Visitors from the Other Don

My partner and I were entertaining some of his Scottish relations this past Sunday, showing them around the usual Toronto tourist sites. These folks are real nature enthusiasts and when we've visited them in Aberdeen, they've taken us on great hikes and walks "up the Royal Deeside". Aberdeen was settled between the Don and the Dee rivers, where they flow into the North Sea so I knew that a trip to the Canadian Don was a must. We took them to the Brick Works to walk through the Quarry Garden and it didn't let us down. It was warm and sunny (unlike the Saturday Bike the Don!) and the wildlife was out on display: Red-winged Blackbirds, Kingfisher, Killdeer and I think some sort of warbler. And to top it all off, I'm pretty sure we saw a Beaver in the pond farthest back! It was too big for a Muskrat and it was defintely a mammal. Oh, and there was a Black-crowned Night Heron too, I'm pretty sure. Bullfrogs were singng from the reeds, monarchs were fluttering around and there were lots of dragonflies. They liked the fossils and the old buildings. Aberdeen is nicknamed "The Granite City" as most of the buildings are made out of large granite blocks. Our guests were fascinated by the brick-making history of the site. I felt a surge of pride for our mighty Don River!