Flickers & the kids

Tuesday there is a vote on the proposed new gun range. The Planner has called for another deferral. We are all so angry. We are writing emails to convince them to put us out of our misery. 

Anyway, FLICKERS – we've enjoyed the Northern Flickers here. When they fly, you can see the flash of yellow in their tail feathers. They eat bugs in the grass.

One hit the window one year. It was so sad. I always take the opportunity to photograph them, to honour their spirit, and celebrate their beauty.

🐦 I've been hearing our pair of flickers all about the yard. 

I was headed down the hill to the trailcams in the forest. The flickers were above my head, chirping away. Then they roared away, around the front yard, and I kept on my way. Down by the frogpond, they landed right above my head, with more chirping. I didn't get THAT video. They were too fast. I did giggle!

 

Flicker flights from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

At 30 sec.↑ you can watch him establish his territory. It's going on all day, and great to hear.

I have found the nest. They are in the dead elm tree. This was on another trip to the frogpond!

 

☔ We've rain on the way. It won't impact the flickers. The birds are madly flying around nest building. The songs they sing have changed to territorial ones. 

👀 Jesse and the girls phoned from Vancouver on Sunday, asking for a Facetime. We had fun. It was Bryony's 5th birthday on Saturday. (Cluny, Jesse and Stacie have birthdays in May.) It's like Skyping with moving targets, and trickey with the 3-hour time difference. I remember trying it with Jos and Izzy in Ottawa, when we were in Muskoka. It's not ideal, but it is better than the phone.