Tag Archives: birds

Spring Showers

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Woke up this week to a winter wonderland – snowed all night and all day.
The world made new. Again.

A mouse lives near the entrance to the neighbourhood park. In the fresh snow on the remaining snowbanks she is busy tunnelling; across the bank, popping up and burrowing down again, leaving tiny holes in the snow. The fresh snow so soft and shallow her tunnel falling in behind her, leaving a path of churned up snow. Terminating at the heart of a leafless bush, stems offering protection from avidly curious snouts of canine folk passers-by.

A Blue Jay calls in the morning from the oak tree in a low buzzing rattle, ending in a middle-pitched *click* – a mating call?

 

Owl

A pale owl flapped to the top of a spruce tree in the park this morning, and sat there, stone still. Very rare sighting.

Eleven crows flying northward, chatting. (close attention to their silhouettes this time, plus it’s lighter now for morning walks – yay (solar) spring! – definitely blunt-tailed, smooth ruffed crows, not V-tailed craggy ravens.)

> It’s somewhat warmer today, after a week of chill-you-to-the-bone, and lots of deep snow remains everywhere.

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This morning all the neighbourhood squirrels are out industriously clipping and dropping long green spruce cones from the trees, creating a steady “plunk” throughout the alleys.

Our resident squirrel – a yearling who has set up shop under our garden shed – is nimbly flowing out to the slender branch tips of the bur oak in his quest for the last remnants of acorns, occasionally slipping in the insubstantial branches and hanging precariously with a squeak! of alarm.

Squirrel in oak tree

Where’s Waldo!

Although no other squirrel is after his treasure mine, he must contend with a curious blue jay who stops by from time to time.

Winged Creatures

This afternoon in the back yard I looked up to see the sky filled with a huge (for here – 50+) flock of gulls! Prepping to migrate? No scavenging apparent – they’re all wheeling around, staying airborne. The flock slowly drifts off SE…

Meanwhile on the ground, and equally rare, is a flock of winged ants(?), milling about on the walk, surrounded by a host of wingless ant attendants… or predators – they are hauling off the occasional winged corpse. This happened once or twice earlier this summer, too – we watched, fascinated, as a host of winged creatures were escorted out of the ant-home entrance (in that case, a crack in a stump) by agitated ants. Eventually flying off, looking like tree fluff on the rise – a halo of fast-beating wings surrounding each in the sunlight.