Monday, June 9, 2014

A walk in the woods

On Sunday afternoon we went up to Gatineau Park to go for a walk in the woods. It was lovely, the undergrowth still low to the ground, making a lovely carpet for the towering trees above. The hoards and hoards of mosquitos on the other hand... 

So when we crossed one of the secondary roads in the park, we decided to take it on the way back instead. And on this short stretch of road we saw more wildlife than we did in the forest! A stunning swallowtail butterfly, a deer, a beaver, and a turtle laying eggs!


It's hard to see here, but she had dug a hole and was filling it with so many soft-shelled white, glistening eggs.
I sure hope she goes back into the forest after, away from the road!






“We need the tonic of wildness... At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us... We can never have enough of nature.” 
                                                         ― Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods

2 comments:

  1. Wow - how exciting! I just saw a deer on my run on Sunday - we stared at each other for a good 3 minutes before I ran away first - but I've never seen a beaver.

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    1. This deer stared at us too, for quite some time! It didn't seem bothered by us — I always get worried that they're habituated to people, and I fear for them around roads. But still, it's so amazing to get the chance to see them — they're so lovely!

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