Bird watching

 Wednesday morning – we woke to snow! It since melted. The sun came out, and the blue sky was lovely. It is -12 ℃ this morning and it's a biting cold. Our heron have returned, a bit early. There aren't any frogs or fish out.

I drove home from my client's house, past the old heron rookery. The nest blew down a couple of years ago but I had photos from 2013. One nest has been rebuilt, and I saw a heron up top. I must find a sunny day upon which to commemorate said nest. There is more snow on the way, however!

It meant lots of action at the feeders. This I took with the zoom lens, through the front window. 

Not too bad and much warmer indoors!

Sharing: female cardinal, mourning dove and a grackle.

The mourning dove had a nap on the bird bath! 

The red-winged blackbirds are so pretty!

More sharing!

Not sharing:

The grackles are in full SPRING mode. Making that noise they make and puffing out their feathers. 

The bird songs are wonderful. In this video you can hear the grackles, red-winged blackbirds, and the cardinal.

 

deer friends from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Prior to the snowfall, Cinnamon snagged a vole.

 

Cinnamon's vole from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We stop feeding the deer when they have food. The lilacs are budding, and the saplings, and they have all but disappeared. I don't know if Duke made it through winter. He dislocated his ankle. Our trio, doe and twins, have similarly gone to summer yards. All we have left are a small doe and her very wee fawn. 

last feed March 14 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I had a mission!

 I had a mission. Well, two errands. First of all, I wanted to go to the Little Library at our municipal offices and find some books. I had 4 to drop off! I picked up 4, and I am good to go.

From there, I was taking our empty wine bottles and beer cans to our Lanark Animal Welfare Society, who is collecting empty bottle as a fundraiser. We don't drink beer, but JB always goes to the beer store to find some snappy cans of beer for our kids when they visit. 

Last time we visited, there were boxes were all over the lawn. Now, they've put them all in the shed. I think. The beer store isn't recycling, due to COVID. Well, some stores are back on track, if they have a drive-through, as far as I can tell. 

 

As I drove along, the clouds were stunning. 

The vultures are still around. They will leave with freeze up, moving farther south. In the meantime, they hover about, cleaning up roadkill. This was a poor little raccoon.

They are magnificent birds, serving a purpose. These are archived photos.

I stopped to photograph the hawk atop the dead tree. It was reluctant.

I love the contrast.

This is my favourite!

Back at home, most of our migratory birds have left, but there was one red-wing blackbird singing in the tree.

 

Red-wing Oct. 17 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Juvenile birds

It seems late in the year for birds to appear to be juveniles. I think our birds had several broods, based on our nests on our property. Here is a juvenile grosbeak, he was just switching over to his adult male plumage. This was September, 2014.


 I spotted a pair of birds under the feeder on Friday, November 10th. Consensus on the experts on Twitter is that they are juvenile red-winged blackbirds. They will lose the speckles soon.
Blackbirds from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Regarding the feeders...
I've noticed that the one feeder is VERY popular, as it has the rich peanuts and other high protein seeds. That is the longer feeder. Then, I noticed that the brown feeder is more popular than the red one. I think it is something to do with the ledge. The theory is that the large birds won't bother with it, but they do. It was supposed to be for the smaller birds. I think, for my birthday, I want one that excludes the large bully birds, like the blue jays!

Critters, cats, cardinal, clocks, Cervidae, and curling

Critters

We still have art on our front window, thanks to the grandies. As I look out at the deer eating my bird seed, three things come to mind. 

1) I ought to change the bird feeders. The deer are way too used to it, and spring is coming. They like my hostas.

2) I can't take good photos with the drawings on the windows!

3) Daisy wants in!

Cats

As I watched the yard, there was a silence after a shadow passes across the yard. The hawk, on its way by.


Daisy is happier with the melting snow, as well as the warmer March temperatures. We've had several good walks.

Clocks

Caitlin found a man who could repair our cuckoo clock! It sat in the cottage for many years. The kids have fond memories of it during our summer visits. He also fixed our mantle clock. I'm so happy. The cuckoo clock was in the cottage for 40 years. The mantle clock plays Westminster, with a beautiful sound.

Cervidae

As I looked out into the backyard, I spotted what must be two yearlings, twins, grooming one another! So sweet!

Twins from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Curling

Hubby is watching Women's Worlds Curling #WWCC2017! It keeps him off the street! Sadly, the games are on at 9 p.m., 2:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m., most days. We can tape it. TSN doesn't show anything other than the Canadian women playing, even a big game. This morning's game is against Sweden.

Sweden is 6:1; Canada is 7:0. We have to eschew the news until we watch the game. It's tricky! JB delivered Meals on Wheels, with the radio on, but avoiding sports news all morning!

The is how they repair the stone. I thought it interesting.


Our Rachel Homan, Team Canada: Gets Cracking! They have ads everywhere, these days!


And, yes, I know you don't like curling, Red. You're much more likely to be out skating or birding, but it keeps hubby amused. I spent Monday resting my knee and watching the US hearings regarding the FBI/NSA and Russian wiretapping. It's entertaining, spooky, and fascinating, all at the same time. Methinks it is all unravelling.