A unique bird feeder

A few summers ago we bought an old iron pump at a yard sale.  We brought it home and my husband mounted it on a post and put it in Bird Alley.  Its spout and around  its base are convenient places to put seeds and the birds seem to enjoy feeding at that location, especially the Blue Jays.  The seeds , especially black oil sunflower seeds don't remain long at that location!  Today it is a Blue Jay feast and their beautiful bright blue adds magnificent colour to our drab, dull, somber November landscape.

Something Different for Bird Alley today

Only once before and that was several years ago that we had a House Finch in Bird Alley and I think we have one visiting with us today. I was hoping for something different today  and I think I got it!  I saw it just the one time and I was able to get a few pictures of this very welcome bird..  I do think it is a House Finch.  I hope you all agree with me.

 Also today so far we have had Chickadees
Red-winged Blackbirds
Bluejays
Mourning Doves

a Robin,

White-breasted nuthatch
a Crow high in a tree
and a Song Sparrow shown below

I'm hoping the Cardinals return today, as well as the Goldfinch. It is such fun watching the birds come and go in Bird Alley.

The sun is shining brightly, although it is cold here today with a temperature reading of a -10 Celsius .
We hope to go out to a waterfall later today and take some pictures before the falls freeze over. maybe I'll be back with pictures of it later.
Have a great day everyone!

Just an average day in Bird Alley

                              

 I decided yesterday morning to take a picture of every bird species visiting bird alley.  It was slow at first until my husband called me to see all of the Red-winged Blackbirds under a bird feeder..  They were quite skittish and moved often as soon as I approached the window, However, they soon settled in and started perching in the trees in Bird Alley.  There didn't seem to be any females among them. Later in the afternoon I put bird food on an old patio table and the blackbirds collected there, as many as seven at one time  Of course the regular daily bird species such as Blue Jays, Mourning Doves and Black capped Chickadees didn't disappoint

  

And much to my delight I spied a American Robin on a tree branch.  I got my stocking feet all wet when going out on an upstairs deck to get a closer picture but the beauty of its red breast was worth it I think.

Yesterday was the second day in the past couple of weeks that an American Goldfinch stopped by.  It has such a sweet looking appearance.  I put out some Nyger seed after its first visit but it hasn't found it yet.  I think I will buy a Nyger seed sack feeder for it and hope that its visits become a daily occurrence.

And last, but certainly not least is this White-breasted Nuthatch.  It has been a faithful visitor

for the last few days and I am starting to count on it to show up daily.  Some days there are two of them.

And now, the morning light is now becoming quite strong so it is time to move to my windows overlooking Bird Alley to see who or what the day brings.  Having such a feature as Bird Alley certainly adds appreciation and anticipation to my day.  Lets see what species are visiting today.  Maybe there will be a surprise visitor.  

A pair of Northern Cardinals in Bird Alley today!

Only once before  have I ever been able to photograph a pair of Northern Cardinals together.
Today I was able to do that again.  We had a pair of Cardinals visiting our feeders again and they were both at the same feeder at the same time.  They also shared the same tree.  
                             

 

In the above photo the female cardinal is upside down.

 A few snow flurries in the air helped to winterize the scene.

  

White-throated Sparrow in Bird Alley

Bird Alley was quite busy this morning with a lot of feeding birds such as: Junco, White-breasted Nuthatches ( two of them) Blue Jays, Mourning Doves, and a Song Sparrow, But the best surprise was a White-throat-ed Sparrows. It has been a long while since I have seen this species.

a Porcupine in a Tree

On Tuesday we went to the Irving Nature Park in Saint John . We decided to go for a walk on the boardwalk and as we started to leave the parking lot we noticed some people with a camera and they were excited about what they were seeing. We

looked also and immediately Saw what was causing all of the excitement! There was a Porcupine in a Mountain Ash tree there which was loaded with beautiful red berries./ The Porcupine was eating the berries! The porcupine was savouring the berries!

When it finished the bunch of berries it had been eating it reached for more.

I continued to take its pictures as we observed it in the tree. The pictures reveal some of the characteristics of the porcupine; such as its colourful orange teeth, it short, stubby nose and its claws.

Song Sparrow in Bird Alley

Bird Alley has seemingly been a bit inactive recently and so when looking out yesterday and seeing two Song Sparrows foraging about the ground foliage I was very pleased. I shall be watching for these two today with my camera ready a

nd I assume I shall also see Blue Jays and Robins around the larger ares of our dooryard.

A Happy Halloween to all

We think that our black cat Shakey is pretty special and this year he has decided to wear a Black cat costume. Here is what he looks like

Bircam fun in Bird Alley with Bluejays

I haven't used my bird cam much this past summer in Bird Alley, however after having refilled our feeders on Tuesday We were rewarded with quite a few hungry bird visitors and I decided to try to capture some of the action.  Due too foraging nighttime raccoon visitors we do not  often leave a lot of enticing birdseed around during the summer for the raccoons as they are such a nuisance.
Yesterday I captured quite a bit of interesting action with the birdcam.  We have quite a few performing Bluejays flipping thrpuigh the sunflower seeds as can be viewed below.

 
Three bluejays feeding together

A Fast Moving Red-breasted Nuthatch for Thursday's Challenge

A Red-breasted Nuthatch at our feeder in Bird Alley.

The theme for this week's Thursday Challenge is "blurry". When I took this photo on Tuesday of a Red-breasted Nuthatch speeding away from our bird feeder I knew I had my photo representing "blurry"!

Blurry is this week's photographic theme for Thursday's Challenge. To view more photos posted on this theme, or to join in on the fun yourself, just 'click' on the highlighted name: