Photo of girl taking picture of flower
Photo of Mourning Dove on nest

We had no sooner settled in for our meeting when a late arrival reported that the Mourning Dove just outside the door was feeding its nestling. Everyone rushed out to watch. The bird had started building her nest during one of our meetings, and is so used to people she wasn’t perturbed at all.

Macouners all seem to have cameras and use them to get nature photographs. When our meeting resumed, we took turns presenting our pictures to the group. Rachel’s images ranged from a hanging drop of rainwater that had focused the world beyond within itself, to a black squirrel with glowing yellow eyes. Jan’s pictures reflected his interests and adventures: cormorants in Ottawa, a Grey Seal and a Fin Whale, and a Gannet colony. Samantha showed photos of a crowd of Carp plowing through the shallow water of her family’s flooded meadow. Gabriel had pictures of birds, including a local Red-headed Woodpecker and a thousand Snow Geese (with several Blue Geese mixed in). Niccolo had pointed his camera through a microscope and captured images of Gypsy Moth caterpillars hatching.