Grasse River Ice
I was feeling well enough to venture outdoors yesterday. The snow is too deep to go hiking down to the river so I drove around the block and stopped at the bridges in Morley and Buck’s Bridge.
The Morley Grist Mill
With the cold we’ve had over the last month I wasn’t surprised to find the rapids nearly frozen over. What surprised me was seeing snowmobile tracks on the ice. On this section of river even walking on the ice is questionable. Who knows how unstable the ice is with the swift current eating away at it from underneath.
It occurred to me that the snowmobile driver must be looking to win a Darwin Award.
Looking down river from the bridge
From Morley I headed down river to Buck’s Bridge. Approaching the bridge I spotted some Canada Geese so I parked and attempted to sneak up on them.
No such luck, they spotted me right away and didn’t hesitate to flee. I had to zoom in with my camera (Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28) to get a clear shot. I tried the landscape, snow and closeup modes to see which image came out best. The closeup / flower mode came out best – I was surprised I held the camera steady enough at full 18x zoom to get a fairly good photo.
I took more photos of the swimming downstream to the bridge before going to the bridge myself. I was a bit surprised to find the river was much more open here. The current isn’t nearly as strong as it is by Morley.
Looking upstream from Buck’s Bridge
I spotted some white farm geese on the downstream side of the bridge.
The farm geese didn’t appreciate my presence anymore than the wild ones. With me as a common threat they didn’t seem to mind each others company.
One goose in the distance didn’t seem to mind me.
It was either too busy feeding to notice me or it was playing ostrich.
Pics are linked to a larger size image (1024 x 768) for a closer look or to use as desktop wallpaper.
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February 4th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Awesome photos!! Its too cold to venture out today unless you have to!! Wish I could just stay home be warm, cozy, and bake.
February 4th, 2009 at 11:31 am
Hai, Glad to see you are fully back again.
You really have those amazing pictures showing such a good detail and story.
Did the playing ostrich geese knocked its head against the ice when it lifted its head later?
February 4th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Wonderful shots! Glad to see you up and about a bit. Amazing how one place is so frozen compared to the other. I enjoy old bridges too.
Have a great day and stay warm.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
It sure doesn’t look like the ducks and water fowl enjoys a dip anytime of the year.
Coffee is on.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Glad you’re doing better. You would think that the snowmobilers would see the wet spots on the river, and think twice about going out there. I haven’t seen any swimming geese, or even enough liquid water for them lately.:)
February 4th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Always enjoy your photos.
I also have wondered why certain areas of the river seem frozen and other not. We live very close to the Champlain canal and there are several places that stay open. There are no swift moving rapids or dams, so I have no idea. The geese love these areas of open water.
February 6th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Glad to see you’re on the mend, John. I’m in the undead state myself with this cold/flu/zombie-eated-mah-brainz thing going on. It’ll pass eventually, as will winter. So I’m told….