The watchers

It was a snowy morning, very snowy, and neither cat wanted to go out. While they often are curled up on chairs or in front of the fire, they both decided to watch the huge flocks of tiny birds that landed on the deck this particularly morning.

The birds hide instead in the mugo pine off the deck, well aware that at any minute the cats could arrive and force them to flee... after a bit, they gain courage and the feeding frenzy is on. I'm overly generous some days with the seed, specially when the snow is deep and it's very cold. And there are then often spots on the deck filled with mourning doves, house sparrows, chickadees, blue jays, goldfinches and American tree sparrows.

The goldfinches and house sparrows are hungry, so they stack the silo feeder while others wait, sometimes not so patiently - always making an interesting morning's activity outside for me - oh and the cats as well.
And so it will continue in 2012.

We all wish you the very best for a wonderful new year - filled with lots of interesting things and even more laughter and joy!

Time for a change of season!

Okay, I've had it today with the snow and winter... bring on summer, don't even wait for spring!!!

I want heat.

I want my pond bubbling and frogs sitting on lily pads, fishes swimming through the water hyacinth, colour on my deck from flowers - the drive shed covered in clematis, daisies in the garden along with lilies, roses, tansy, beebalm.

I want to hear the sound of bees, of bluebirds calling for mates, my cats purring lazily in the sun. The scent of summer, the warmth of sun on my face.The music of the country in the distance - farmers gathering hay, checking orchards, cattle and horses calling one another.

However, I've got what I've got - gray skies, wind blowing, snow flying. Three feet of snow in the pasture and tough walking, snowshoes or not.

But it's winter. It's beautiful in its way, and so today I'll enjoy the fire that's cheerily chatting away to me at the moment, a hot cup of coffee as I watch the birds from inside, and when I go out it's at least nearly above 0 C which it hasn't been for quite some time.

Maybe there's be some sun today too, or that lovely winter scene of huge fat fluffy flakes of snow just gently drifting down. There's always a treat somewhere in a day, often several.

Hope you have many treats this day and always! Happy Sunday.

Winter birds need seeds

Common visitors to my feeders in winter are the mourning doves, goldfinches,  and sparrows. They feed from the ground, though I've seen a mourning dove hanging on for dear life to a small feeder or get itself trapped inside a hopper feeder when it's frightened and can't figure out how to escape...a friend of mine calls them Norma Jeans, after the reputation Marilyn Monroe had for being a ditzy blonde - so untrue. She was smart as a whip about her career, not personally perhaps. However the mourning doves truly are not the brightest of the avian population. But lovely soft, beautifully-feathered creatures indeed.

This group of red polls (Common and Hoary I think from the photograph taken by a friend - Sue Dickens) shows how important feeders are to most seed and berry eating birds in winter. When there is lots of snow - like right now where I live - their normal supply of food is buried. They then rely on Mountain Ash, (the Rowan,) other berry bushes and trees and on people to put out seeds. Pounds of seeds, tons even - at least that's what it seems like

Red polls are adventurous birds and travel in flocks. They don't seem to stay long, only one to three weeks in any given location, but they certainly add to the  landscape with their burgundy heads, pink breasts and white underwings. Such fun to watch.

Hope you find something fun to watch or do today - it's one of those good to be alive days.

Feeding the birds

For those who follow this blog, you know that I love birds and have several feeders around the house as well as nest boxes for bluebirds, swallows and owls. Unfortunately many of the birds won't hang about for a photography session when I'm outside - largely I suspect because of my rambunctious four-legged companions.

However yesterday I took my camera with great hopes of getting a clear photograph of at least ONE bird... aha success. Needless to say the dogs were elsewhere on their adventures.

Chickadees are common visitors to many northern feeders. They hang about my place year round, largely because I feed year round.

Chickadees are among the most courageous of all birds and can be coaxed to sit on one's hand if you have patience to stay still long enough. They dive bomb me frequently when I'm out re-hanging or re-filling any one of the feeders. They chide me that I've been neglecting them or that I am in their way and inevitably they make me smile or laugh.

From all-birds.com: Feeding and watching birds is one of the fastest growing hobbies in the America.  Around 60 million people feed birds in the US.  The only outdoor hobby that is more popular is gardening, and the two are natural partners.  Feeding birds, and watching them at feeders is enjoyed by all ages. For birds the benefit is reliable food sources provided by feeders.  Many birds depend on feeders to get them through the winter.


http://www.ofnc.ca/fletcher/howto/htfeeder.php Fletcher Wildlife Garden website has some tips on feeding birds, among them not feeding straight peanut butter which can choke birds and not feeding bread, muffins or bakery products because they don't have the nutrition birds need and could starve birds that eat too much of these items. Worth checking out.


This hobby started in my family with my father I believe, back in the 50s. Many of the family have developed the habit and love watching the birds, joining the many people around the world who enjoy this pass time.


Hope you are doing something today that you enjoy!

Finally some sun

While I don't like looking at the hydro wires, the sight of sunrise early this morning was a great surprise and delight. I'm getting tired of gray day after day after day.

It's snowed nearly every day since Christmas. I think we've seen the sun once or twice since then.

The only problem with today is that it's bitter cold out there - between -15 and -20 C which I gather is around 0 F - and the wind is up which makes it bitter on my face walking the dogs... won't be doing much of that I don't think. But I certainly will enjoy the sun.

Lots of birds around filling up on sunflower seeds which are high in fat content - what they need to stay warm. Yesterday a sharp shinned hawk sat in the weeping birch for a long time while all the little birds hid. No luck for him for lunch here as far as I know. But what a beautiful bird.

Hope you're warm and safe wherever you are today.

The morning was filled with birds

Because I had to take these images through my window, they are sort of blurry and cloudy, but in this photograph  if you look really closely there is a cardinal in the tray of the feeder in the foreground. This is an occasional visitor I believe... and frankly with cardinals being a family favourite - I'm really pleased that he has risked the long flight from a nearby valley to come for a visit.
Yesterday was very cold - with the threat of snow, and so all my feeders right round the house were full of birds. The minute I went outside, they flew away, so I settled for trying to capture some of them through the window. It was a complete delight to see them fluttering and when I opened a window or walked around later the sound of wings flitting from one branch to another, one tree to another seemed like miniature drumming.
So here and below is a small sample of a few of the visitors...

Two woodpeckers hop up my scotch pine towards a deep tray  feeder where a cardinal eats sunflower seeds inside. There were at least two pairs of hairy woodpeckers and three of downies throughout the day. The cardinal is a rare sight, and hardly visible here.

A hairy woodpecker sorts through the seeds to select its favourite on the small cage feeder . Watching the woodpeckers fling seeds from this feeder, hanging on, tail tucked under for balance is such a treat. They make me laugh as they select a seed, then head for a tree branch and either tuck it into a hole for a later meal or can't wait and crack it open against the bark.

American goldfinches grab breakfast at the tube feeder and the small cage feeder in the background (lower left). There were at least 100 small birds yesterday including English sparrows, American tree sparrows, juncos, nuthatches that were joined by about a dozen mourning doves, a selection of blue jays - (I have to get some peanuts for them), many woodpeckers and a couple of dozen chickadees who are all residents of this property or the nearby hedgerows. Such a welcome sight on a cold and snowy day.