Showing posts with label wood duck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wood duck. Show all posts

Friday, 19 May 2023

Birds abound!

 I am ready for a warm up. I think we are over the dip in temperatures. 



I am sad we had to put the feeders away. The bear was early this year! I try to keep them up until I catch sight of our birds who've returned to the area for nesting. This was a lovely surprise. I was sitting in my chair, and took this, hoping for the best. The rose-breasted grosbeak sat on the widow thermometer – looking for a feed. He landed on the hummingbird feeder, but didn't seem to be satisfied!

They are beautiful birds!



The kids helped me put the wood duck nesting box up on the back 40. I was pretty discouraged, since there are no ducks nesting on the frogpond. 

May 18th I checked, and lo, and behold, duck eggs!   My other two boxes are empty. I flushed her when I approached, I didn't know they were there!
May 18, 2023

wood ducks from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.


Houston, we have a problem. The handle hits the wall and I cannot turn it on!


I happily planted Emily with pansies. They are pretty tolerant of cold weather, and I left them outside. Sadly, someone has nicked the blossoms. I put out the trailcam, we'll see if I get a perpetrator.

Could this be the culprit?! I hadn't seen him for a few days. he was grinding his teeth on the wood.

fred from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.


I wandered down the driveway, and found a pair of deer.

doe a deer from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Thursday, 9 June 2022

Wood duck, lost egg, clouds, young buck

June 8th – the wood ducks have hatched and flown. No dud eggs, either. I am happy for that. It means they have safely made it to the wetland or the lake. I've tried to check only every 2nd or 3rd day. This was my last view of her, Sunday, June 5th. By Wednesday they were all gone. They only stay in the nest for 24 hours after hatching, then take off in the afternoon, bouncing out of the nest. You can see that the native phragmites have grown over the pond. 

wood duck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

  This is from 2017, when I thought they had all gone and I was prepared to clean out the nest! I scared us all!


We went into town for gas for the lawn tractor. I noticed the invasive phragmites had been mown by the county, at the side of the road. It's only mown as far as the county owns, and there is a large patch beyond it to the creek. They are working on this stuff. They are making progress, around the county with little robot tractors. 


I noticed something white on the last slab at the end of the sidewalk. It looks like a phoebe egg taken from the nest. I wonder the story there?!

There was yolk. I don't know. It could be nest theft. It was peculiar.

It's sad to document damage, but noticed this lovely lily, lower left, and a bug of some sort had rolled the leaf and snapped off the flower bud to make a home. The one beyond, and on the right are still intact. I cross my fingers. I've wrapped my chicken wire around it, and hope to actually get a bloom. 

Bambi ate them several years in a row until I figured out the idea of putting up a fence! 

During Tuesday's rough weather, Caitlin went to Toronto for a two-day leadership conference. I live vicariously through my children, and I watched the plane online. I checked the radar and, sure enough, more storm clouds. It had to veer around the storm. This was the 23 mm rain day! 

It was funny that JB having traveled a lot for work (i.e., Montreal once a week, Frankfurt quarterly, etc.), just commented that he didn't miss the travel, but sure loved seeing clouds. I know he'll like to see these, Caitlin's photos! Her iPhone takes snappy photos.



The Devil's Paintbrush are starting up. This is why I don't mow too much. 

I managed to capture 17 videos on the trailcam, after hauling myself down there with bugs flying madly. There were 15 videos of crows, one of a blue jay, and one of the young buck.

young buck 2 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Tuesday, 17 May 2022

Flora and fauna tails

Spring is joyful. The birds are singing, the birds are nesting, and all is well with them. It is a small mercy. There are five phoebe eggs!


We had a big storm roll in. We had 20 mm (25 mm = 1")!


The videocamera just gives a hint of the beauty of the night.


You have to picture this. He was snuggled into the plant. Sitting beautifully, when I held up the camera...

These were originally created for Canada's 150th, in 2017. They came up the second year with yellow. 


These are from a newer hybrid, I think.

Caitlin visited me on Mother's Day and brought me the hanging basket on the right (below). It's tradition. We sat on the front deck, and she wore a mask. JB has a cancer treatment this week. 
 Also tradition, the cherry tomatoes in a basket (below, left). I transplanted it to the larger basket. JB can reach up and throw some in his lunch!

Lilacs are blooming. Can you smell them?!

Poor phoebe. The other birds keep wanting to check out the nesting box. I saw a robin, and just the day before a starling trying to get in.

Starling & House Wren from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.


Too late! They are filling it up.  The hole is way too small for them, but the starling sat on top, ticking them off.

The eavestrough empties into the water barrel, and into the goldfish pond. It will drain down some today. The goldfish were quite excited.

The mosquitoes are really awful. JB has to cover up during his walks. Today, he'll walk in town. It is ridiculous. I put on a bug jacket. I took Cinnamon walkies.


The invasive Spongy Moth caterpillars have hatched out. I found a couple on the back deck. That, and the mosquitoes sent me indoors. We've always been able to sit out there. In a normal year, the bugs avoid the sunny deck. Not this year! I was most perturbed.

Spongy moth caterpillars have hatched... 

Wednesday, 4 May 2022

Spring unfolds

I've begun a post on my Spring Chores, but I'm not quite ready to post it. I keep finding more chores to add to the list! You know how that goes. 

You can see the leaks in the bird bath. I checked and even though it has begun raining, I think the mend is holding. It cracked up around the base, as the snow got in after the heater busted. 




It's been chilly. They ended up sleeping in the same bed two days in a row!

The hosta has survived, and is beginning to grow. We'll see if their days are numbered, though. 

This may be the only evidence of my tulips, and please don't tell the deer they are here. 

Then, there are the lily bugs. I have my neem oil spray.

The horse chestnut buds are amazing.

tulips raise faces to the sun
leaf buds burst with sweet sap

-deer snap off a snack

The backyard daffodils are coming along. Don't blink! The season seems so short. The deer don't like the daffies. Isabelle helped me plant them, such a wonderful memory!

Trailcams

I've been thinking about the camera placement, screwed into the tree. I think it is a mistake. I'm sure the raccoons could use it as a stepping stool. I have a video of them trying to get into this nest box – not that I can find it! If ducks lay eggs in this box (they didn't last year) I'll have to move it. 

I managed to capture the deer at the pond. It attracts a lot of wildlife.

 

deer on pond from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

 The wood ducks I finally have on video. Almost. All I have to do is turn the camera a touch. 

You can see what I mean, he's just about in frame, though. I've begun reporting them on Project Nestwatch. Those, and the 🐣ROBIN  (3 eggs), as well as 🐣PHOEBE  who seems serious about nesting. 

wood duck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Things are hopping in the pond. The fairy shrimp and mosquito larvae are quite active. The irony is that the Wordle of the day was 'larva' but I did not get it. I'd just processed this video!

 

fairy shrimp & mosquito larvae from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

🐻SNUGGLE Bears – Blues Bears Band!

JB is so creative! It's lots of fun.