A fine morning with unadulterated matutinal rays and calm air. Didn't venture far ... stayed within the precinct of the Rouge. I brought my exercise mat, camo cover and backpack. Found a spot that didn't have too much in the way of line-of-sight obstructions and had two parallel rotting logs, which didn't prove to be a good place to sit because there was no back support and my feet were dangling in the immediately deep water. Therefore I unrolled my mat behind the logs sat down with my splayed legs on the logs and my backpack for support. Covered by my camo cloth with my lens protruding I was all but invisible.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much going on next to the pond. There was so much dead wood in the water that nothing was likely to come close without having to negotiate a maze of partially submerged wood. I spotted three pair of Hooded merganser on the opposite shore (figures) and after a bit of a wait one pair finally ventured to my side, while still outside the deadwood palisade. I did the best that I could. Several GB herons flew in and out. I noticed that the herons were looking for nesting material. Got a shot (at a distance) of one heron picking out a fallen branch that it felt would be suitable wood for the nest. Tried to get a shot of the heron flying off but my lens is too slow for that sort of thing, at least when coupled to my old camera. I could hear a Song sparrow singing behind me the whole time that I was there.
There was a soft noise to my left, so I turned my head while still under the cloth in order to check it out. Not more than 1.5 meters away from me was a mink completely ignoring me, entered between the two logs that I had my legs over and proceeded on its way ... under my legs ... hey, take it easy ... that's not another mink ... then it came out the other side and entered the water. It was way too close to take a picture even if I could have reacted swiftly enough under the shroud of camo.
