The Magic Of Lanterns - Montreal Botanical Gardens

I recently visited the Botanical Gardens and stayed at night to see the show entitled "The Magic Of Lanterns".  It was very beautiful and I hope these pictures do it justice.

An added bonus was the full moon which, positioned beside the Olympic Stadium tower, added to the magic.  I was trying to get the reflections of the tower, moon and lanterns in the still waters when a duck very noisily landed with a loud splash and sent the water rippling in all directions.  Talk about a grand entrance for an audience!

Close encounters of the hawk kind.

Recently I had the extraordinary experience of spending well over half an hour sitting between two low slung trees at the Montreal Botanical Gardens while surrounded by four young Cooper's Hawks.

These hawks (along with the two parents) have been drawing dozens of photographers to the Gardens and sometimes there seem to be more tripods than trees!

That being said, I was extremely lucky to have had such a long time alone with the foursome. I was able to squat down and waddle slowly (such an elegant gait) up to each bird until I was within 3 to 4 feet.

The reason I could do this was based on a few factors: the birds have been raised in a place that brings them in close contact with humans; they are young and more trusting than the wiser adults; and one was eating its prey which meant the others were waiting for their opportunity to get a share and I was the least of their concerns.

I took hundreds of photos constantly changing settings, angles, flash versus no flash, etc. and here are some of the best results.

Here is a 28 second video. I get a chill each time the hawk seems to look directly at me!

One sleepy little Grebe

Last week-end I visited the Montreal Botanical Gardens and came upon a sleepy Pied-billed Grebe. It went through an elaborate yawning and stretching routine (actually three times!) and later on did another "ballerina" type display. I will put that in a separate blog. I hope you enjoy this sequence of photos.

Birds galore!

Since yesterday's weather proved to be much nicer than what was originally predicted, I went to the Montreal Botanical Gardens. At one of the feeders I saw a bird that I thought was a Pine Grosbeak until I got home and looked at the pictures on the computer (next time I should bring my binoculars!). It was a "first year" male White-winged Crossbill. This is a bird I have been hoping to see for years. I knew it had been sighted in the Gardens but I had never been lucky enough to see one until now! Its pink and yellow plumage (very exotic looking to me) will change to a deep pink.

I also saw House Finches, Redpolls, Juncos, Chickadees, Nuthatches and a Cardinal. It was a great day!

White-winged Crossbill



House Finches (male and female)




Cardinal