Sights and sounds of the season

I was outside, digging up rocks for the garden. I have to do it now, before the grasses grow and cover them. I found a lovely pink-coloured rock, buried in some sand, which you can see surrounding the salamander. Perhaps a dump from glaciation. Normally, our rocks are boring, white limestone!
I discovered two critters: a salamander (blue spotted: Ambystoma laterale) and a tree frog, both bury themselves for the winter. I felt badly and buried them again.
You can report amphibian sightings to Ontario Atlas.

It's been a long, cold winter for many critters. They'll be happy when (if?) it warms up. This wee tree, transplanted from the bog two years ago, has been chewed by the field mice.

Field mouse that got away from Daisy

Huge teeth - this one didn't get away

claws

Red-winged blackbird from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
I love watching them. The red-winged blackbirds have been busy, too.
The noise is the OPP, who are recertifying at the range 500m away. This is an annual thing. Daisy doesn't like it. Normally they do these tests in summer, when the foliage protects us from the sounds. They stand in a line of 12 or so, and fire for 10 seconds, all at the same time. At first, we thought it sounded like rapid fire guns, but they all start at once, stop, and try again. They have to hit the targets or they fail. Apparently, they lose sleep over it. The pressure to perform must be tough. They also provide some updated training, to keep them in top form.

Saturday's Critters

Visit more critters: #21. I created the logo for Eileen!