Finally!!

Finally some more action in our yards over this last weekend!!

A Northern Flicker was up close and personal. Probably some of our best pics of this bird ever. She spent quite a bit of time working her way through the front gardens on Saturday afternoon.



At the same time, we saw the junco again and a chipping sparrow.



There were also at least eight blue jays at the feeders at the same time.


Later that same day, we saw a Sharp-Shinned Hawk in the tree in the front yard. The hawk went after a chickadee that was at the sunflower seed feeder.



Fortunately for the chickadee, the lid was off the feeder and it was empty enough that the chickadee was able to hide inside the feeder, away from the hawk. It stayed in there for quite some time while the hawk was waiting it out.


At the same time, a white-breasted nuthatch had been eating at the suet feeder. The nuthatch was clinging to the feeder, not moving at all while the Sharpie was on the hunt.


Eventually the Sharpie left and activity resumed at the feeders. We heard him being chased off by the blue jays. The Sharpie is one of the smaller hawks and isn't much bigger than a jay, but they have no tolerance for them and will mob the hawks until they leave.


On Sunday, we saw an adult male Red-Bellied Woodpecker at a feeder. This is the first adult we have seen in months and months, so it was exciting to see him back after so long.


Sunday morning also brought a large flock of grackles to the front yard. They were likely migrating in a large group. They didn't stay around for too long.


Monday was the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday, so we were around and able to do some more bird-watching. I noticed all the birds take off and then looked up to see another hawk in the yard.

At first we thought it was the juvenile red-tailed hawk (affectionately dubbed Horatio), but after watching for a bit, we realized it was much smaller than a red-tailed. Unfortunately he had his back to us, so making an ID took a little longer. Based on size, the tail and the eventual front view we got, we are fairly confident it was a Cooper's Hawk.


He stayed in the trees for quite awhile and again a white-breasted nuthatch was caught off guard and had to stay frozen on a tree trunk for quite awhile, rather than having safety up in the trees. The Cooper's stayed put and then quickly took off and caught something in the neighbour's field. He returned a bit later to the front yard, then we saw him again in the dead tree in the backyard.
This time it was the hairy woodpeckers who were upset with the hawk and they were all peeping loudly and repeatedly until it finally left.