Jay Mania

There have been more and more bluejays gathering in the yard. Yesterday morning, Dave woke up and saw there more than 10 out there. There was one day last fall when we saw more than twenty bluejays together. They love the peanuts and sunflowers. Here are some pics of just a few of them.

Guess who's coming to dinner?

Monday night, just after 6 pm, this little guy was checking out the feeders in the front yard.


He hung around for about 10 minutes or so, then wandered off to the adjoining field. Somehow he went undetected by Arthur and Lola, so we were able to enjoy watching him for awhile.

Hummingbirds

Lots of hummingbird action at the feeders. We set up two new hummingbird feeders as well. We put one up to the window, so we can literally sit about 8 inches away from them and watch. They have the cutest little feet! As long as we don't move at all, they'll stay there and feed. We have yet to get a really good close-up pic at that feeder as any movement startles them off.
The other new feeder is one of those glass blown feeders, with the feeding tubes at the bottom. As soon as I filled that up, all the syrup dripped right out. Lame. I'm not sure how to adjust that one to have it sealed properly. Oh, and for the record, it's best to make your own hummingbird food and it's a ration of 1 part sugar to 4 parts water. The first time I went to make up food, I accidentally reversed that and couldn't figure out why it was such a thick paste. Oops. (It never made it out to the feeder, so the birds weren't on sugar highs or anything).

Here's the male at the purple bee balm:
and hanging out in the honeysuckle vine:

House Wren Update

Awhile back I posted that I was worried about the arrival of a pair of House Wrens in one of our backyard nesting boxes. Wrens are known to be aggressive towards other nesting birds (at the time we had robins and swallows nesting close by), but we didn't see any of this. In fact, they have proven themselves to be good neighbours. Now that the babies have hatched, the parents have been very vigilant. Dave went to check on the status of the nesting box on Sunday and the parents were making hissing noises at him and one even landed on his arm! Usually the parents fly close to Dave when he's looking at their babies, but actual contact this time was a first. Dave said that it landed on his elbow, cocked it's head and gave him the stare down. Awesome.


Still giving the cold shoulder:



We think there might be five or six babies in there (we're not totally sure) and they will probably fledge soon as they are getting quite big and are very noisy now whenever the parents come in the box with food. So far, so good!!

Grosbeaks and House Finches

Some pictures of the families that were at the feeders on Friday. There were up to six Grosbeaks- two males and the others were females or juveniles (they look the same).


The male feeding the baby sunflower seeds:

Male Grosbeak:

Juvenile or Female Grosbeak (I think this is a juvenile b/c I'm pretty sure this is the same one the male was feeding):


There were also multiple House Finches- two males and at least three females. All very cute and staying close together.
Hiding out in the trees together:



Close-up of the male:
Close-up of the female:

Goooood news!!

The red-bellied woodpecker is back!!! Not the adult male or female that we have been seeing regularly throughout the fall and winter...but a baby!!! I have posted before that I was worried about them since it had been so long since we had seen either of the pair. But yesterday afternoon, Dave spotted the baby out on the tree trunk. He or she hardly has any colouring, so it would have been easy to miss. The baby was busy checking out the various feeders






and even spent some time checking out the nesting box.



So we now know there was a successful nest- at least one. Maybe the parents are busy with the other babies right now. They can lay anywhere between 3 and 8 eggs and the average is 4-5. We'll be keeping an eye out for the parents and any other babies. They nest in May and June, so if they started a bit late, then it makes sense for us to see the first baby of the season just now.

These birds face serious competition from starlings for nesting sites in mature trees, so again we see a native population threatened by the starlings. In fact, the nesting box this bird was checking out had been frequented by starlings throughout the spring. Dave kept checking the nesting box and removed the nests the starlings built at least three times. Of course when not everyone is vigilant over the starlings, they are able to find another place to nest and our yard has been frequented by the noisy starling babies this summer as well.

What bird would you be?

Brittney asked us if you could be any bird, what bird would you be? So I thought I would post it and see what other people's answers are. Please share in the comments section.

For the record,
I pick Barn Owl. I love the look of these guys- their unique heart-shaped faces, with their black, black eyes, their overall light colouring and almost ghost-like appearance. They can live almost everywhere and seem to be very adaptable. I love that their flight is described as "eerily silent", and their call sounds like a screaming woman and gives out a hiss (no run-of-the-mill hooting for this bird). I found this history of the barn owl:

"Common names like "Demon Owl", "Death Owl" or "Ghost Owl" show that the rural population considered Barn Owls to be birds of evil omen in many places. Consequently, they were often persecuted by farmers, unawares of the benefit these birds bring."

Sounds about right for how nature has been overlooked and misunderstood by people.



and for some immature reason, I think Dave picked Dickcissel

(just kidding, I forget what he said).

Rock Point Provincial Park

We took our lovely niece and our two lovely dogs on an overnight camping trip to Rock Point Provincial Park. We picked Rock Point b/c it has a dog beach/swimming area and it was one of the few places that had availability when we decided only last week that we should do a camping trip. Arthur and Lola loved the beach area. Lola was pretty brave and got into the water, venturing out a little further than her usual "up to the ankles" level. Arthur was right in there of course.


While we hung out on the beach on Sunday (a beautiful day- sunny and breezy) we saw some new birds that we have since added to our life list.

These include the Bank Swallow and the Caspian Tern. The swallows were busy overhead, feeding on bugs. Bank Swallows are the smallest of the N. Am swallows. They are usually found near water and nest in sand banks. They forage in the air, working in groups (which is exactly what we observed). Their tails look almost square, so that was helpful in making the id too.



We got to see the Tern repeatedly hunting a school of fish that Brittney had just pointed out to us. This is the largest of the terns, with black legs, a red/orange bill and a black mask. It would hover over the water, dive down and try to make a catch. When a second tern tried to move in, the first tern starting squawking and carrying on.



We also saw a juvenile (we think a second year) Bald Eagle soaring in the sky on Saturday afternoon while we were hiking some trails. It was beautiful!! Of course, it went by quickly and we didn't get a shot.


On Saturday (prior to the thunderstorm and hail that hit us hard), we also saw a Yellow Warbler feeding a Cowbird. We did not see any other babies being fed, so we wondered if the cowbird was just hanging around longer than the other babies or this meant that the other yellow warbler babies just didn't make it. It's frustrating and disheartening to see this and there isn't anything to be done since cowbirds are a native bird.


We saw many Catbirds throughout the area. There was one nesting near our site and it was singing it's heart out.

On Sunday, three Turkey Vultures were soaring above, just letting the wind carry them along.


We also saw many robins and other yellow warblers around and a cardinal or two. Here are some other finds from our hike: