Last evening my husband called to me. "There is a Robin looking in the window at me. He didn't have to say , "Get your camera", for in a second I was grabbing for it! Seeing that first Robin is a special spring moment for me which asserts the fact that winter is over, although we received about 15 centimetres of snow the day before. But I can fasten my eyes on that beautiful red breast and forget about all that white stuff hanging around on the ground outdoors. The beautiful Robin he saw was perched in a Manitoba Maple tree in Bird Alley. My camera and I were lucky as I snapped its picture.
I got its picture just before it flew off to perch in our Choke Cherry Tree.
The interesting thing to me, about seeing a flock is the delight in finding Red-winged Blackbirds mixed among them. The flocks are often very flighty and sensitive to any movement on my part behind the camera, but when they lift in flight that is when the camera might catch a glimpse of red epaulets of the male Red-winged Blackbird wings.
For example a study of the picture below revealed eight male Red-winged Blackbirds in flight mixed among this Grackle flock!
And the beauty just keeps on coming. I hadn't seen anything very remarkable and spring like today except for a large flighty flock of CCommon Grackles. So this evening I decided to check out an old Fox location where I had found young Fox kits last summer. There was no sign of foxes but as I gazed at the river flowing I saw a beautiful white shape floating by followed by a darker shape, so I took several pictures .( when in doubt, just keep on clicking.) Although it was at quite a distance I was hoping I might be able to identify something when I downloaded my pictures. And yes I could! I saw a pair of Common Mergansers in the river just below the railroad bridge.
The white male with its red bill and dark green head was easily identifiable and the female followed behind the male with her outstanding flamboyant hair do!
I wasn't sure what I would post this morning, Common Grackles or Bluejays, that is until I looked out my window and saw Evening Grosbeaks in our Plum tree. There were just a few and one male that I saw. the male was rather elusive and it was difficult to get a full bodied picture of him. They never left the tree to land on the ground and they didn't stay long; but their sighting was wonderful. It must be over a year since I have seen Evening Grosbeaks in our yard.
the black markings on the white under tail are not always easily seen but by its smallness alone you can pretty well identify this woodpecker by its size.
"OhHappy Day." waking this morning to a mild temperature of +08 degrees Celsius I thought, "Yes , this is the day I find a returned duck"!
And I did!, Not one, but two!
I love finding returning ducks during March. My first sighting ever in my own local area was of a Hooded Merganser on March 7th., 2007. Today is March 7th and as soon as I post this I shall go out looking in my favourite open water pond location. I have a special duck project this year. I often hear about people who have ducks appear in their yards and I would love to experience that, so during the past year I had been on the lookout for duck decoys at flea markets and yard sales. I was lucky last fall when I found a laundry basket full of decoys for just $10 and of course I bought them. They have overwintered in our basement and yesterday I put them outdoors on my side lawn. I had also bought two ceramic ducks in August at a flea market. The ceramic ducks are outside now also. The decoys are placed where I can see them easily from my kitchen window. Also yesterday I bought a package of cracked corn to scatter about the decoys. I have my fingers crossed that some
We hadn't seen Pine Siskins in Bird Alley in over a year so I was delighted
The Pine siskin also has a sharp, pointed little beak which allows it to feed easily from the Niger seed feeder which we have.
Above , colourful red American Bittersweet berries create a colourful background for the feeding Goldfinch.
It has been a good winter although a slow one in Bird Alley. No Cardinals, no Redpolls, no Juncos , or Grosbeaks. We have had a few Tree Sparrows and one Waxwing. Recently we have welcomed Pine Siskins and we have lots of American Goldfinch. I have turned my interest to finding White-tailed Deer as they are now coming out of the woods into the open fields. I have found one location where I am quite likely to find White-tailed Deer and yesterday I saw five there! Included in the group was one grey . I have never seen a grey-coated deer before that I recall. A bit of research told me that some deer will have their coats turn grey during the winter, but the grey colouring will be replaced by their regular brown colouring as spring and summer advance.
