Birds and Candles

No I didn’t break any of these – in case you were wondering.

Yesterday, after a morning of heavy “spring” cleaning The Mermaids and I went to the Riparian Forest along the Black River with Monya and BopOp to see the Heron Rookery.
Long story short…no herons.

But, like any good forest worth it’s salt, there was lots of other interesting wildlife, and with my zuper-zoom camera I was able to get good enough images for some concrete identification.

I’ve looked this one up – it seems to be a cross between a Eurasian Wigeon and an American Wigeon. One of the links even said Wigeons have been recorded to hybridize in the wild with Mallards – do we have ourselves a Wiglard?

Definitely a Northern Pintail.

Here the Pintail is resting on the log while the Wigeon-like-creature is dabbling in the river. This is a time-lapse intended to get a better image of the Pintail which put some ‘motion’ in the picture that I like.

If you stand there long enough… who knows what you’ll see. BopOp heard, in this case, something on the shore nearby and moved to investigate. He didn’t see the cause but it made him start to look around and he (and LaGrande) found this beaver house!

And on the far side of the river we see evidence that this beaver must be the size of a bobcat and is looking to upgrade his humble abode. It’s hard to tell from this picture but that is perhaps as large as a four foot diameter tree.

And, I bet you are wondering…

What the heck does this post have to do with candles anyway?

Never fear, cause we’re there now.
After the Riparian Forest lunchbreak TheMermaids and I came home and promptly woke up TheMommy with an obnoxious doorbell and set right to work making some candles.
We’ve been gonna-said-we’re-gonna make some candles for about two weeks now and today (yesterday) was the day.

From left to right you can see LaGrande’s well formed teal and orange candles, made with care and patience.
At the extreme right you can see TheWeeOne’s monster candle, formed with much gusto well beyond the natural life of a fast-cooling can of dipping wax. I think hers will burn longest.
And lastly, in the foreground, is my attempt at a multi-colored candle – somewhere between well-formed and a monster. Needless to say, they want to make more. As do I.