Bohemian Waxwings for Mellow Yellow Monday

Isnt this Waxwing beautiful with its yellow strip across the bottom of its tail feathers!?

We had seen these birds a week ago but I had forgotten to post the photos as there were too many other nature happenings to post about like: crows, snow buntings, hawks and eagles, etc..
The cinnamon coloured undertail shown in the above picture identifies the above Waxwing as a Bohemian Waxwing.

Happy Monday to all. To view a wonderful variety of yellow-themed photos from other bloggers around the world, just click on the link belowmellow yellow

Hunting for Hawks

Yesterday we decided to go hunting for hawks along highway # 105 in the Maugerville, Sheffield area of New Brunswick. It was a good day to choose for the trees were very beautiful, with a frost coated covering, especially when the sun shone. And the first hawk sighting we had was of a light morph Rough legged Hawk. Its white belly really stood out when it was perched in a tree. It was quite a distance away but I had brought along my telephoto 400 mm lens and it proved to be quite an asset in our hawk photography yesterday. We considered we were off to a good start and so with high hopes we drove on down the highway.

When looking for hawks along this highway the thing is to look for a dark shape perched in a tree. Our second hawk sighting came right away, but as the sun was shining directly at my camera when I tried to photograph this second sighting ,making it difficult at first to id the hawk.We were able to get a better view as this hawk flew on down the highway and perched on a frost covered branch of another tree which reached over the highway. Were we happy? 'Yes!" Our day was proving to be quite successful! and we were able to take another picture of it! As it appeared to be so dark, we erroneously thought it was perhaps a dark phase morph of the rough legged hawk. Photo Shop proved us wrong.

After I downloaded and lightened the photo when back home we discovered. it was another light phase rough-legged as we could now see the white markings on its upper chest and lower belly parts. We were on a roll, on the look out for more hawks!. Already two light-phased Rough legged hawks seen! in just a very short time period! What next? There was more to come!

Continuing on down the highway we saw another dark shape in a tree off at a distance bordering the back of an adjacent field to the highway... Another hawk? perhaps. Shall we say hawk # 3? We then spied another dark shape in another tree which was closer to the highway and I was able to get some pictures of this other dark shape in the tree. But it wasn't a hawk!
We had suspected this second dark shape wasn't a hawk as it appeared to be quite large andalthough it did have white markings on it, but not like a rough legged's markings. It was an Eagle! please click to enlarge the picture below so we may share with you what we had seen. It was a magnificent sighting.Oh happy day! We were having a wonderful time! We drove on down the highway and turned by the bridge crossing the river there. We saw no more intriguing black shapes in trees around there and we decided to return to Oromocto to do our intended grocery shopping. On our return back up the highway, the Eagle we had seen was still perched there so we took more photos of it. It looked rather scruffy and rugged looking perched among the frost covered branches. Before we left the area we spied another dark shape in a tree as shown below.,. But another day might reveal what?! Our hawk sighting appetite had been appeased for the day? We hope you have enjoyed reading about and viewing pictures of our successful 'hawk and eagle day!'

Magpies from Guest Photographer in Airdrie , Alberta

Frequently this past fall and winter I have been receiving pictures of Magpies in my brother Roger's backyard in Airdrie, Alberta. They are a beautiful bird ,having a very striking appearance with their black and white contrasting plumage and long tails. Roger has been trying for good closeups of these birds over the past months., but they have proved to be rather elusive as subjects in their chosen yard. I think Roger's photo of the two magpies in the photo below is rather magnificent!
Below are Roger's observations of the visiting magpies:
"The magpies are becoming more confident as they visit and are less fearful?"

"There are two of them now, probably were all along as they all look alike."
This magpie above apparently likes feeding from the suet feeder Roger has provided for the bird visitors to his backyard.

Its really great to have views like this from your window!

Thanks for sharing Roger!

Camera Critters is a meme that features critters, any kind, any size. To see more of this meme please click on the CC logo which can be found on the right sidebar on this page or please click here.http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/

A Lone Snow Bunting

A telephone call yesterday afternoon from a bird watching aquaintance in the village alerted us to a bird she had not seen in her feeder areas before. From her description we thought it possibly was a Snow Bunting and we were right for with camera and bird book in hand we ventured to her home to investigate. The Snow Bunting was there where she had just spread some more bird feed and blackoiled sunflower seeds out on her driveway. The bird was not that timid as I got out of my car and it came right back where it has been checking out the food supply when we had arrived. There were no other SnowBuntings in sight nearby so it appeared that this lone Bunting had somehow gotten separated from the rest of the flock.

Raven Behaviour

Several years ago *(January, 2011) I took these photos posted below and I had identified the birds as crows. I believe my identification was incorrect  and they were Ravens, not crows, as I had assumed. Shortly after my posting, I received the following message from an  internet acquaintance living in upstate New York ;

"Sent my son to your crow blog since he knows a crow expert at the university he works at, and she says your photos were fine examples of "cuddling" behavior among ravens."
Yesterday morning I saw these two crows shown above, side by side on a branch of an old dead tree. They looked and appeared to be very companionable
together.
Then I
noticed that the crow on the right appeared to be feeding the crow on the left. I pulled my car over onto the shoulder of the road and stopped hoping to capture in pictures what was going on between the two crows.


The crow on the right seemed to be picking something up from the branch it was standing on.

Once more the crow on the right appeared to be feeding the crow on the left.

Is this usual observable behaviour between crows? I haven't observed this sort of happening before!

The action did not appear to create any hostility between them..

As I was parked along the highway, I drove on leaving the crows behind.. They were not to be seen when I passed that spot again on my way home.

After the storm for mellow yellow monday

How to get through the winter? Find a project to work on like this quilt top I am making . I call it "winter sunshine". It will have 150 'yellow -themed"five inch square blocks when I am finished and it is full of nature images of summer and spring. I am worried that the brightness of it just might keep whoever is sleeping under the finished quilt awake so I may have to give a gift of sunglasses, along with the quilt to the receiver of it. For the update on this quilt top please click hereon the url:http://ancestrallinks.blogspot.com/2011/01/fabric-with-touches-of-red-for-ruby.html

After a snowstorm we are always very happy to see this driver and his yellow snow removal machine show up in our driveway as he did on Saturday morning this past weekend.

Happy Monday to all. To view a wonderful variety of yellow-themed photos from other bloggers around the world, just click on the link belowmellow yellow

Exciting blossom beginnings for today's flowers

Almost open!It won't be long now until the blossom tightly wrapped in this geranium bud fully opens.

Brrrr, its cold outside today!!!! The reading is in Celsius, just outside my window.

But most exciting today are these Geranium buds on our Geranium plant sitting at our window .
Thank you to Luiz,and Denise of Todays Flowers, for this opportunity to share beautiful flowers with others. For more flower photos please click HERE.

textures in nature for camera critters

Contrasting textures of the white fluffy feathery breast of this Hairy Woodpecker pressed against the rough grooved tree create a visual correlation to the falling snow covering the rough winter landscape outside my window.

Camera Critters is a meme that features critters, any kind, any size. To see more of this meme please click on the CC logo which can be found on the right sidebar on this page or please click here.http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/

Seasonal scenery

A Bird Alley Welcome to the Birds

More Redpolls for World Bird Wednesday

Around four yesterday afternoon a small swarm (flock of Common Redpolls swooped into Bird Alley In the photo above they perched on the branches of our Manitoba Maple Tree arranging themselves side by side. I was so happy to see these little birds arrive as I haven't seen much lately to focus my camera on.

Common Redpolls for Ruby Tuesday

Looking out my window at these delightful little birds is a treat I seldom experienced for the past two winter seasons. But this year it is different.The past couple of days I have seen these little rosy breasted, red capped Common Redpolls feeding at our niger seed feeder.

Got photos with red want to share them?To check out other postings on Ruby Tuesday just click on the Ruby logo on the side bar or here:http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/. My appreciative thanks to Mary/the teach for hosting this meme

Crows in a Tree

I continue to check this tree often; hoping to see the eagle again that I had sighted in it a week or so ago, but there are always crows in it, and the eagle sighting s not gonna happen as I see it. Its a great old perching tree and a worthwhile location to check on every other day!