24-26 June - Sault Ste Marie, Midland

 Sault Ste Marie was very different than what I thought it was. The population is right around 80k so it seems like a very manageable city. It is a pretty city (19 large murals painted on building walls throughout the city), has interesting things to learn and is located beside a significant body of water. 

We spent most of our time along the along the border between Canada and the USA as divided by what's known today as "St Marys River". The Ojibwe, calling the river Baawitigong (place of the rapids), relied on the abundant fish and resources for thousands of years. Right at the city there are a set of locks which allow boats to bypass what used to be rapids. It is the key hydrological, ecological and transportation link in the Great Lakes system. 

The name "St. Marys" is derived from the name of a Fort which was built in 1654. The assumption is that the fort was likely named after Saint Mary. How random is that?? I would guess that Ontario will eventually follow the example of BC and start using indigenous names, like Baawitigong.

I didn't really care to photograph the murals, the locks or the town. Somehow my interest is birds...preferably those flying through the air. And I was not disappointed.

Most of the photographs I've created of birds in flight have come about after my sitting at a location for some time. Usually there have been few birds at the location to I've focused my attention on the few who are there. We went out to where there were supposed to be many birds at the locks of the Baawitigong and there were very few. 

I sat down and noticed one Double-crested Cormorant. I had hardly been seated when this beautiful bird took off from the water. I was successful in creating a few images of her take off when I noted another Cormorant in the locks. She/he swam out, dried off their wings and did a spectacular take off. Have a look at this series of images which show this beautiful sequence which probably happens many times a day for these birds.

We later moved upriver to where there hoped for more birds and we came across many Canada Geese! There were two things different about these geese: they were pushing their necks under water (presumably eating) which I hadn't seen before; and they were teenagers who could not yet fly. Have a look at their developing feathers and physique.

While I was photographing these birds a group of dressed up young people got out of a limo full of energy and giggles for what I assume was a photo shoot. I couldn't resist and since I have a long lens...

We learned that there was a museum in town which was dedicated to bushplanes and firefighting so we decided to visit. I had no idea! The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre is definitely worth a visit. The have gathered large numbers of vintage aircraft that stems back to the early 1900s. You can read see films about the history of these machines, often including fascinating stories where the pilot, inventer or airplane are the heros. 

They have a little theatre which they use to tell the incredible stories around fire fighting bush fires and the people, airplanes and pilots who are dedicated to this very challenging fight. Did you know that Canada is the #1 country for the production of water bombers? The Canadair CL-415 (which is currently in high demand) is made in Calgary and can scoop over 6,000 liters of water in 12 seconds, making roughly 6 to 10 trips in an hour, depending on the distance between the fire and the water source. Click this link to see these aircraft in action.

On our way to our next iOverlander site we passed through a little town where we decided to take a break, parking ourselves on the water.

Mary Lou was delighted to work in the beautiful air of the shade at a picnic table and I enjoyed more time with a a female Common Merganser with her ducklings, I watched her for a while teaching her ducklings to dive for fish and avoid predators. And they did! There were times I couldn't see any of them.

Watch me....this is how its done!

There was a seagull conference taking place on an island, 400m out...

Before arriving in Midland at our camp spot, we stopped at a beautiful little park and cooked up our supper -- rice bowls!

no, we've not gone into the flower business....they were just there!

We spent the evening, then the night at the beautiful Midland Bay Landing Park. There was one fellow fishing and several people enjoying sitting on the benches, chatting and watching the seagulls and the water. A great way to end the day and spend the night.

We enjoyed a slower wakeup, sitting on a bench beside the water for a while before we left. Rain met us as we were driving out of town towards the Tiny Marsh so we stopped at a McDonalds and eventually the Midland Library before finally deciding that we would spend our last night at the Quality In and Suites in Midland -- showers, sauna, whirlpool, washers/dryers....and 8 foot ceilings were all good incentives!