A family of eight North American river otters. Awesome sight so close to the canoe. Two of them were holding freshly caught fish in their mouth. I make "kissing" sounds with my lips to help spike their curiosity and stay in sight longer.
There are many harbingers of spring:
Lily of the valley
Wild strawberry
Fireweed
Saskatoon berry
?
Blueberry
Spruce buds
Juniper buds
?
Pink corydalis
Lingonberry
Jack pine buds
Gooseberry
Pink lady's slipper orchid
Wild rose
?
Pollen from pine and spruce trees. When the wind blows through a stand of pines, the air is clouded with yellow "dust". My boots and shirt are covered in it.
Mayflies ("fishflies") numbering in the thousands. They mate in midair and die soon after laying eggs on the water surface.
A down poplar tree with bark stripped by moose during the winter.
Cool wet weather prompts me to use the stove. Mosquitoes are bothersome, so before bedtime, I light a short three cm piece of mosquito coil in the closed tent while I vacate for 30 minutes by which time the coil is burned and smoke cleared. It is impossible to keep the buggers out of the tent when the door is open but the insecticide allethrin clears them quickly.
