This young House Finch eating on one of our many bird feeders was born earlier this spring in front of our house. Every year there is a pair of house finches that builds a nest in one of the shrubs near our front entrance, this year they had three young ones that hatched and now flying around on their own. Photo was taken by my finance with the Olympus 70-300mm zoom lens, click on the image above for a large photo.

This young male deer (antlers) was walking alone in the field behind me around sunset. He was aware of my presence but did not scare away while I’ll snapped a few pictures with my camera and zoom lens. The deer population in the Caledon, Ontario area appears to remain fairly high. Be sure to keep an eye out at night when driving down some of the lesser traveled roads, I have had a number of deer jump out of the woods in front of my car.

If you drive along Airport Road frequently you may have seen this house which is just north of Caledon East. I am not quite sure what the story is about this house but it has been left abandoned for several years now and the only info I can find about it online is that it was broken into a couple years ago but was still left abandoned at that point. If anyone knows the story behind this house please let me know as I am curious about it. I find that this particular abandoned house is a little unusual given that most of the ones I have seen in the area are old century homes not newer constructions and given the value of the Caledon, Ontario real estate even for empty lots I find it a little weird that someone would just allow it to rot away like this.

This slithering intruder, an adult milk snake some how snuck into garage last month. This was the first different kind of snake I have found around my property other than the more common garter snakes. After taking some photos of him we set him free back into the field behind us.

The Milk Snake is a species of king snake, there are 25 subspecies among the milk snakes including the commonly named scarlet kingsnake. The subspecies have strikingly different appearance, and many of them have their own common names. Some authorities suggest that this species may be split into several separate species. They are distributed from southeastern Canada, through most of the continental United States, to Central America, down to western Ecuador and northern Venezuela of northern South America. Milk snakes grow 20 to 60 inches (51 to 150 cm) long. Across the wide range of this species, habitat varies. Typically, milk snakes live in forested regions, however, in some regions they can be located in open prairies. In various parts of across its distribution, milk snakes often abide in rocky slopes. For more info on Milk Snakes, click here. Click on the images above and below for larger pictures.

The Alton Mill is a late 19th century industrial stone complex located on the bank of Shaw’s Creek in the heart of the village of Alton in the Town of Caledon and us just five minutes south of Orangeville. The Alton Mill was built by pioneering settlers of Alton over 120 years ago and the 3.4 hectare site comprises of the main two-storey stone mill building and three-storey water tower, a brick chimney stack, a stone livery, the remains of the stone wool warehouse, and the adjacent mill pond and dam. For the full history of the Alton Mill click here.

Standing over the falls on the banks of the Credit River, the Alton Mill has been fully restored and brought back to life as a creative arts centre. It is now home to more than 30 artists in their studios, plus galleries, a heritage museum, café and unique retail shops. The Alton Mills Complex has been recognized for its heritage value by the Town of Caledon, By-law number 2004-201. For more info on the Alton Mill please see their website.

The above photo was take back in early April, I processed the original raw image with the Photomatix software to create an HDR image to help bring out the colors better, to see the original pictures untouched click here.

The Millcroft Inn is a hotel, restaurant and spa located in Caledon near the town of Alton, Ontario. The Millcroft Inn was originally built by Benjamin Ward as a knitting mill in 1881 to harness the power from the adjacent Shaw’s Creek. The mill continued to run until 1965, when the mill ceased production and the contents of the building were sold. The Millcroft Inn & Spa has been elaborately renovated to preserve its architectural beauty. For more info on the Millcroft Inn click here to check out their website. Click on the images for larger pictures.

With the much welcomed unseasonably warm weather this Easter long weekend across Ontario and the Caledon area the wildlife is literally buzzing around everywhere now. While sitting on my deck enjoying a few beers I managed to capture this Red Tailed Hawk flying around over the field behind me, a few times he flew right over top of me. I was able to grab a couple nice pictures of him that show off his feathers quite nicely, click on the photos for larger versions. Photos taken with my Olympus 70-300mm zoom lens, for more info on Red Tailed Hawks click here or two see to previous close up photos I have taken of them click here.

Found this large bee’s nest or hornets nest in the woods, not sure exactly what kind it is.

A wild turkey eating in Caledon, Ontario.

Photo taken with my zoom lens in the late afternoon.

This little guy, an American Red Squirrel visits my place every morning to steal seeds from the bird feeders. The American Red Squirrel are widely found across North America. Their range includes most of Canada, and extends into the United States in the Rocky Mountains, the North Central and North East, so they are no stranger to Caledon, Ontario. There are 25 recognized sub-species of red squirrels. Click here for more info on American Red Squirrels. The photo was taken on my backyard deck back in the fall by my fiance.