Bird watching

We are expecting more snow Wednesday/Thursday. Maybe 10 cm. We shall see. In the meantime, it is spring out in Vancouver. Jesse sent a photo of the girls with blooming snowdrops! It's wild, across the country. They have recovered from another bout of COVID. 

 It's been chilly. OK, cold. I am happy to feed the critters. We had icy rain, followed by snow. It wasn't pretty. I couldn't shovel the sidewalk or driveway, as the snow stuck to the ice. I gave up! It has since melted and I cleared it off. More is on the way, however. An Alberta clipper preceded by a Colorado low!

OK, back to our reality: the birds.

 Under the feeder we have friends. They have little tunnels, and pop out suddenly. I love the little paws tucked in. They look as if they are fretting, but they are aggressive.

The mourning doves nestle in the evergreen tree.

The blue jay took a drink.

Then it proceeded to land on the tray feeder.

I love this set. Blue Jay kept throwing the cracked corn aside, looking for the sunflower seeds.

I did have a great sighting: a red-winged blackbird.

The poor blackbird in the snow! This is an early sighting.

 

red-winged blackbird from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The crows are back!

The crows are up to something! I documented their nest last year, not that I ever spotted it: 🐦 Crows. It was really well-hidden in the great white pine tree.

The week of March 7th, I noticed them picking up some stale bread I'd thrown under the bird feeder. Next, I saw three of them flying together. They could be the three musketeers we hatched last year. It's hard to say.

March 10th, I looked out in the back yard and saw one circling the old nesting site. Then it flew to our third pine tree, and flew away.

March 11th, I saw one in the chestnut tree out front. Then, later in the day, I saw three sitting in a row eating leftover deer food. Two left by the time I fetched the camera, honestly!  

We seem to have three at a time. Their broods can be 3 - 9 eggs. 

They were eating the deer food on the ground, along with the turkeys.

turkeys and crows from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

While we are birding, I noticed a red-winged blackbird. An excellent sign of spring! We had a robin overwinter, perhaps three.

Red-winged blackbird from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

For a few days, SPRING!

 Just for a few days. We're back into subzero temperatures today. Yesterday, as I was curating photos, I spotted a pair of red-winged blackbirds. This is a sure sign of spring!

Also, the first vulture, Mar. 12, 2021. They're back. Spring is coming!

I spotted a grackle, as well. They are so lovely!

Here is the river at the end of the driveway. Daisy used to like to play in it! It'll drain soon.

The spring-like weather has been amazing last week. 

There was a lot of snow on the roof. I knew it was going to warm up. 

The south-facing roof melts the fastest. I've checked all the downspouts. They are good to go!

I decided to hook up the eavestrough to the water barrel, just to put some fresh water into the goldfish pond. I don't know if you can see it, but there is a rock in the rear of the pond. On top of that, on top of the snow, was deer poop.

Overnight, the water filled up the pond. When we returned home from our trip to Ottawa, we let the cats out. Cinnamon remembered his froggie friends, and did a serious search for them. Can you spot the deer poop on the rock, now in the foreground?! 

Remember that rock? The snow has gone down this much and the deer poop is on the rock.

It's warm under the trees, I put up the bluebird nesting box on the flag pole. I don't know if it will work this year, or not. They didn't come by in 2020. I found it filled with wasps! [Staining the decks, bluebird nesting box]

I shall open the spigot on the water barrel, as we are headed into subzero weather overnight. I don't want the water to freeze and ruin my water barrel.

The raccoons woke up March 9th, Tuesday.  

 This is likely the last of the deep snow. It's been terrible walking. You can see how the doe stamps her foot down. I do that! Stepping in the mushy snow jars the back somewhat.

  The raccoons came up to the house. Hopefully, they'll clean up the bird seed for me!

For more critters: visit Eileen's 

Saturday Critters # 378

We interrupt this regular news broadcast...

Spring is going to be early this year.
Wed., March 9th I spotted my first red-winged blackbird of the season, and I saw as well as heard the song of our Eastern Phoebe! It is way too early.
The American Robins never did leave. It is a strange year.
Then, I spotted a brown creeper. It is so early for all of them!
In London, Ontario, they've heard spring peepers!
I need a handyman. A tall one, to fix a hole in the attic. The bat house was intended to cover up a previous hole. Those woodpeckers are stubborn. Dorah heard mice in the wall the other day. It's going to be a busy year!

March 6th, 2016

I saw my first brown creeper: Sunday, March 6th. I was photographing into the sunshine, but it was clearly going UP the tree. Nuthatches go down.

April 3, 2014

This one, on the right, was from an April walk.
My video was 11 months ago, so it is an early bird! Buster and I spotted one on a walk on a warm day.
 
Brown creeper from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Bird populations have exploded!

First, our rain.. 40 mm over a couple of days. Hard to believe! The birds don't mind, but my goldfish pond looks tragic as I try to rebuild it...I have a major design flaw, which I must sort out. I'm having to let the rain drain away, since the pond isn't done. Normally, I refill it with rain water from my rain barrel.


But back to the birds... phoebe, sparrows, junco, purple finch, robin's nest (I think!), turkey vulture, grackle, and red-winged blackbird.

Hooray for spring migration.