Canada Geese And Cattails

Northern Idaho and surrounding areas of Washington and Montana are blessed with a great variety of both flora and fauna.  The southern edge of the boreal forest, the Rocky Mountains and inter-montane habitat types blend into one another into.  Many species of migratory birds pass through the Idaho panhandle following Pacific flyway routes. Canada Geese, often called Honkers, are one of the most common.  Large flocks settle on the lakes and rivers.

Some Canada Geese are also year-round residents in the Sandpoint-Lake Pend Oreille area.  The image below depicts some of them on Sand Creek just a short distance upriver from Sandpoint.

While we do not seem to have suffered from a loss of birds that has plagued many part of North America I have noticed an increasing number of dead geese, and fish, in recent years while in my kayak. Whether that somehow results from the appearance of Eurasian Milfoil in out waterways, chemicals used to combat the infestation, construction and habitat degradation near the water, or some other factor, I do not know, but I worry about environmental degradation in this are as the population grows.

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Canada Geese And Cattails

Red Sky At Morning

Sunrise on Lake Pend Oreille. I went down to the waterfront one morning to watch the sun rise. Both clouds and smoke from forest fires in the region contributed to the redness of the sky. There was a very liquid feel that morning with the weather and that fact that the sun reflected off not only the water but the underside of the cloud layer, so I made this image a bit “out of focus.”

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A very red sun rise on Lake Pend Oreille

Shore Patrol

Canada Geese goslings are escorted along the shoreline of Lake Pend Oreille in northern Idaho by an adult; nice blue mountains on the other side of the lake. This is a typical scene at City Beach park in Sandpoint.

For many years there was a group of resident geese. The powers that be decided they had to go – too many droppings – despite protests. The geese were eliminated and, in my opinion, it was a loss to the town. Now, however, there is a new group of year-round residents. They are fairly tolerant of humans allowing for close viewing and photography.

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A stroll on the beach

The Old Red Truck

A nice rural scene here. A dilapidated, old, red truck sitting near an abandoned cabin.

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The Old Red Truck

Not! I manufactured the image from three photographs I took in Sandpont, ID over a period of years using free software.

Here is the original photograph of the truck. You will notice that the truck is white. Transforming it into a red truck was a bit more difficult than it would otherwise have been as the color was so close to that of the snow. Still, it only took a few minutes.

The Old White Truck

Here is the original photo of the house. Notice that the image is horizontally reversed.

Ramshackle Cabin

And here is the original background image, also horizontally reversed, from some years ago.

Background Image

The three photos assembled into one. As I was not trying trying to create an image to fool the Internet public I did not take much care with precision cropping of outlines; or matching hues, saturation or luminosity. Not bad though; for a quickie job.

Three Photos Into One

Be warned You can’t trust what you see. There are many people out there trying to put one over on you.

Boo!

Happy Halloween from Sandpoint Idaho.

A Tato’lantern for you.

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Happy Halloween

Lake Pend Oreille

I worked this up from a photo I took in Sandpoint, ID some yers ago. Looking east from City Beach across Lake Pend Oreille (ponderay) on a winter day; snow-covered mountains in the distance. The refelctive area in the foreground is ice along the shore extending part way across the lake. Some years the ice is thick enough for hockey games.

The lake is reported to have a monster, like Loch Ness or Lake Champlain, called Pend O’Reilly. I have never seen it, but I always keep a watchful eye out when in my kayak, especially if it’s foggy and snowing.

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Lake Pend Oreille on a Winter Day