Greg Shchepanek

 Merivale Gardens in Ottawa Saturday this weekend went exploring the sand dunes of the Piney Forest and was lucky to find the Tiger Beetles out on the dunes in the warm sun. I didn't get a chance to photograph any last year but I did come across a number on the sandy beaches of Petrie Island in eastern Ottawa. I think this is the first time I photographed Tiger Beetles with my new Canon EOS R7 with the 100mm macro lens. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the photos being that the insects are hard to find not moving or flying about. The sand dunes at Merivale Gardens has three species of beetle including the Ghost, LeConte's and the Eastern Sand. This time I came across the most common LeConte's/Festive Beetle. LeConte's Tiger Beetle ( Cicindela scutellaris lecontei ) Merivale Gardens, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Hoping I will get some more varieties this summer I would most definitely like to get some shots of the Ghost but unfortunately they are getting hard to...

   Welcome to the New Year And looking back on the old 2025. Exploring the new Fork Lake Trail was a highlight of 2025, not seeing much but it was great exercise going up the staircases in the woods to reach the overlook of the lake most notable fauna of the trail were the squirrels and the Blue Jays. The trail was a new addition to the park and opened in June of 2025. Fork Lake Trail American Red Squirrel ( Tamiasciurus hudsonicus ) Fork Lake Trail, Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. Most notable photography for 2025 was again a frog year on my Flickr site. Even though the photo was taken in 2024 of a Northern Green Frog ( Lithobates clamitans melanota ) Fletcher Wildlife Garden, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was highlighted to be my most popular upload for World Frog Day which was on March 19, 2025. Subsequently garnering even more views and likes when I included the photo on Flickr's Your Best Shot 2025 in the Nature category. Some other notable photos of the yea...

On the Ottawa River  Northern Green Frog ( Lithobates clamitans melanota ) Petrie Island, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Another great weekend to discover amphibians at Petrie Island Park, this little guy was just a baby he will be having a tough winter due to his size seeing Autumn just began this weekend. Came across two Green Frogs one an adult and this wee little who was sunning along the shore. These photos turned out a lot better than the adults capture. Surprising for such a small guy to steadily pose for the camera with no flight or movement. Still getting used to the new camera but sometimes it takes stunning photos. Especially when up close I find that the  RF100mm F2.8 L MACRO IS USM and even some distance photos turn out so very nice,  colourful and sharp. One of my distance shots was of this little Muskrat who was feeding on vegetation along the shoreline he sat there for quite awhile and was not disturbed about the camera. This photo was cropped for a better...

 These are Some I Have Come Across They are found all over the world and are sometimes the most colourful plants to be seen, there are enthusiasts' that plant and garden their own.  Wikipedia : Carnivorous Plants  has an extensively detailed write up on these wonderful oddities in nature. I love to spend my time in wetlands of North America be it lakes, marshes, swamps bogs and fens. And in these locations carnivorous plants can be found, some times in abundance and other times just a few. The thought of these plants catching any type of prey to feed on is just a wonder of nature. I have found the most variety of these plants at my father's cottage in Alleyn-et-Cawood, Québec, Canada, some being a rare find and endangered. Bogs & fens are a most popular location to view these almost animal plants of the Flora kingdom. I am a member of the Carnivorous Plant Society of Canada (CPSC)   where I have participated since May 9, 2020. Spatulate-Leaved Sundews ( Drosera ...

 Thousand Islands National Park It is really fortunate that Canada's National Parks admissions are free this summer and you just have to pay for parking. Conservation Areas usually have no parking fees and the admissions are always free. So my father and I took a little trip down to the Thousand Islands to visit the national park but unfortunately no nature discoveries or photos were found but it was a decent hike along the St. Lawrence. After the park visit we went to Lyn Valley Conservation Area in search for orchids that we had seen there before, Ladies Tresses and Green Bog Orchid but they were nowhere to be seen in the overgrowth along the old quarry just outside of the conservation area. But we did discover some interesting captures that we have yet to see this summer.  Silver-spotted Skipper ( Epargyreus clarus ) at the Lyn Valley Conservation Area, Ontario, Canada. Greater Bladderwort ( Utricularia macrorhiza ) at the Lyn Valley Conservation Area. I do love the carni...

 Blandings Turtle Yawn The Blandings Turtle  ( Emydoidea blandingii ) is one of our rare and endangered turtles, I was lucky to come across two at the same location in Stittsville, Ontario, Canada. Evaluated as Endangered by IUCN Red List : http://www.iucnredlist.org/species/7709/155088836 . NatureServe evaluates the situation as Vulnerable in Ontario and Canada. I have only come across this species once before and that was in Dunrobin and that was years ago in 2013. Dunrobin, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It came as a great surprise that there was actually two of these turtles in close proximity I am hoping that one was female and the other male but I have no idea how to figure out their sexes. They were buried in the muck of the stream and I first thought was it was a large frog than a Blandings. I photographed the two from the position along a bridge that crossed the stream. It was only when they began to move that you could identify them as turtles. Looking like a frog. S...