Toronto | Mama Cormier

….thanks to Jez for hosting the I’m a fan of….challenge, this week he chose swanshttps://jezbraithwaite.blog/2022/01/24/swans-1-fan-of-142/

I am a fan of swans and have lots of photos of them in the archives but I decided to go for a walk late this afternoon to see if I could find some close to home. I walked east of the house and stayed close to the edge of the parks looking for these beautiful birds. I one area where I usually see up to a dozen or more was inaccessible because the ramp to the lake was piled high with snow from the ploughs.

I continued further east and finally came across a flock of them about a kilometre or more from the house. Here are my swans in winter on the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto.

0711-F475-56-F9-4229-B78-C-70-CBC9-DF01-FE

7-FD83981-8823-48-BC-A672-C573893-F5-C04

F99-FBF09-8-CFF-4-F3-C-BD96-8-A89-B8601-F4-D

6948-C4-F5-29-C4-4-CB6-A9-D6-D69-F812401-C6

….sorry that I’m a day late

It’s no secret that my husband is not a fan of squirrels but he isn’t completely heartless. Back in October of last year he heard this strange noise coming from the outside of the house. It was heart wrenching to hear because it was clearly an animal in distress. He quickly ascertained that the noise was coming from the downspout. Somehow a squirrel had managed to get stuck.

Kevin quickly removed the bend in the spout and lo and behold a tail popped out. There was no doubt that it was a squirrel but even after removing the extra bit of downspout the little fellow was still stuck. I suggested that he get some gloves on and gently pull on the tail. Unfortunately in doing so the tip of the tail came off. We knew that we couldn’t leave him like that so Kevin grabbed the tail higher up and pulled again. This time he was able to free the squirrel. You never saw a squirrel move so fast.

Over the next few months we’ve kept our eyes out for Stubby (Kevin even named this squirrel) and we knew he was okay when we saw him around the bird feeder. I’m glad to report that the tip of the tail is growing back.