The Great White Whale got to enjoy some later afternoon sunshine this week. A young friend of ours graduated Grade 8, and he requested to be delivered to the ceremony in style. And of course, do a little photo shoot with ol’ Bonne beforehand.

We arranged to meet up at a park in Petrolia (a town about 25 minutes west of us). It’s a lovely little park that I’ve been dying to explore. So Dave and I headed out a little early, and while he did a little last minute detailing (mostly cleaning bugs off her grill), I wandered around the park with my camera.

Bear Creek (a northern branch of the Sydenham – the river that runs through our town) runs through the park… and part of it widens into a large, lake-like area. I wandered along the edge, trying to get shots of the little blue dragonflies that were flitting about. No luck there. The flock of geese were a much easier target.

And I got a nice shot of a red-winged black bird.

These guys visit our yard, but they are quite hard to get pictures of. This guy was more compliant.

Naturally I took some pictures of the vegetation too.

Native (but aggressive) Hedge Bindweed, and Non-Native (ironically named) Canada Thistle. It’s a shame about that thistle… it’s actually considered invasive. If it wasn’t I’d be going back for some seed because it was so pretty.

I did surprise a beautiful garter snake, but it was very shy and very fast, so no pictures.

But it took Dave’s eagle eyes to spot the best discovery….

A Great Blue Heron!

He was on the other side of the lake and stood so still, I don’t know how Dave spotted him. Even when he pointed him out, I needed the help of the long lens to see him. Happily, I was able to get closer for a lovely close-up with the long lens.

I tried to move even closer… but he took offense and decided the other shore had better fishing anyway.

What a wonderful sight!

Sadly, I ran out of time to explore, as our young friend had arrived, and we were on a schedule! But you can bet I’ll be bugging Dave to return and spend more time there!