Canada Day 2015 – 148 years old

As we go into Canada Day, we thought about what symbolizes Canada and for us the Common Loon is a top contender as it appears on our dollar coin (the Loonie) and it is found throughout most of Canada. Why not post an image or two, or maybe three, of such a grand bird that we recently took in Jasper National Park. (We’re changing the header at the same time)

Although many Canadians assume that the Common Loon is Canada’s National Bird, but surprisingly Canada doesn’t have an official bird. Hopefully by the time Canada turns 150 years old in 2017 we will finally have a national bird. If you want to weigh in on what bird you think symbolizes Canada the best, you can place your vote for Canada’s national bird on the Canadian Geographic website (http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/nationalbird/).

This is our salute to Canada Day, may it remain wild and free. Happy Canada Day everyone! – Leslie and Mark

Pair of Common Loons at Leach Lake, Jasper National Park 1, Nikon Coolpix P900, ©Leslie Degner

Pair of Common Loons at Leach Lake, Jasper National Park 2, Nikon Coolpix P900, ©Leslie Degner

Common Loon at Leach Lake, Jasper National Park 3, Nikon Coolpix P900, ©Mark Degner

Spring arrives in the garden

Our garden is a little wild in places, as we have encouraged wildflower species to grow whenever possible. One species that we encouraged is Goat’s-beard, also known as Yellow Salsify (Tragopogon dubius). Today I noticed that it is one of the first plants showing itself in our garden this year. A few years back Mark went out and took a few shots of the Goat’s-beard seed heads, this is one of the results of his morning in our garden. – Leslie

Goat’s-Beard is the common name for Tragopogon dubius, Nikon D700, 24mm TS f/3.5, ©Mark Degner