primary characteristic. I plan to devote an entire blog (or maybe two?) to old growth forest in the future.

Recent North Lambton travels

I've been out a lot these last few days, so it is time to catch up on some blog posts.

A few days ago I was doing some inventory type of field work with a couple of colleagues at a site in northern Lambton County. The weather was great, and we found some interesting things, including a small tallgrass prairie type of site. There wasn't anything really exceptional in the site.....it hadn't burned for quite some time, and a regular occurrence of fire is absolutely essential for the long-term and short-term health of the prairie and its inhabitants. Nonetheless, we did find a few stems of a rather rare orchid called Great Plain's Ladies'-tresses (Spiranthes magnicamporum), which is provincially ranked as S3. I look forward to re-visiting the site at another time of year to see what other goodies might be present.

There are several other Ladies'-tresses types of orchids, but this is one of the later flowering species, and it is distinctive by its larger size compared to most of the others. It also has a very distinctive fragrance reminding me of a combination of hot plastic and vanilla!

On our lunch break we observed several Sharp-shinned Hawks, a 3rd year Bald Eagle, a Red-shouldered Hawk, a Red-tailed Hawk, one or two common Nighthawks and a couple of Sandhill Cranes.

Back on site, we found a few snakes (Northern Brown and Eastern Garter) as well as frogs (Leopard and Green) and American Toads, but nothing exceptional. Some of the plants we were on the lookout for we encountered, including American Ginseng, Green Dragon and Butternut, all officially Species At Risk. Due to their significance and legislated rarity, I will not divulge their locations. 

This next image features a fruiting individual of American Ginseng. It was not taken at the site we found it, but is one I had in my photo files. I did take a photo with my cell phone, but on the chance that someone could obtain the location from the cell phone pic via some internal GPS reading, I decided not to use it here (aside from the fact that it is a relatively poor quality). I do not have my main camera connected to any GPS coordinate software, partly so no one can track the location where I have taken my photos. American Ginseng is highly sought after by collectors for its apparent medical benefits, and the major illegal collecting problem is the reason it is now a Species At Risk.

Towards the end of the day, we were travelling near Kettle Point, and noted an obvious movement of raptors. In a matter of minutes we recorded several kettles (appropriately near Kettle Point!) of Broad-winged Hawks totalling more than 500 birds, a juvenile Bald Eagle, 2 or more Red-tailed Hawks, more than 20 Sharp-shinned Hawks and 20 Turkey Vultures. Later in the day, I read where a resident of the area had reported a total of 15,600 hawks passing through between 1-4 p.m., just to the north of where we saw our birds a bit later.

Broad-winged Hawk

I had heard from another birding friend that large numbers of hawks can be found migrating along the Lake Huron shoreline during periods of brisk east to northeast winds. The brisk southeast winds of this particular day had pushed migrating hawks up along the Lake Huron shoreline, so we were at the right spot at the right time to view this phenomenon.

Before heading back home to Chatham, I stopped in at one of my favourite places in north Lambton to view one of the area's relatively well-kept secrets. 

One doesn't normally associate waterfalls in the extreme southwestern flatlands of the province. If one wants to see such landscapes, one has to go to the more rugged part of the country along the Niagara Escarpment or central/northern Ontario, right? 

Not!! 

This waterfall is located at Rock Glen Conservation Area, at the NE edge of Arkona. The Ausable River Conservation Authority manages this site which is famous for its fossils in the sedimentary rock that are exposed along this stream. There is a parking area, picnic area, rustic washroom facility, museum and best of all, a hiking trail compete with stairway to reach the bottom of the gorge to see the falls up close. The first photo shown above was taken from 2/3 of the way down the stairway.

Side views are generally my preference, but one can get downstream a bit to see it from different vantage points and angles. One has to be cautious, of course, because the wet rocks are slippery!!!

Venturing a bit farther downstream, one can get intimate views of some of the minor sections of the falls.

A few days earlier, I had noted a plea for help posted on ONtbirds to track down a certain Great Egret which had been spotted in the Petrolia area. This egret had a blue wing tag, but the tag number was not easy to determine. So while travelling down hwy 21, I stopped where Black Creek flows under a bridge immediately north of Oil Springs. My primary goal was to photograph the flooded creek, overflowing with water from recent rainfall events. 

As I looked at the flooded pasture, I noted a Great Egret, and upon a closer view, noted it had a blue wing tag. Out came my 'scope and telephoto lens.

Part of the individual identification alpha/numeric code was visible, but even in looking at the bird for several minutes with my 'scope, it was clear that the letter was hard to discern. I sent the photos to the individual with Environment Canada who did the banding. We agreed that it was likely bird 95K rather than 95R. This bird was banded this year on June 26. The colony was on an island in southern Georgian Bay and the bird was too young to fly when it was banded.