Tuesday 27 June 2023

Blonde Butch on Crumbly Acres

We had a nice afternoon sitting out on the weekend. Yesterday, there were two turkey hens, the robins, cedar waxwings, Fred, Blonde Butch! 

The robins are on their second brood. She's sitting on three lovely blue eggs, now. The phoebes have 4 eggs, again, no cowbird this time! They remind me of a dad, pacing the hospital halls waiting for the birth. They go in and out, back and forth, landing here and there, keeping track of action around the nest.


It was a crow argument of some sort! I've seen crows fly by with an egg in their beak, trailed by an angry red-winged blackbird. It's a busy yard.

Crows in flight from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I like bird watching from the deck!
 

robins at the serviceberry from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Nutmeg found herself a vole. There are a lot of them. They tend to bring their prey home. I know the crows and the vultures like to clean up roadkill and such.

 

Nutmeg Vole from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

🛩 On Friday, this plane↓ was doing circles over the area. It is a commercial plane, based at Toronto Island airport. It belongs to Cameron Air. I wonder what they were up to, up only 1000' high. Turns out, they were ferrying guests to the lake. Because the lake is so shallow, the pilot was worried about landing, and weeds, and sussed out the situation. Usually, they only circle twice, to be safe. 

I tracked C-FXWH on radar, it kept coming back. Round and round it went. 



plane from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

There are regs for that, which have suggested minimums, unless they are landing or taking off.

Anyway, I now have an explanation from the chief pilot who phoned me on Monday. Also, the offer of a flight around the Island Airport!

⛈ Monday was quite the storm. Lots of thunder and lightning, 10 mm rain. Two people are suffering 'serious life threatening injuries', golfing in Kanata. There were warnings online and on Ottawa phones.
Lots were without power across the province, with only about 4000 people out this morning.

 

Our Ottawa family has begun their kitchen renovations. It was delayed a couple of times, but on the weekend they loaded up their storage bin, cleaned out the kitchen, laid the appliances out in the living room area, and so it begins. 

Monday, the demolition took place and they are down to wall frames. It is going to be a journey!

They posted a panoramic photo! 

13 comments:

David M. Gascoigne, said...

Here we are at the end of June and I have yet to see a phoebe. Go figure!

Tom said...

...we just completed a whole house renovation, I'm glad that it's finally done.

Barbara Rogers said...

Love that you have two sets of eyes to bird watch...the cameras being the second, which provide me a chance to see your critters. I really appreciate it since here I am in an urban environment again. But there are plenty of woods around that are accessible by car! That kitchen pano is hillarious, and I can't wait to see what they do with it!

Nancy J said...

A flight, free I guess, what a bonus for being alert. And renovations, hope it all goes to plan.

Anvilcloud said...

We had a number of young robins in the backyard yesterday. We usually don’t see many robins after this happens. I guess they go to the woods.

Jeanie said...

We had that rain storm too. And today air quality is 282 from the fires in Quebec. It surprises me because it's so far East of us and I would think the wind would go the other way.

Elephant's Child said...

I remember our kitchen renovations. Not a fun journey and I hope it goes well for your Ottawa family.

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
Oh, a waterplane trip on offer? Hope you'll take it! (Trust YAM to hone in on that...😁) xx

Christine said...

Good luck to them with renovations.

Red said...

Some flights make me curious so I guess I should check on them. Saw a loud slow flying plane a few days ago and was curious but not curious enough to look it up.

DeniseinVA said...

Always an enjoyable visit. So much to see around your home. Exciting for your family to start their renovations, there is angst there too. It is an upheaval for a while. I have been catching up on your other posts. So sorry to read about JB’s fall. I hope he is feeling some relief today and I wish you both a continued good week.

Patio Postcards said...

We were most grateful for the bountiful rainfall of Monday & Tuesday. Your app that allows you to know & follow flight paths is very interesting. Nice that the pilot is going to take you up on a flight sounds like a great opportunity for you. Fab photo of Blonde Butch.

William Kendall said...

That storm was quite something.