First Signs of Spring on a Sunday Afternoon

This past Sunday afternoon my dear wife encouraged me to take the afternoon between church services to enjoy the warmer (relatively) temperatures and head out for a little trip to see what might be stirring in the sunny weather. Compared to the cooler temperatures which seem to be lingering on, it seemed pretty warm, but thankfully I still threw the gloves in the car when I left... the breeze still stole most of the warmth from the sun's rays.

male Downy Woodpecker

I headed first to Jacob's Wood, our local woodlot/park in town to see what might be stirring.  I heard the familiar local sounds of the Chickadees, Blue Jays, a Cardinal, and then saw a nice bright male Downy Woodpecker.  The crusty but deep snow in the forest was still quite deep and hindered me from following quietly and quickly.  But at one point the little bird flew into a dead pine tree right where I was standing.  I lost sight of it and was searching all over till I realized it was almost right above me.  I couldn't get a good picture, though it would have been a great, full frame shot. Although it knew it was there, it stayed on the opposite side of the branch, taking quick peaks at me.  This next picture was the best shot I could get.  Then the crusty snow gave way as I shifted and as I fell a good foot through the snow, the little guy startled away.

Downy Woodpecker

As I walked the outer trail loop, I noticed fresh work of a Pileated Woodpecker in a big live Pine tree. Though we're in their usual range, I think they tend to like more secluded woods than this. I've only ever seen one before out here, though briefly as it flew across a roadway as I drove. I'll have to go back and check soon... it would be great if there was a pair taking up residence there, though I won't count on it.

Pileated Woodpecker's work.

Pileated woodpeckers make these holes with an aggressive woodworking that leaves wood chips the size of quarters. With a series of holes like these, they're usually digging for their favourite food - carpenter ants. They actually listen for activity in side the trees and then start their seemingly brain numbing excavation to reach them deep inside.

I left this little forest and headed east of town to a closed road that crosses Fairchild's Creek.  I noticed birds drinking and bathing in the snow melt waters running down the eroding old gravel road.  It was a large flock of Cedar Waxwings.  They were flying between a big stand of old spruces some farmer had planted for a windbreak for the farmhouse years ago, and a large area covered with vines with berries a plenty.

Cedar Waxwings

Cedar Waxwing

A large group of very plump Robins was also enjoying the same opportunity.

American Robin

Another group of House Finches were busy there as well, though they were not feeding on the berries.  But the males were heartily singing away with their rambling song.

male House Finch

I finally made it down the Creek which was running fast with the waters of little snow which had managed to melt till then.  On the icy edge of the creek's bank was a deer skull, likely the victim of the cold, snowy winter.

Deer skull

Heading back, I heard the familiar scolding of a Red Squirrel.  It was nice to hear that sound as an indication of the spring warmth making it active, but also because I've not seen one about our area before. I'm accustomed to seeing them more up north.

Red Squirrel

A little further up the path, an Eastern Chipmunk also chattered at me and then nicely posed for a picture.

Eastern Chipmunk

As I arrived home and warmed up inside in the kitchen, I caught site of another welcome spring sign... a Song Sparrow had joined the crowd at the bird feeder in the back yard.  The House Sparrows are also back, being noticeably missing this winter, having been replaced with a large group of regularly visiting American Tree Sparrows. Even today, Juncos are still feeding on the ground - a sign that winter is still not gone?  I took a quick shot through the sliding door window instead of going back into what had become a window, cold afternoon as the sun had lost its warming strength.

First Song Sparrow of the season!

Till next time...
Keep enjoying HIS handiwork!

Canvasbacks from WAY Back...

Well, it's been almost two months since I last posted anything here.  Winter can be a great time to enjoy completely different settings and backgrounds for birds; no leaves on the trees sure makes sightings easier and impediments to a good shot less.  But this winter has sure cold, meaning heading out with skimpy gloves that still allow operating the camera controls a little less desirable.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the winter we've had so far - I've loved it.  Some of you will have heard me say before, "If we're going to have winter, then let's have it!"  I really do dislike the sloppy, brown, snow-melt-snow winter's we've had a lot of lately.  I'm quite fine with the bitter cold temperatures we've been having, the wood stove nicely keeping the house toasty with no impact on the non-existent heating bill. And at this point anyway, I still like shoveling.

But back it the middle of December when winter was just getting started, I headed to LaSalle Park in Burlington and finally got to see a bird which had, till that point, eluded me even though I'd see it mentioned on the Hamilton Bird list and miss it when I arrived. There were a few Canvasbacks there and a few cooperated close enough for a few pictures to add lifebird #133.

female Canvasback

Canvasback pair

male Canvasback

male Canvasback

female Canvasback

On the trail there, I also got two nice shots of a male and female House Finch.

male House Finch

female House Finch

As I mentioned earlier, I'm hoping to post pictures of our Costa Rica trip soon... a bit of editing and trying to chose the best selection of the pictures I got.  Stay posted. :)

Till then...
Keep enjoying HIS handiwork!

Jacob's Woods, St. George

A couple Sundays ago, in the couple hours between church services, I went for a quick walk through the local green space area in St. George.  It's a patch of forest with two different section: a mix of older, more traditional forest of pines and deciduous, and as section of slowly maturing, planted white pines.  Unfortunately, it has never really yielded much in the way of bird life in the times I've walked through it.  This time however, I heard a House Wren chattering its scattered song.  I saw it flitting around me in the trees, checking out who the intruder was in it's territory, but it was too quick for any pictures.

I did see a few butterflies moving about though.  A new butterfly, the Gray Eastern Comma (thanks for the correction Dwayne) was one of them.

Gray Eastern Comma

Gray Eastern Comma.
(the sun just nicely came out as it opened its wings)

Norther Pearly-Eye

With the lack of activity, I soon headed up the ridge to behind the cemetry where someone has been maintaining a few mown trails through a young aspen forest.  It's a neat forest; the trees are all reaching for the light and there is no brush under cover.  At eye level, the view is pretty clear, the only bottom vegetation lower down a thicket of wild raspberry and goldenrod, providing plenty of food for birds that prefer "emergent cover".  Soon enough, I heard the scolding sound of the House Wren again.  The trail I was on was on the top of the ridge, the bottom of which was approximately where I had seen the wren before. So it's quite likely it was the same bird and I was still in its territory.  This time I could see it with more light and clear views.

House Wren

House Wren in classic wren pose.

Soon, I recognized the song of an Indigo Bunting (I'm starting to learn some more bird songs which is helpful).  It was too shy for pictures though. As I came out of the woods and passed a small brush pile from the cemetery, I heard a stern warning "buzz" of a worried little bird and I soon saw a flash of bright yellow and white and black meandering through the tangle of twigs and sticks.  A Common Yellowthroat, life bird #130.

Common Yellowthroat on the edge of a brush pile.

 

Common Yellowthroat

 
With a bird name containing the word "common" you almost feel guilty if you've not noticed them more before.  Checking in the Birds of Hamilton (we're in the Hamilton Bird Study area), the frequency charts do show them as common, but not abundant like Robins, etc.  The Common Yellowthroat's tendency for low, dense underbrush and nesting in a brush pile like I found this one would contribute to them not being easily, or often seen.  A very cute little bird.

Common Yellowthroat

Common Yellowthroat

As I headed home through the cemetery, I noticed a Chipmunk hole with the remnants of harvesting the the meat from walnuts. Someone is busy preparing for winter! The kids call the walnut shell halves "pig noses."

Chipmunk hole and walnut shells.

In the golden rod along the way home, I noticed two busy flies. Not sure what they are.

Two busy flies.

There is an old, abandoned (I think) tree nursery of some sort on the edge of town, and my walk home brought me through there.  In one spruce tree, there was a whole group of both male and female House Finches.

House Finches

A nice Sunday walk!
Till next time.... Keep enjoying His handiwork!

From Firewood to Birds

A few Saturdays ago I was cutting up a dead tree along a busy road, and a driver did a u-turn, stopped, and got out.  He approached asked if the place was mine?  Uh oh! No, but it was in the ditch so I figured it was fair game, was my reply, wondering if I was going to be challenged on my ability to claim it. Turns out he wanted me to cut up a tree where he lives, and I could have the majority of it for my favour to him in cutting it up.

I did both of us the favour and got a good trailer load of nice dry Elm.  They live on a large tree farm, with a 2 acre, fish stocked irrigation pond, and immediately I started noticing all the birds around.  I had to make a run back for lunch with my original load of wood, and with the gentleman's permission and encouragement, returned with my camera as well.  After the "work" (cutting firewood is the fun part!) of cutting the tree down, chasing a Yellow-rumped Warbler around some big willow trees.

male Yellow-rumped Warbler

male Yellow-rumped Warbler

male Yellow-rumped Warbler (here you can see the yellow rump)

male Yellow-rumped Warbler

Next I headed to the pond where a group of probably about a hundred mixed swallows were hunting.  On the way, a Chipping Sparrow stopped to preen allowed me to approach quite closely for a nice picture.

Chipping Sparrow

On to the Swallows... you'd think with that many flying about, I'd have captured at least one or two good flight pictures.  Harder than it seems - though I did start learning some tricks by the end.  Zoom out and let the bird come into view, rather than trying to zoom to extents and show them farther away.  My first intuition was that it would be easier for the latter, to follow and capture, but it wasn't in my experience.

female Tree Swallow

male Barn Swallow

I was trying so hard to capture the white tail feathers on the barn swallow.  When it fans its tail out, there is a band of white that shows, and almost looks translucent.  You can see it in the picture above, but it's more displayed (maybe not more visible here) in the picture below.

male Tree Swallow (l) male Barn Swallow (r)

three Swallow species: male Barn Swallow (background), Bank Swallow? (mid),

male Tree Swallow (foreground)

male Tree Swallow

male Barn Swallow

As I headed up past the farm house, the lady of the house pointed out a nesting bird in a hanging basket she had left when she noticed the eggs in it.  A House Finch pair has set up home there.  I'm a little perplexed though... the closeup shows what I'm guessing are little larvae of some sort, but the eggs would not have hatched yet, and so I'm not sure why the male would be there with a delivery of food.  Could it be that its infected somehow with a parasite? Anyone know anything about this at all?

House Finch on hanging basket nest.

(note the tiny larvae on the closeup on the left)

After thanking the kind homeowners, I spotted the Chipping Sparrow again.  It was searching for bugs in the grass lawn, and passed behind a large tree.  Anticipating it moving in the same direction, I took the opportunity to quickly sneak up close with the tree blocking my approach.  It came into view just as I thought and gave some nice full frame pictures and didn't seem to mind my presence.

Chipping Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow

On my way out the lane way, I had to stop once more for a male Brown-headed Cowbirds that was posing on the tipsy fence of the neighbouring farmer, and then it joined it's mate in the corn stubbled field.

male Brown-headed Cowbird

Brown-headed Cowbird pair

I saw a few other birds that I have now forgotten with the passage of time.  I hope to get a chance to pop out there again some time as I'm sure there are more to discover.

Thanks very much Brant or the opportunity to wander around your place.  I'll be sure to "warn" you first if/when I come again, if not only to keep your "killer" Jack Russells off of me. :)

Keep enjoying HIS handiwork!

Bird Feeder Highlights

It looks like Winter is in its last throes... we've had some relatively warm weather here in Southern Ontario, but sub-zero nights have returned with some pretty heavy snow squalls making Spring weather seem a distant notion, and not weeks away.  In fact one afternoon at work, a co-worker and I sat in my office looking out the window in awe as the snow flake clumps visibly grew to small saucers.  They were massive - I'm sure some were 10cm across and definitely the largest I've ever seen.  Although I wished I had had a camera, I'd have missed it anyway, the scene only lasted a few minutes.

This fall the bird feeders went up again, and I added a $10 finch feeder from Canadian Tire to the other little hopper feeder which hangs from the clothes line.  For the finch feeder, I mounted it on an old weathered post and "grafted" tree twigs so when they landed prior to feeding, a natural picture scene might be available.

Before the snow fell, a caught sight of a very shy Carolina Wren skittering through the shrubs under the bird feeder.  I've only seen one of these down south, so it was nice to actually have this bird visit our backyard!  Unfortunately, it's very hard to get a good picture as my experience is that they are extremely shy.  This picture is actually through the sliding door of our kitchen.

Carolina Wren

The biggest hit were some Common Redpolls which found the Nyjer seeds.  I had only seen cute these birds for the first time this year and was very pleasantly surprised to find them at our feeder!

Common Redpoll

The rest are the more common variety, of House Finch, Dark-eyed Junco, House Sparrow, American Goldfinch, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, and Mourning Doves.

male House Finch

Dark-eyed Junco

male House Sparrow in Pin Cherry treee

male American Goldfinch in winter plumage

Male House Sparrow huddling in the protection of the hedge.

We have a Crab Apple tree in the backyard which the House Finches love once the warm sun unfreezes them enough for them to eat some of the fruit.

female House Finch

male House Finch eating Crab Apple fruit

male Northern Cardinal

One feeder I never ended up putting up this year was a suet log made with the boys last year.  I put it off for some reason and never got around to making/getting suet and putting it up.  Thus the reason for the missing woodpeckers which we have seen years before.  Next winter.

Spring is on its way though.  The last week has seen sightings of hundreds of Tundra Swans flying north - a beautiful sight.  I never had my camera with me so have yet to catch the scene on camera.

I'm quite excited with the hope to be getting a new lens... I've been waiting, saving, and searching for a used lens for quite a while.  Right now I'm playing phone and email tag with a lady out in Ajax who has committed to save a used Sigma 150-500mm F5-6.3 DG APO OS HSM lens for me that she had up for sale on Kijiji.  We are doing a trip with the family out that way in two weeks and I hope she still has it for me and that it's in good shape.  I'll be sure to provide an update at that point if the deal is done.