Showing posts with label red winged blackbird. Show all posts
Showing posts with label red winged blackbird. Show all posts

Tuesday, 1 April 2014

Blackbirds, Purple birds, red squirrels and black bugs; harbingers of spring

15˚ C. in the sunshine!
Purple Finch pair have been merrily feeding, I hope they have a family! Last day of March was gloriously warm. On the sheltered front deck, it was t-shirt weather despite 6cm of snow last Sunday!
This photo through the window!

Big snowfall,
happily sheltered
Can you figure out what these are?
Floating on the top of a puddle
Snow fleas, more properly springtails. (More close-up photos here!)

Billions of them! Just wish our insect-eating robins would visit. They must be hungry! They are harmless, and eat dead vegetation, bacteria, fungi, algae, pollen, roundworms, rotifers and  sap!

The red squirrels estivate, sleeping in the deep cold but not hibernating. I captured photos of this one atop the Catalpa tree, it was hoping to snatch some seed from under the bird feeder.
Then there are the birds! We've a pair of robins, and an American Sparrow on the chestnut tree. See the leaf buds about to burst!
Red-winged blackbirds are back!
American aparrow
Vultures are back, too!
Good thing. We need the clean-up crews.
Robin boppin'