Photos from the bird party that is going on outside.
And here are 2 of the cats because Jeff’s brother Brian says I don’t post enough kitten pictures for him:
Bird Party here this morning
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Tag Archives: birds
ooooo we’re so stuffed
Jeff and I had a great morning outside doing yard work. I cut the grass while Jeff cleaned out the shed and burned stuff.
The Evening Grosbeak came back, and he brought 2 of his girlfriends! All 3 of them sat in the tree for quite some time before they went to the birdfeeder. Then all 3 sat on the sunflower seed feeder and snacked for a bit.
This afternoon we went to the spring casserole dinner for our community development association. We had a late lunch, and we not at all hungry, but we wanted to support the community, and I was hoping we’d meet more people.
We went, ate, and left, without talking to anyone 
No one even asked us to enter the 50-50 draw, but since we walked away the big winners at the fall casserole supper, we felt fine not gambling on this draw too. Don’t go to a casserole dinner if you aren’t hungry. It hurts a little.
After the dinner we took the dogs to the lake down from us. It’s less populated and there is a picnic rest area there. No one was there so we took the boys down to the water to swim. Trooper didn’t want to swim today. I imagine his old joints weren’t keen on the cold water. Monty was a keener thought and could have retrieved those bumpers for another hour, but other people showed up, and brought the black flies, so we backed in it and headed for home.
I don’t think I’ve ever tired Monty out once. He swam out for probably 25 retrieves and he hasn’t napped yet.
We were just watching TV and I saw a hummingbird zip by the window. Jeff ran to the kitchen to prepare the hummingbird food to put in the feeder. We didn’t even have it out yet. 5 minutes later the ruby-throated hummingbird was back! He sat on a branch sticking out of the pile of cut alders. He sat so still – if you didn’t see where he landed, you would have thought he was a leaf. Then he started coming to the feeder! We took 33 photos, but he’s a tricky bugger to focus on. Luckily he sat to feed so here are the best shots (some with the flash, some without – it’s dusk – even trickier!):
Female Downy Woodpecker
I believe this is a female downy woodpecker. It was eating from one of the hanging suet feeders when I got home from work:
New Bird! Evening Grosbeak?
There is a new bird outside RIGHT now! He’s way bigger than the finches, he’s yellow white and black, and has a huge thick beak. He’s eating sunflower seeds.
Here are a couple pictures Jeff just got of him. The closest pictures in the bird book is an Evening Grosbeak:
Can you see all the yellow finches in the tree? I guess they are actually called goldfinches. We sometimes have 20+ of them here all at once. They sing really pretty too.
New Birds this Spring
Here’s an update on the birds we’ve seen here in Nova Scotia. I’m no ornithologist, but the Nova Scotia bird book we bought is pretty good.
We’ve had some new additions to our bird feeder this week!
The Goldfinches are back. Yellow is my FAVOURITE colour so I love seeing them. Last summer we’d have swarms of 20+ of them. They have a really pretty song too.
Tonight Jeff noticed a bird on a tree in front of the lawn, heading down the steep slope. I took photos of it from the window so I could zoom in and ID it! Turns out it was a Northern Flicker!
There are some red birds around – can you identify?
All winter the Dark-eyed Junco’s have been in our front bushes.
We have Red-breasted Nuthatches
Yesterday we had a White-throated Sparrow at the feeder. It has a splash of yellow on its face and is a little plumper than the other birds that visit the nyger seed feeder.
We’ve had Black-capped Chickadee’s all winter. They are friendly little birds.
We always have crows around. Robins too of course.
I haven’t seen the Blue Jays in at least a month.
More unidentified flying objects – Is this a Chipping sparrow?
Working on Saturday…
Well I can’t complain because I took on this second job of working on the weekends for 3 months for my previous boss in the Sault. Finally today I was able to get some real work done. I have to connect to a computer in Ottawa and from that computer, connect to a computer of a co-worker in the Sault. Needless to say, it’s not speedy. I slowly watch the mouse drag across the screen as I try to input the data I’ve collected.
Here is the bird that I watched today through my window while I worked. The window is straight to my left so I can keep on eye on the outside world (and not go too stir crazy).
Is this a house finch Cecilia?
Yesterday we had no snow. I had to travel to Halifax for a seminar for work at Dalhousie University. It was a great drive – no snow, lots of SUNSHINE, and reasonable traffic. Dalhousie seems like a bunch of disorganized old stone buildings in the middle of construction chaos, but I didn’t see enough of it to judge it fairly.
Overnight we got 15cms of snow. It is strange here how often this winter we have gone from zero snow to a full blanket of snow. I guess that means the driveway will be difficult to navigate until the next rainstorm.
Since I took a few breaks from working, and I started mid-morning, I was still working when the sun set. Here is the view from my office window as the sun sets and the yard lights turn on. (It is $12.42/mth to have a yard light. I love having ours, although everytime I look outside the bathroom window when sneak out of bed for a midnight pee, I’m always certain I’m going to see someone or something standing out there in the light of the night. It’s much nicer than looking out and seeing total darkness. Jeff confessed once he always thinks he’s going to see someone when he looks out in the dark too).
My Feathered Friends
I was outside shovelling the ashes out the outdoor fireplace and filling up the feeders. Then I decided to fill my mitten with sunflower seeds to see if the birds would sit on my hand to eat. The chickadees did! Maybe 6 times! Jeff was in the window watching and he got the camera.
Thought I got a photo of a bald eagle
Dad has never seen a bald eagle and we see them all the time so today we made a special trip to try to find some for him.
We took the camera out towards Cape Breton where there is a river that crosses the Trans-Canada highway.
At first we didn’t see any, but then from far far away I saw one on top of a spruce tree.
We were more than a kilometre away, but I took a picture zoomed in all the way with the optical zoom, and then all the way with the digital zoom.
Then I got home and realized it wasn’t even a bald eagle. Just a big bird!
Sorry Dad, we’ll try again!
A Sample of our Piece of Paradise
So this afternoon I was wandering the yard waiting for Jeff to get home from work. I walked over the far side of where we park the truck. There is a railroad tie there going over the little drainage ditch. I was standing there thinking it would be nice to start a trail there up to the forest – we’d just need to clean out some of the alder brush that is so thick. Then I noticed I was looking at a SNAKE! The first snake I’ve seen all year. It was the smallest thing I’ve ever seen. I had to look at it really closely to figure out it was a snake. It was the size of a pencil. I ran inside to get my camera because I KNOW all my faithful blog readers would love to see a real live SNAKE!
Unfortunately I tip toed back and it was gone. So I was standing there. And I was a little on edge. I like snakes better when I know where they are and they aren’t moving. I stood still to survey the area and look for movement. When all of a sudden a chipmunk ran out from under the brush and across the rail road tie. Scared the beejeezus out of me! What a brave little bugger he was. I photographed him for probably 15 minutes. I have 50+ photos. Here are a few. His mission was to stuff himself full with the sunflower seeds that were under the bird feeders and then run back across the rail road tie into the woods.
Monty was on the porch and he kept jumping up on the railing because he wanted that little chipmunk BAD!
There are 4 blue jays here now, 20-100 yellow birds, a few hummingbirds, many bunnies (although only one is ever in the yard at a time), and today Jeff said he discovered several grouse in the woods around the house.
Beautiful Birdy Day
Beautiful day out. My tulips in the front are open and so so beautiful!!
The birds are having a FEAST at my feeders. They can finish off a feeder full of niger seed in 48 hours! I have an entire flock visiting right now – I think they are some sort of warbler – yellow rumped maybe? There are easily 20 of them out there at a time.
Be sure to click on the photos to see the larger image. This Kodak Easyshare Z740 zooms in so well! Of course the birds were having such a feast I walked up closer too and they didn’t flinch!
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