Andrew Trundlewagon's photos

American red squirrel

Tradescantia flowers (spiderwort) after a light rain. They open in the morning and close in the afternoon, avoiding strong sunlight.

Creeping butercups

White breasted nuthatch (St Bruno)

Some columbine (aquilegia) from the garden

A green frog (Lithobates clamitans) just hanging out.

Bullfrog tadpoles in rather murky water. (Têtards).

Angry bird; a pileated woodpecker feeding on a fallen tree trunk

Virginia bluebells (Mertensia Virginica), Belleview woods, upper Don Valley, Toronto. There is a good patch of them growing in the woods just off the bike path and we try to find them if we are visiting at the right time of year. These are a little over their prime, the younger flowers have a dark pink hue that turns light blue as they age. It's said that the colour change tells the bees which flowers are worth visiting and which to skip, although I am not sure how reliable that information is.

A large white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) which, confusingly, in this case is pink. The normally white flowers turn pink as they age, but there is also a rare variety that is pink from the moment it blooms. A woodland plant that flowers in mid to late spring. The seeds have an oily attachment called the elaiosome that ants find irresistible. The ants carry the seeds back to their nests, feed on the elaiosomes and abandon the rest of the seed near the nest where some will sprout. The white trillium is the floral emblem of Ontario.

Wild black currant flowers. They are part of the gooseberry family and were used by indigenous peoples to make pemmican, a mix of dried meat, fat and sometimes berries. Apparently the currants are not very palatable unless cooked with sugar, although I have not tasted them to find out. These were growing on the side of a path in a wooded urban area, the Upper Don Valley Ravine in Toronto. They are related to the European black currant (famed for cassis), both being in the genus Ribes.

Snow bells (Leucojum).

Spring flowers. We have a squirrel problem in that they systematically behead our tulips. This is one of the few that survived the onslaught.

People in a park. Toronto (photo taken by my wife)

A lick of paint, new tires and an oil change, and she's as good as new. (Maybe not). Near Toronto airport.

The wonder truck. (Dixon road, near airport, Toronto)

Spring flowers

Creature in the woods.