A Gray Jay

A bird of many names, this Gray Jay also is known as the Whiskey Jack, a Canada Jay, and Camp Robber. The name 'Camp Robber', being derived from its habit of hanging around wood's camps and helping itself to any available food it might find there. Here in New Brunswick this jay is commonly referred to as a Gorby or Moosebird.

But I always call it  a Gray Jay.  This gray and white bird, one of the smallest jays, is a bird found in our coniferous forests all year round.

On Friday I had seen a couple of Gray Jays in a rural area nearby, but I didn't get their pictures..  I don't often see a Gray Jay, so this sighting was a real treat for me, and so I decided that I would find it on Saturday again and get its picture!  Yesterday morning I found some old blueberry muffins going stale and also took along 3 or four slices of cinnamon and raisin bread with me and my camera when I went out to the wooded rural area where I had seen the jay on Friday! At first I didn't see the jay , but after turning homeward I found one perched in a small tree ( spruce or fir? I'm not sure which. I even got out of my car to take its picture and the jay was not too skittish as I stood there beside my car, pointing my camera at it.

  So, as it wasn't too frightened I reached for my food stash and scattered it there in front of the jay along the roadside.  I then drove away, turned and parked on the road opposite of where I had scattered the food.  I didn't have to wait long and the bird reappeared approaching the food stash and taking a few bites from the bread.  This was a wonderful photo shoot! I  I might try again today as this is such a sweet bird to observe!

 

 And today we are celebrating our Canadian Thanksgiving so it 's a good day to share with the birds as their viewing and habits give us so much pleasure and we have so much to be thankful for! Surely I can trade some more bread for another picture.  Have a wonderful day everyone!

Wood Ducks for Saturday Critters

I was hoping to find a few Canadas, but luck was, or wasn't with me and instead I found a beautiful pair of Wood Ducks in my favourite pond yesterday.

They were both so very colourful and I had never glimpsed the speckled breast of the female before!!  The water was slightly reflective and the male was doubly handsome! His white portions were so very crisply clean looking.

As is characteristic of ducks most times, but especially in the fall they were very skittish and flighty

and when they became aware of me they took off immediately, Above the white eye of the female separates the pair easily as to who is in the lead.

When they separated the male was easily identified!

With cropping I have separated the birds  from the photo above to see them better separately

.  The speckled underwing or breast of the female is really outstanding above!

And  the underwing part of the male is beige too, but unlike the female,  it is unspeckled!
Today I am linking to Viewing Nature with Eileen  at her Camera Critters.
http://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.ca/
Have a great day everyone, its such a wonderful time of year that I will be out there with my camera hoping to find some of Mother Natures Treasures.

Three Deer Found This Morning

Early this morning I grabbed my camera and car keys and set out with an agenda: To find some deer. Usually I can find a few at the same specific time each morning.  Three deer were feeding in an open field. They saw my car approach and stop, and my presence set them moving about, although usually a presence will cause them to speed with their white tails up flying heedlessly across the road.  Not this morning though as they stayed put in the field where they were grazing. I was very happy about that fact.

Peek -a- boo

  It is a large meadow where I usually find them and they have lots of room to run about and feed.

Before I returned home I drove on to a favourite stream of mine.  It is very beautiful there at  this time of year. In 1783 my 3rd. great grandfather from Maryland arrived at Saint John NB with the fall fleet of Loyalists, and my Loyalist ancestor was granted a land grant for his service and loyalty to the King at the mouth of this stream. I should like to walk to the mouth of this stream some day to see if I can detect any hint or remains of a homestead having been built there.  It is a lovely beautiful  fall day today as you can see in the pictures below. 

                             

Double -crested Coromorant for Saturday Critters

Yesterday morning we visited the Irving Nature Park in Saint John, New Brunswick.The previous evening we had attended a Fog Lit event called Words and Wine, which was hosted by our daughter.  It was a wonderful event which we enjoyed immensely.  On our way home we visited the  Irving nature park and walked out on the boardwalk there which extends out over Saints Rest Marsh.  The  Marsh grasses are very beautiful at this time of year,  highlighting a vivid combination of colours of fall,  sunshiny yellows, thirst -quenched greens, mud browns, salt and peppered with warm  earthy tones swaying with the breezes  coming off the Bay of Fundy at Sandy Cove.

.                           the boardwalk over the multicolored marsh grasses

                     At the end of the boardwalk we found an area of mud, water and grasses and three ducks

As we walked out on the boardwalk we saw very few birds or signs of movements until we came to the end of the boardwalk where we saw a catch basin of water that had not left with the tide. The area was a muddy basin surrounded by marsh grass.  When I began to accept my disappointment at not having found any subjects  to capture with my camera I spied a large dark object in the water in front of us. The vivid orange and yellow billed  face  of a Double-crested Cormorant was very exciting  to see!

 I took pictures of its take off in the water in front of us!

Today I am linking to Saturday Critters , which is graciously hosted by Eileen at:http://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.ca/

A Banded Tussock Moth Caterpillar for Saturday's Critters

I am often surprised and delighted with finding unexpected sightings in nature that I have never seen before!  This morning I had one such encounter when I found a

magnificent fuzzy yellow creature resting on a leaf of our Blue Jay Hosta.. After downloading the picture of this amazing looking caterpillar I immediately went searching for my valued field guide  which I have on caterpillars.  I finally located my copy of Caterpillars of Eastern America by David L. Wagner. Previous caterpillar sightings of other intriguing caterpillars suggested to me that this might be a Tussock caterpillar and I believe I was right. I love the magnificent set of eyes of this creature.  The eyes suggest to me that the eyes would indicate the portion of the body being that of the anterior end of the body( anterior; situated at the front of). and  on p.471 of my caterpillar field guide it states that  the Banded Tussock caterpillar" has conspicuous black and white lashes extending from the anterior end of the body" The photo

above illustrates that characteristic of this banded tussock caterpillar.
Another characteristic suggested in my field guide book was that "this caterpillar species frequently rest on upper leaf surfaces in full view" .  That fits  this fuzzy fellow also as can be seen as it lies in full view on a Blue Jay Hosta Leaf. It was so easy to see right there in the open.

Banded Tussock Moth Caterpillar lying on a hosta leaf in full view.

So I conclude that this is a Banded Tussock Moth Caterpillar found on a hosta leaf in Bird Alley this morning.
I am linking this post this morning to Eileen's Saturday's Critters located at:
http://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.ca/

Canada Geese

On our morning drive yesterday morning, we were hoping to see the Wood Ducks we had seen the day before.  We  saw one unidentified duck in the Monday Brook Pond and it was a disappointment that we saw no Canada Geese there either.  So we drove to another location where we usually see a Great Blue Heron, no heron sighting either, so we decided we may as well return home  BUT. look, there ;in the stubble of a   hay field in front of that beautiful farm.. a flock of Canada Geese in the field feeding.

 

I find Canada geese so picturesque and photogenic!  I love their long necks with the white neck notch.  Classy creatures!

 

This beautiful old yellow farmhouse is the perfect background for these magnificent flying  creatures!

 

A passing motorist frightened these geese into lift off!  Wow!!

 

Up, up and away over these red barns.

 

Flying away... until tomorrow geese when hopefully I will find you tomorrow. Keep flying and practicing to help your strong muscles prepare for your upcoming southern flight.

Finding Wood Ducks

I haven't found very many ducks this past summer/spring but yesterday I went to a favourite location for ducks at Monday Brook Pond and it was my husband who spied the movement along the weedy edges of the pond.  The ducks were distance and difficult to see but fortunately my camera followed their movement and from my photo capture I was able to id them as this year's Wood Ducks.  The striking white eye of the female makes for an easy identification and I could  also see the red of the male's eye.  This is a very beautiful species!

 It was such a joyful occasion to find these ducks that we hope to repeat the discovery again today as we are returning to the pond in just a few minutes. 
Also each time we go to this area we often see a great blue heron and a flock of Canada geese.  Maybe I can get a picture of those species also today.  Have a nice day wish to everyone!

A Young Spotted Fawn

I was hoping I might see some deer this morning while driving along a country road.  I pulled to the side to take pictures of a wild apple tree which had beautiful red fruit.  when I looked up from my picture taking I saw this beautiful fawn in front of my car looking at me.

Its coat looked slightly faded and I have since discovered that its spots will fade and not outlast its first winter.

This beautiful creature appeared to be  by itself. Apparently the mother doe will wean her young by September or October.  This fawn looked quite large to be a spotted baby and I am assuming it has already separated from its mother.

This was a wonderful encounter to begin my morning drive with.  I was hoping to see some Canada Geese or maybe a Great Blue Heron but the only nature creature whose image that I carried home in my camera was this young deer.

Cabbage Whites

One consistent sighting in our yard these past few days are fluttering white butterflies, and as well we are enjoying, almost daily  seeing the jagged edge Green Comma Anglewing. Within the past couple of weeks we have also had a Monarch butterfly feeding on our hydrangeas and just a couple of days ago a beautiful Viceroy.  Its not always easy getting a photo of the flitting whites, but I was lucky today with a couple of shots.

I am used to seeing a lot of white butterfly at this time of year, but the yellow sulfurs are missing.  I used to seea a lot of yellow at this time of year also.

Anglewing; A Green Comma Butterfly

Our wonderful, sunny warm days seem to have returned.  So, hopefully I shall see butterflies in my garden again today as I did yesterday.
My husband spied what at first he thought was a tattered and torn butterfly in our cone flower patch yesterday,

but upon examination of its dark underside wings we discovered that its wings had a most irregular shape as seen in the picture above. , and the term anglewing immediately jumped to my mind. After downloading the pictures I started researching anglewings and within this classification are Questionwings and Comma butterflies ..  hmmmm. which comma might it be? I have decided that it is perhaps a Green Comma Anglewing butterfly. And the following photos will show you why I made this id.  According to my butterfly fieldguide

a Green Comma has submarginal green spots on its dark underside and when I checked my photos for these green spots I found some. If you look closely you can see some green spots also.
 

A Green Comma also has submarginal yellow spots on its hind wings and yes, this butterfly has yellow spots on its hind wings also.
Now to look at some more pictures of this Green Comma just because it is such a beautiful little creature.

 It has been a good summr despite the experience of Hurricane Arthur.  We have enjoyed spending time with our grandchildren and watching our garden grow; both flower garden and tomatoes and
 grass and the many hummingbirds at our feeders.  Hopefully I shall now become more attentive to my blog in the coming days as I have been quite neglectful of it for most of the summer. And today I am hoping to be able to get more butterfly photos, A goods day  wished for everyone