Late fall

The temperatures are rapidly dropping, the frost is encroaching and much of the natural world is dying back, finding crevices and tunnels for hibernation or rapidly vacating the province. There's still some time to go before winter has truly arrived, but it is becoming more and more apparent every day that we're almost there.

I've had much less time than I'd like to enjoy the latter part of the fall with school commitments, and I've not been finding too much when I do get out, so have not been able to post much recently. I'm planning to spend some time enjoying birds I won't see again until March or April as well as some recent winter arrivals this weekend though.

Regardless, here's some interesting wildlife I've come across in the past month or so.

White-tailed Deer have been incredibly successful at colonizing urban areas. I was happy to see this buck two minutes from my front door in Guelph.

Only a few species of odonates persist in any numbers into October. Spotted Spreadwings like this one are one of the characteristic late fall species, along with Familiar Bluet, Common Green Darner, Shadow Darner and Autumn Meadowhawk.

American Crows, despite their abundance in many areas, are surprisingly difficult to get close to. I'm not sure why this one was so tame.