This image was taken the day after a thunderstorm dumped over 50 millimetres of rain onto Ottawa's east end in one hour, flooding streets and basements.

I had just left the Kingbird nest near the supper hour when the rain started. The drive home on the 174 was terrible as heavy rains along with strong wind gusts limited visibility to just mere feet in front of the windshield. Many drivers had elected to pull over onto the shoulder of the road rather than risk running into the cars in front of them.

In many areas of Orleans (eastern part of Ottawa...not "New Orleans") streets were flooded and a few manhole covers were blown off with all the water pressure. Some people lost power to their homes for a few hours. Yet through all this I wondered how nature had weathered the same conditions.

The day after the storm I went back to see if anything had happened to the Kingbird nest. One fella confided that he didn't even expect to see the tree the nest was on still standing, let alone the nest still intact. I was relieved to see the family of Kingbirds not only survived the storm but were thriving. The parents kept bringing back insects and the 4 young Kingbird babies are looking quite large these days. Some expect them to fledge any day now.