Tuesday’s Tails #12.

Posted on July 20, 2021 by

49 Comments

Good Tuesday morning to all of you! What a change in the weather out there, feels absolutely chilly with a temp of only 57F (14C). And it’s cloudy, plus smoky. Yesterday was the worst day yet for smoke, very thick and strong smelling. It was bothering my throat, making me cough, burning my eyes. It’s not so bad this morning, but it’s still out there. That should change as the wind is supposed to start up from the south this morning and there are no fires south of us. According to the government fire map, there are currently 107 forest fires burning in NW Ontario this morning. The 2 largest are nearly 300,000 acres, each are just about 100 acres less than that. There are several more around 200,000 acres, and many more in the 50,000 to 150,000 acre size.

Another pic of the Canada warbler I got about 2 weeks ago.

Of that number there are 77 not under control, 11 being held, and 19 under control. We did get about 1 inch (25mm) of rain yesterday morning across much of the region during some thunderstorm activity which should help a bit to slow down some of these fires. More showers are expected tomorrow with cooler temps. It won’t stop those big fires, but it might help a lot with the smaller fires. The 185 acre fire west of us is still not under control. Other provinces have sent firefighters and water bombers to help out. Mexico has sent 100 firefighters, Wisconsin has sent 9. One firefighter has died so far. We haven’t had such a bad year since 2006, but we have had worse years.

I might have to change Slim’s name. I named him that because he had such a skinny tail, it looked like a chipmunk tail. But it has been growing out to a normal tail now, except for one skinny part right at the base of his tail. So it still looks a bit odd. He is the only squirrel left now, none of the others come around anymore. And I spotted him chasing Coffee this morning, but he lost him in a clump of daylilies. Those daylilies are great for the chipmunks. The red-eyed vireos had their babies around last evening so I was out trying to get pictures. Unfortunately they were not cooperating very well.

The red-eyed vireo, his red eye actually shows a bit. If you have a magnifier then it really shows nicely.

I did get a pic of an adult sitting on the wire fence, not the best pic, but it’s the only one I have for the red-eyed vireo, so I’m happy! Hopefully I can get a better one some day. There was a family of warblers out there too, but I couldn’t get a pic of them, couldn’t even see them very well so I’m not quite sure what species they were. Oh well, maybe next time. Only one gull here this morning, Sir George, not quite sure why the others didn’t show up. There’s getting to be less activity around here all the time. Good thing the chipmunks still come around. I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2021 Steve McLeod.

Category: Birds, Country Pleasures, Forest Fire, Friends, Happiness, Nature, Photos, Positive, Summer, UncategorizedTags: , , , , , , ,

49 Comments on “Tuesday’s Tails #12.”

  2. Enjoyed the pics ! …I am coughing because of the smoke here…had to lock the windows to deter the smoke…can’t go outside either…at least it is cooler now ! ☕️☕️🙂😻🐿🥜 trust that the smoke you are experiencing will move out…

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    • Yes, much cooler today! Too much of a change for me. Still some smoke, but not too bad today, yesterday was so bad. Glad you liked the pics, enjoy your evening!😀😻🌞🌙

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  3. oh yes I do, the red eyes are showing nicely, great pic Uncle Steve😎 wear double masks, stay safe, you better change slim name, if nobody is coming how dare little Slim 😮 too bad for a little him 😾 Muffin should teach him a lesson 😇 Have a lovely day, stay warm, don’t go around shirtless 😅😁

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      • wow; someone tell me that some of the fires they are just going to give up and wait for winter weather to take care of them…

        Liked by 1 person

      • Yes, there are some of our fires that will likely burn right through to winter. But we have had some fires other years that kept burning underground all winter and came back the next year. They can’t possibly fight all the fires now, so they concentrate on ones that are closer to communities and on new fires before they get big.

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      • Yes, it certainly is a tough job, not many people make it through the training. Those men and women deserve a lot of respect. Can’t remember if I mentioned, one fire ranger died a few days ago, too much heat from the fire he was working on.

        Liked by 1 person

      • They certainly deserve more than what they get. Right now they are really getting worn out because our fire season started so early. He was with a crew fighting a smaller fire not far from here. Even smaller fires are dangerous and can get surprisingly hot.

        Liked by 1 person

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