Rusty Blackbird

Sept. 6 2008

Enjoying my yard yesterday, it wasn't till 5 pm, I set of to the wild, to my very well known 'moose skull lake'. See pictures below and above. When I walk to the lake I cross that bush road , where I saw the bear, and indeed there are footprints. There is claw marks in the ground. In a brochure from the Yukon Government, it states that, that means it is mostly likely from a grizzly indeed. I did find the print rather wider then long, which means the opposite. But measuring the print, 8 inches wide, again suggests; Grizzly. Because it all went so fast I thought it could have been a brownish Black Bear.
The day is sunny and calm, but when I arrive at the lake there is still a slight ripple in the water, later on when I leave it is like a mirror. Well you see what it is in the photos I posted. The photo from myself was taken last week at Squange Lake. Here in the Yukon, a photo never catches it all, there is Beauty 360 degrees.

When I arrive, there are no birds in sight, but on the North end of the Lake, 3 interesting ones fly out of the grass, on the lake shore. I zoom them in with my camera, and looking at them at home, it turns out they are Rusty Blackbirds, which delights me, because that is not a bird I readily recognize yet. At the East end of the Lake there is a lone duck, and walking on the south side, there is a shore bird with a longish beak, making a certain sound. When I read my bird books; it suggest that the Shorebirds all have different voices. So much to learn, next time I will take particular notice of the sounds. For me, being more a visual person I guess, when I hear a new sound I have to analyze it and write it down phonetically right away. My memory doesn't carry the sound home.

As I probably have said before; the more I wander around at 'my little lake in the back' (moose skull). the more I love it.