A Northern Flicker and a male Pileated Woodpecker

I am guessing that the smaller bird to the left is a Northern Flicker. Does anyone have any comments on this id?

Mayflowers in bloom

April Showers bring Mayflowers. Yes, Indeed they do! I found Mayflowers in bloom along highway #785 today! Now we have both April Showers and Mayflowers.

Eagle for world bird Wednesday

Even from a distance as we approached this stark tree outlined against the sky we knew the dark shape perched on it wasn't a crow as it was too large. We had seen Eagles there before and when started to be able to distinguish the white on its head and tail we knew what it was; An Eagle! A little cropping really enhanced its steely eye and its sharp shapely curved bill! What a powerful looking bird this magnificent creature was. It was a lucky sighting on our part!

Got some grest bird photos!? want to share them with others on World bird Wednesdayhttp://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/? To locate this meme, just scroll down the right side of this page until you find the World bird logo, click on it and go from there!

White- throated Sparrow for Mellow Yellow Monday

There is no doubting of the identify of this little sparrow! Notice its white-throat ed bib. Its a white-throated Sparrow And the
ytellow lores makes it a perfect candidate for Mellow Yellow Monday! Got photos with yellow? That's all you need to qualifyfor the mellow yellow Monday meme. Just scroll down the right-hand side until you come to the mellow yellow Monday logo. Just click on the picture and you're there. Just continue on and enjoy!

Brown-headed Cowbirds for Camera Critters

Its naming is in the colouring of its head. This is a male Brown-headed Cowbird. The female of this species is a demure gray in colour, but demure does not describe the behaviour of these unwanted birds in our feeder area. Cowbirds do not nest, rather the female lays its eggs in the nest of another species and leaves the rearing of its young to another.
This male cowbird shown above is the first Cowbird that I recall seeing in Bird Alley for several seasons now, This particular bird appeared to be very hungry as it voraciously claimed the food in the birdfeeder

Do you have interesting photos of 'critters' you haave seen recently? Why not share them with others by posting them on camera critters?http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/http:// This meme can be found by scrolling down the right hand column on this page. Just click on the CC logo there and you're underway!

A Ring-necked Duck

My first sighting this spring of this handsome, spectacular looking Ring- necked Duck was yesterday when I had seen it at French Lake. I had seen several on the water there, but as soon as I got out of my car to take their pictures they had all disappeared as these ducks are wont to do do. No, they didn't fly away but dove under the water's surface.

A late lingering Tree Sparrow visitor!

This time of year especially I am more alert to noticing the difference in birds as I watch and wait for sight of returning migrants. But when I saw this sparrow this morning, something didn't seem right to my mind about this Chipping Sparrow? No, of course not, Chipping Sparrows don't have a central breast spot like this bird did! A Tree Sparrow?! But they are all gone now, aren't they?! But maybe not? Does it have a bi-coloured bill? I changed lenses and strived for a closeup that would show the bill. Yes! It was bicoloured! Wow! A Tree Sparrow indeed! Quite a sighting!, But then we did have snow yesterday! But no on ground accumulation resulted. Maybe this little fellow is starting to feel right at home here, even this late in the season. Go away little bird, Go north where you should be at this time of year. I mean further north! We are finished with winter here!!

Another returning bird to Bird Alley: Purple Finch

What a lovely treat and surprise yesterday to see such beautiful vivid purple-pink colour in the branches outside my windows yesterday afternoon. in the feathered form of two male Purple Finch. Maybe I will see female finches today? The females are not as strinking attractive as the male are, but they will be very welcome to round out our bird population recently in bird Alley consisting daily of: a pair of Downy Woodpeckers, both male and female. A lot of Song Sparrows and many, many Slate coloured Juncos, a couple of Chipping Sparrows a couple of Mourning Doves, their numbers seem to really be down this spring and of course our regular Black-capped Chickadees. The White-throated Sparrow didn't return yesterday but I am still waiting for its return. A big omission in visiting birds this year are Grackles. Usually other years we have been swamped with them, but not this year. I had an initial visit of this species when they were first noted returning to the province, but since then only two or three. Our tree tops used to be full of them, but not this year for some reason! Have a great birding day everyone!

Fishing Gulls and Running White Tails for Outdoor Wednesday

We are expecting snow this afternoon, quite a storm apparently , so I decided to do my birding rounds early this morning. I saw very little, The best sighting was possibly that of a Kestrel, It behaved in Kestrel style, flying away as I rolled down my car window and it flew away as I prepared to take its picture. I saw quite a few White-tailed Deer and they all saw me also and they all kicked up their heels, flashed their white tails and ran away from my camera.

But the best discovery was the last. We have a river running through our community which is the scene each spring of gaspereau returning up the river each year to spawn. The rapids at our point in the river is locally known as The Gaspereau Falls, and today at the Gaspereau Falls I saw two gulls waiting in the river. What a delightful surprise when downloading my pictures to see that one gull had a gaspereau in its beak. What a glorious outdoors it was today .Quite perfect I thought for a post to the Outdoor Wednesday meme.

Got photos you want to share? Why not post them at Outdoors Wednesday. To find this delightful meme, please scroll down the page on the right hand side until you come to the outdoor Wednesday logo. Click on it and find your way there. Happy picture taking!

A new returing bird buddy today in Bird Alley

I acknowledge this is not a good picture but it will serve as my record of a returned White-throated Sparrow today in Bird Alley. I had just mentioned to my husband, David, yesterday that we hadn't seen any white-throateds yet this spring. Today when I glimpsed the two white stripes on its crown in the bushes, I immmediately hopped it was a longed for White-crowned Sparrow but when getting a glimpse of its vivid yellow lores, I knew it to be a White-throated Sparrow. Its maybe a bit early for a White-crowwn sparrow yet. Perhaps I won't get any good pictures tomorrow either as a snow storm is forecast!!!!! Yes, snow!!!! Enough already!

Robin Red Breast for Ruby Tuesday

What a handsome bird with such a beautiful red breast. Robins seldom visit Bird Alley and when this one did last week, I was there, standing in my window with my camera! this one is gorgeous

Got pictures with red, a whole lot of red, or just a little bit? If you want to share them why not post them sand link with the Ruby Tuesday memehttp://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/. My appreciative thanks go to Mary, the poet, the host of this meme. To go there please scroll down this page and look in the right hand column until you come to the Ruby Tuesday icon. Happy photoing!

A Wood Duck pair, my treasure sighting of the day!

Other than male Hooded Mergansers, Wood Ducks are my most favourite ducks to photograph. I found this pair this morning in a roadside pool alongside the Branch Road. I often find them here each spring but this year they have been hard to find, like nonexistent!. This morning was my first sighting of them and they were moving away fast as I stopped my car on the road. With cropping I was able to create this photo of the pair. The unmistakable white eye of the female told me these two were a pair.And Don't you love the 'blue' blue of the rippling watery waves caused by their movement through the water and the colourful male is such a handsome speciman. This photo made my day. Also seen this morning, but no photo of it was a Belted Kingfisher! Also seen this morning were some Manky Mallards, and Black Ducks, anOsprey on top of its nest and some Canada Geese, and as can be seen in the header, a Gray Jay on the tip top of a tree! I wonder what I'll find this afternoon?

Dandelions in bloom for mellow yellow Monday

This photo is of my second find of dandelions in bloom last week. On both the 15th. and 16thth. I found Dandelion blooms, both were nestled(wedged) snugly against the cement foundation of a building. Their location choice suggests a strong wilful determination to thrive. This flower has a striking beauty which is appreciated after a long, cold winter. However it presence after admid lawns and flower beds becomes a nuisance as spring and summer progress. Our lawns used to be full of thembut my husband digs them by their roots and discards them so we have few dandelions to cope with, but we wish others would do the same as their fly away seeds often plant themselves in our yard and thepulling up of dandelion plants is a yearly chore of determination of ours to be rid of them each year. But regardless of their nuisance factor, I am always excited to see the first dandwelion blooms showing ther beautiful yellow heads each year. got photos with yellow? Why not post them to Mellow Yellow Monday? Please scroll down the right hand bar on this page to find the mellow yellow icon and click on it to also find others who have shared their own mellow yellow beauty on this meme.

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scenic watery roadsides for Scenic Sunday

Often at this time of year one will encounter an excessive amount of water along roadsides which have created siuch ponds or lakes that are not a year round thing. However these seasonal pools are interesting to explore with your camera eye. We encountered one such interesting water area which we thought might be an inviting oasis to wandering ducks last week. When we drove by it initially we had no luck, However on our return trip on the way home I asked David to drive by slowly and he did. until I said, "stop, back up, there's a hooded Merganser there!". If you enlarge the above photo by clicking on it, you will see the wilderness beauty in this roadside pool that we had seen. I love the beauty of Hooded Mergansers anytime but the natural colours of this setting was enhancing to the beauty of this wild creature.

And these Canada in this roadside pond really appeaedl to my senses. Their lonely sounding honks added to the wilderness setting as they swan by past my camera lens.

Scenic Sunday is a meme where you can share the beauty your camera has captured for your enjoyment and for the enjoyment of others too. Please scroll along the right side of this page to the scenic sunday icon and click to share with others and also to view what others have shared. Have a wonderful day!

An Osprey for Camera Critters

My purpose in driving down the Mast Road st Three Tree Creek yesterday was to see if I could get another glimpse and photo of the Osprey that I had seen on Monday sitting on top of its nest on the corner of the Mast Road and the Wilsey Road. We watch for the Osprey at this nest every year and so far they haven't failed us in returning to this site.

You can imagine my surprise and delight when I saw this Osprey perched on an dead old branch alongside the road! What a lovely photo opportunity to find it out of its nest!

I stopped my car, rolled down my window directly adjacent to it so I could angle up my camera for a full bodied shot. How white and so clean looking it was!

It had noticed me and hunced its shoulders and glared at me (I was so close sitting there almost under it!) while it started to emit a shrill short whistles that are characteristic of Osprey

Its yellow eyes did not have a friendly appearance. I wondered if I should leave?

But then it turned its head and I saw another Osprey swoop by, probably in answer to its call. I was annoyed that I hadn't scanned the tree high enough. I had placed my sole concentration on this one bird! What else had I missed?

The Osprey I had been watching started to move around as if preparing its wings in flight to follow the other one, so I drove off

looking back a second later there was no Osprey in sight!. What a wonderful sighting of such a magnificent wild creature!

Got a picture of an interesting critter that yoy want to share, then why not post it on camera critters at:http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/, or scroll down this page on the right until you come to the CC logo and click on it to go to the link pages to see what critters others have to share. Happy photo hunting ou there.

A what is it? A Chickadee?

I really need help with this bird. Is it just a regular Black-capped Chickadee with an extra amount of black on its chin? That's what I thought when I started taking pictures of this different looking Chickadee, but then

I noticed the gray circle around its eyes! I've never seen a Chickadee with that kind of markings before!

The head and chin were very definitely black and it was the excessive amount of black that I had noticed at first.

I had had other plans for the day, but instead I shall be watching for this bird to return so that I can perhaps get some better picures of it.

If anyone has any suggestions as to its identification I would appreciate your comments.

Chipping Sparrows return to Bird Alley This Morning

Welcome back little bird,

Its been a while since I've seen you last,

Wait while I refill the feeders , so you may break your fast

The joys of spring are abundant as I watch all of the little sparrows return;

hopefully next some little white-crowned feathered cousins will reappear.

A gentle sunset for Skywatch Friday

I had been watching the sky as I had driven to a neighbouring community hoping to see a sunset, but deciding to return hope without a sunset having developed I was very surprised to glimpse the very red setting sun in my car's rear view mirror reflecting a very beautiful blue sky colour enhanced with the red setting sun. A beautiful closing to a lovely day.

My thanks to the hosts of Skywatch Fridayhttp://skyley.blogspot.com/ for continuing to host this very popular Friday skywatch meme. If you would like to post your own photos or just enjoy looking to see the photographic offerings of others, please scroll down this page and look upon the righ thand side to click on the skywatch logo to go to the meme. A happy Friday to all.

Ducks with a difference in their feathers!

I found these 'manky mallards' again this morning, here they are shown above. I came across this group of Mallards in a pond on Monday. But were they all Mallards? I wondered , for as you can see from the following photos,one Mallard looks a bit different! There was a little hut at the edge of the pond which set me to wondering if they were domisticated? I find wild ducks in this pond each year but someone had built a cabin nearby in the past year. Is this strange duck maybe a manky duck? "Manky" is a term I came across this morning while doing a search for "domesticated Mallard" . The explaination of this term can be found at: http://10000birds.com/manky-mallards-domestic-feral-or-just-plain-odd-mallards.htm It seems to fit. I returned to this location yesterday but there were no ducks to be seen although I could see that the location of the little duck house had been moved. I will go back out there this morning to see what I can find there. note: I found these ducks this morning again and took the photo that is the first one on this page.Hopefully I notice that there are two manky males.!

In the above photo there are many similarities between both of these ducks, At first glance I would call them both male Mallards Notice that they both appear to have a mottled breast, but there is a noticeable difference in their bill colour

A Black Duck?

Not totally I see!

You have a white feather showing on your side,

where its not supposed to be!

Osprey, They're Back!

I have been watching this Osprey Nest, shown below sitting on top of a power line, for the last few days, ever sinceI heard of the first reported sighting of a returned Osprey that was seen in Jemseg last week. I have also been watching an Osprey nest at Hazen Park at Oromocto but haven't seen any Osprey there yet.

Ospreys are a very common sighting in our area as they fish for gaspereau in The nearby Oromocto River around here. Many of their nests can be seen built a top of power lines. I took a picture of this distant one this morning, and only after downloading did I discover that there were two Osprey on the nest.

some more coltsfoot and a male goldfinch with a moulting black cap for mellow yellow Monday

A lovely bonus mellow yellow sighting this morning: a beautiful yellow patch of Coltsfoot seen in Oromocto in the same location where we had first seen Coltsfoot last spring. My husband had remember the location and found these for me this morning.

This little Goldfinch has such a lovely yellow feather covering. It almost looks furry. Not so lovely on the top of its head as its black cap appears to be in a stage of moult!. Got pictures with yellow? Why not post them on the mellow yellow Monday meme by connecting to this link. http://mellowyellowmonday.blogspot.com/ Or You can click on its icon found on this page in the right column by finding it by scrollind down this page. If your plan is not to post a photo, then perhaps you will justwant to enjoy all of the yellow contributions posted there.