I'm really happy with this picture, you can even see the velvet on his antlers. It was rough, wet country for deer, I would've expected moose.

These ducks live on a well-traveled piece of the river, so they let us get close. Another duck family wasn't used to people, the ducklings ran in one direction and the mother did the whole "i'm wounded and floundering" show, keeping just out of reach, trying to lure us away from her brood. Once the kids were far enough away she took off like a shot, no doubt very pleased with herself.

I can't be bothered squeezing landscapes into the size limit here, if anyone wants to see them vote in the poll.

I love camping with a canoe. Even after packing the essentials (tent, clothes, cooler of food, cooler of liquor) we still had room for luxury items. We brought 4 lbs of mussels that tasted mighty fine. There are probably foods with worse nutrition to mass ratios, but I can't think of any.

I got a half-decent shot of a blue heron, but nothing worth posting.

We saw a bald eagle and an osprey, but no point trying to take pictures with a point-n-shoot camera at those distances.

A trip like this sort of makes me want a better camera with a zoom lens, but there's also much to be said for a wee camera I can drop in a Ziplock bag between shots.

We saw a few beavers, but they're not very photogenic in their native habitat, just a ripple of water with 2 eyeballs poking out. I didn't know beavers were nocturnal, they splashed and made noise all dam (get it?!?!?) night around our campsite.

We didn't see any loons, but they jibber-jabbered all night. Pleasantly eery. I think of the woods as a quiet place, but it was much noiser after dark than my suburban neighbourhood.

So I got a bit of fresh air, a bit of exercise, and a nice dose of peace 'n quiet. After a long string of sucky weekends, this might keep me sane for a few more days.