#2390 "Weather Beaten"

 

The trees were heavily flagged on Lally Island - another of the islands in the Georgian Bay Archipelago. Any vegetation that reached above the shrubs was blown over in the prevailing westerly onshore flow. These trees had to be firmly rooted in the Canadian Shield. I wanted to capture the rugged nature of the Georgian Bay landscape. This quiet spot is invaluable as it allows one to be alone with nature. These trees have a personality as well and I wanted them to have their say, so to speak, in the oils. 

The 30,000 Islands of the Parry Sound Archipelago supports unique ecosystems. All kinds of creatures rely on these rocky havens away from the influences of most humans. The fox snake in particular survives in part because they live most of their life on these isolated rocky islands. They swim ashore to hook up and breed. Although eastern foxsnakes are considered terrestrial, these reptiles not only live close to water, they frequently swim from one location to another. Individuals of the Georgian Bay population of Eastern Foxsnake are highly aquatic and on occasion are known to swim for more than 10 kilometres. While it simply swallows baby mice, nestlings and bird eggs, these snakes squeeze larger prey to death before eating it. 

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