Bird watching!

😷 It is Autumn, and while it is flu season, our COVID numbers for the vulnerable are significant in our small health unit. We are being careful. Below is last week compared to this week. Two more deaths.

 

🦻 In other health news, JB's hearing aids seem to be working well. It is a miracle. Since he is a senior, we get $1000 back from the government. Bonus. He was reading in the living room, I was preparing dinner, and he could hear me crinkling a package as I opened it. It makes TV watching much easier. For weeks we've been putting oil into his right ear. There is a ball of wax. That is loosening up, but it is really close to the eardrum. They couldn't remove it. No wonder he couldn't hear me, sitting on his right in the TV room.

It is a learning curve, but we're getting the hang of it. Taking off glasses requires a bit of care,  as does putting on and taking off masks. as you wrote, A/C. We only use N95s, which is less of an issue. The man at the hearing centre said that he had the same number of people losing hearing aids during the pandemic as he did in the previous 10 years. Duly noted! 

🛩 I watched this plane go overhead and looked it up.

I'm getting a little better at filming them!

air plane from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

🐦 Closer to the ground, bird watching has been enjoyable. I've the zoom lens on the tripod looking out the front window. 

They've all mated and nested, and I can't tell adults and babies apart. A blue jay and a white-breasted nuthatch. 

I sent Joseph Brian in to the feed store for cracked corn. I love the mourning doves, who like the corn. 

Mr. Cardinal has that cute little tilt to the head! Poor froggie, with a bird on his head.

I have seen the female, but she is a less frequent flyer, and the blue jays are bullies. They have to be careful.

Something the citizen science bird watching sites tell us to watch for are bird-bird interactions. The mourning dove and cardinal will feed side by each. 

Incoming! 

🐸  I relented. I could see several and they challenged me. (It's good to have a purpose in life!) I moved 5 more. The few days I took off helped. We've rain on the way and I am tempted to drain the pond some and get a few more. The water barrel and eaves system will refill it to protect the water lilies. 

I think I am down to a handful. 

Oct. 11  a.m.  –  7 frogs moved

Oct. 11 p.m.   –  7 frogs

Oct. 12 p.m.   – 13 frogs

Oct. 13 p.m.   –   5     

Oct. 14 p.m.   –   3     

Oct. 18 p.m.   –   5       = 40

Birds, feeder traffic

Saturday

I've been having trouble trying to take photos of the cardinal... you can see why. Dark days, blowing snow. The mourning doves, normally a ground feeder, like this feeder. I could not manage a photo. They are a bit flighty. Terribly shy. The cardinal is slightly more photographable.

Monday

They are busy at the feeders, no wonder. Thoughtfully (perhaps not), the replacement weatherwoman showed the temperatures to the south. I faithfully watch Your Morning, but this is a bit much. Funnily enough, she looks much like the weatherwoman on vacay: young, slim, blond!



Happily, after another blizzard Sunday (~5cm), we had some sunshine. I persevered. The mourning doves were nestled into the snowy tree branches, out of the wind. The cardinal took pity on me, or maybe he was so busy trying to doggy dig the seeds from under the snow.



This is a lucky shot! I'd done manual focus for the previous photo, and he just took off, seeing me in the window!


You can see the difference between the sun being in or out. The red squirrel's colours show so nicely. I counted 6 red squirrels, but spring is coming!


The American tree sparrow was looking for some seed. It was giving me the eye, as if I was to blame.


Downy woodpecker, white-breasted nuthatch, and mourning doves.


I persevered with the mourning doves. I know they are ground feeders, but they like the tray feeder.


Meantime, in the house... It probably came in on the wood!


Visit Eileen's meme for more critters!

Saturday's Critters #268

Bird count day – December 16th

These are the usual culprits: chickadee, white and rose-breasted nuthatch, goldfinch (winter colours), blue jays, male cardinal, female pileated woodpecker, tree sparrow.

• mourning dove 8
• downy woodpecker 3
• hairy woodpecker 2
• pileated woodpecker 1
• black-capped chickadee 6
• red-breasted nuthatch 2
• white-breasted nuthatch 2
• dark-eyed junco 3
• northern cardinal 1
• American goldfinch 6
• American tree sparrow 2
• blue jay 6

This is a perfect illustration: the downy woodpecker's beak is small, the hairy's beak is much larger, in proportion to its head.