Easter Monday was a holiday for my husband so we decided to head for the Niagara Region, one of our favorite places and, of course, the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side are one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Below are the two flags of Canada and the United States on the bridge at Queenston, marking part of the longest undefended border in the world.



I took this second shot to show the interesting green of the Niagara River because of all the cloud about on this early spring day. You can also see how deep the Niagara Gorge is.

We drove past the Falls and didn't stop as it was very cold out and we did our winter Niagara pictures last year. Just past the main tourist area we saw a turnoff to a type of conservation area and we delighted with what we found there. You can see green shoots are just starting to sprout and, with the red wood of some of the bushes, add life to the landscape, offsetting the icy snow patches.

Here is a happy little bird who was hard to photograph, she flitted about so much. I think she is a female because her tummy seemed so full with spring's eggs. I called her a chickadee but am not really sure I'm right.

As we found our way along the path following the many chickadees fluttering about, we came upon a feeding spot for all types of birds. This male cardinal sat posing for us for quite some time, keeping an eye on the feeding station as he was.

And beside the feeder a lovely little pond area, mostly frozen but starting to thaw, provided a skating rink for ducks and geese. I saw one drake come in to land, put his feet down and ski to a tipsy stop as he toppled to the ice. Laughing out loud my husband and I watched to see more duck antics on the ice. The wild fowl were very well fed as they were ignoring both the corn lying on the ice near us and the people on the other side throwing food to them. Enough already, they seemed to say as they turned their backs on all human outreach.

I loved flitting about from spot to spot, trying to find the best shots and hoping to get some with the birds actually showing me something besides their posteriors. Eventually our walk came to an end and the car was in sight. I couldn't resist this last shot of yet another pond from a small bridge over it. If you look closely at the shore edges, you can really see how the ice at this time of year just floats on the pond like a cube in a glass. How peaceful.

We'll walk there again in summer some fine day, but there will probably be hordes of people, so this viewing was special.