Hopefully in the upcoming days I will be able to get a god picture of a pair of these ducks. Yesterday afternoon I did my rounds of my usual duck sighting locations at ponds and the river I go to daily, and I found none. However, on my way home I decided to check out my communitiy's local lagoon as I had noticed a few days ago that it now had open waters and glad am I that I did!!! Yes, I saw a pair of ducks on the water there. From the distance I could not visually identify them, so I got out of my car and walked to the gate enclosure and held my camera to the opening gap giving me a view of the two ducks on the water. My Nikon slr camera picked up the images and thankfully for photo editing, which allowed me to edit a clear view of a male Common Goldeneye! What a beautiful sight it was. I could kind of slightly id the female as well, but it was not a very clear photo capture.
for the second day in a row this Robin has bisited us here , in Bird Alley. Its sighting has added to the promise of spring arriving soon. I am posting this morning to Eileen's Camera Critters. Have a wonderful day everyone on this last day of February2020 viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com
Yesterday morning, February the 27th. I saw this handsome American Robin feeding in our ornamental Crab apple tree in Bird Alley! This is the first Robin we have seen in this year 2020!
Our most recent arrival at Bird Alley yesterday was a White-throated Sparrow!( seen in the included picture, see its white throat! and its yellow lores) actually there were two of them!
We had many feathered visirors yesterday and we were pleased to welcome back the Song Sparrow which had not appeared for the two previous days.
The very busy Blue Jays ( and there seemed to be several), added their beautiful blue to the outdoor scene, The yellow of the American Goldfinch was very low key as their appearance was very brief. We did not detect any grey as the little Juncos which had appeared to be quite plentiful on previous day did not make an appearance
The colourful red on the back of a Hairy Woodpecker's head was missing so we can conclude it was a female of the species that was feeding in the alley and to finish off the day's listing was the ever present, loyal, Black-capped Chickadee
Update on the Monarch butterfly caterpillars! On August 4 and 5th. We collected three caterpillars from our milkweed plants and put them in cages on a bookshelf in our back porch.
The stalks on this milkweed blossom are drying and as they become dried out and brittle they fall from the plant. Realising that the little monarch butterfly caterpillar climbing on the blossom stalks might fall to the ground and be lost from its food source of mlkweed leaves, I took the caterpillar and picked a fresh milkweed leaf and placed them together in a cage for its safety and development. In about two weeks time this little caterpillar should be in its chrysalis stage, after which it will become an adult Monarch butterfly, then hopefully on its way to Mexico for its wintering! Nature is magical! Please help protect Nature's many, many delicate, beautiful creatures!
You can see the tiny caterpillar and also the hole from which it hatched from to the left of the caterpillar.The female Monarch butterfly was back yesterday and was laying a few eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves!
We have two blossoming milkweed plants growing in cracks in our cement doorstep in front of our garage door. Today we have been watching a female Monarch feeding there on the blossoms since around 10 a.m. this morning. It is still feeding there now, around 2 p.m.
I am hoping that it will lay eggs on the plant and in a few days, maybe we will see a Monarch butterfly caterpillar emerge. Last summer we found such a caterpillar on one of the leaves. I had decided last summer not to disturb the caterpillar and thought to watch its natural development. However, much to my disappointment the caterpillar disappeared from the plant following a windy night. This year, if the occasion arises I plan on caging the caterpillar and feeding it fresh milkweed leaves daily. I have raised Monarch butterflies successfully by doing this and monitoring its progress for about three times now.
I spied this Canada’s family crossing a pond in group earlier this week. There were eight goslings in total. That is quite a large family! I have read that a female Canada will lay from four to nine eggs. If that is so, then this group has been quite a successful hatch so far with a survival number of eight. May all continue to go well for them.
I am posting this morning to Eileen’s Saturday Critters which can be found at: viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.ca. May this first summer weekend go well with you all.
Tthis is turtle season in my area. Daily I see Painted turtles and I am waiting to see the big Snapping turtles laying their eggs. Yesterday I saw a turtle species that I seldom see, a Wood Turtle! I think it had been in the process of digging a location to lay its eggs as the soil was disturbed there as I came along. the bright red on its legs and neck signified to me that it was a Wood Turtle
This is an event that I wait and watch for every year: that being of finding Cedar Waxwings feeding among the apple blossoms! The delicacy of the light
It has been a slightly frustrating spring awaiting sunny warmer weather which would entice the Painted turtles out of their watery environments, encouraging them to sun themselves on the river or pond banks. Yesterday I saw this pair on the banks of the pond where I had often seen them in the [past springs. Warmer days are upon us now and hopefully that is good news for turtle sightings.
We were delighted to receive a visit from a Baltimore Oriole several times in Bird Alley this past week. At first the peanut feeder seemed to be its favouirite go to location. However, it was very attracted to the hummingbird feeder and attempted to feed there. I
recalled having heard that grape jelly was a favoured food for orioles so I had some and decided to place a few tablespoons of jelly on a saucer. The jelly was well received and appreciated by the oriole.
The next day the jelly was all gone, with a little help from a Chipmunk as we watched as one nibbled at the jelly. For two days we put out grape jelly and both days the jelly was all gone. We had a hummingbird feeder hanging on our clothesline and the Oriole was quite successful there getting some nectar as the feeder jiggled when the Oriole nudged it and the nectar within was easily jiggled out within easy reach of the oriole. That feeder is now empty also..I think that orange guy had quite the sweet tooth!
The Oriole did not lack socialibility as within the times of its visit a little Indigo Bunting showed up to share a few feeder tidbits with the Oriole
