Tuesday, September 3, 2013

A Tour Of The Mysterious Manitou Islands & A Sharp-shinned Hawk Of The Vermilon River.

 The Manitou Islands are in Lake Nipissing. You need to know a few things first. First a little Indian, or Aboriginal lore. Roughly speaking the bands of the Northern Ontario are of the Algonquin group, while the southern aboriginals are members of the Iroquois Confederacy. The Iroquois would support the English, and the Algonquins the French in the struggle over the fur trade. The Iroquois Confederacy was every bit to quote one historian as sophisticated, and advanced as the Roman Empire,even in its quest of empire. The local Algonquin band was the Nippissing.Aboriginal religion was/is more spiritual than say Christianity, in fact, more akin to Japanese Shintoism. It lacked, if that is the word, the people traits, and the add ons of other earlier religions that characterize Christianity, for instance, resurrection from the Egyptians, or Christmas from the pagans.Manitou is then the "Great Spirit", and several places are sacred to him, here and in other eastern areas.The previous post was a tour of the Manitoulin Islands, another sacred place. There are other spirits and totems in the culture,but that's enough for now. The Manitou Islands have the reputation of ghost Islands.


 There are two videos in one here. That's because under the free plan of vimeo, I'm only allowed one post per week. The second video was an accident. As you know I virtually live in the wilderness, and yesterday this hawk came to visit my feeders. A pet cat knocked her out of the tree and was chased away by a neighbour,although she started to defend herself. I was out by then, so we put her on my picnic table where she decided to sleep. She didn't move, so after a couple of hours, we put her in a cat cage up high,and let her sleep. This morning we released her to the forest. She's a juvenile, maybe female, Sharp-Shinned Hawk. I knew you'd enjoy these close ups. It was again difficult to identify her, but a series of shots on Utah birds courtesy of Paul Higgins confirmed the ID.




CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO , OR TO RETURN TO: MAIN SITE CLICK HERE.

16 comments:

  1. how beautiful and special, the hawk Gary. What a treat for it to be so close for you to photograph

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  2. Very nice, found the link, will bookmark this one.

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  3. Beautiful video Gary...amazing to have this to hike in. I am very interested in the native history as here in western NY we share a similar history. My maternal Great-great grandfather came to this area from New England and bought land under the Holland Land Purchase when of course it really belong to native people. They cleared the forest and started farming....

    I too get juve sharpie and coops here in the yard. Surprised a cat was able to get it... I wonder why..Michelle

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  4. I enjoyed the "Boom and Gary Productions" video of the Manitou Islands on the catamaran, Gary, but I loved the video shots of your little lady hawk. She seems to be quite content on the table, and she has a such a sweet face for a raptor. We have Merlin Falcons in our neighborhood and I can't get at all silly and sentimental about them, but this youngster reminds me of a rough-legged hawk I used to see almost every day when I lived on the BC coast.
    Thanks for making my day.
    K

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  5. Yes, that pretty pictures, a magnificent hawk!

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  6. What a wonderful experience with that young hawk. I'm so glad she got her rest before being safely returned to the woods!

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  7. Great shots. Your natural world is very beautiful.

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  8. Isn't she a beauty?!!! So glad she's ok. Darned cat!!! Hope the cat's ok too!!!

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  9. I love where you live! I hope the cat is ok. what a wonderful bird.

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  10. Hi Gary, just came by to say hi and hope you are well. Was looking at one of my old posts to link it to a new one and saw your comment...made me realize again that we are missing your beautiful posts.

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  11. I'm so glad you were able to save the hawk! How wonderful. My husband picked up an injured hawk once and took it to a shelter where it recovered from a broken wing.

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