Of Nicer Things

I was kind of looking forward to a little trip out we made a few days ago. Near where we live among these rolling hills, there is a country greenhouse/farm. Last year when we discovered this place we met the owner, a really nice lady. She was kind enough to give us a few pots for our balcony garden.

This year we went shopping for more plants. However the main reason we couldn’t wait to visit was in the pictures you will see. Her husband is in the import business and boy did we get surprised. Hope you enjoy the pictures. ~ click on thumbnails. ~




These are a pair of Australian Cape Barron geese. They can be quite intimidating so caution is advised when visiting, we called them the guard dogs..



This Black necked swan speaks for itself & does have a mate. Like the aussie geese they are always in pairs.



These beauties caught our eye last year and the only ones we saw at that time. These magnificent specimens are kept in a heated barn over the winter. Her husband brought them in from Cuba.



The most beautiful of all geese, Red-breasted Geese, breed in Arctic Siberia and winter in southeastern Europe, so are perfectly at home in a Canadian winter. ~

C'ya

Fooled again

Last week we had temperatures in a range up to, believe it or not, as high as 17c. The last two nights nature turned nasty and dumped about a foot of snow on us, the robin is not amused..





Where did the spring go!

C'ya

South is Thataway!

Canada Geese getting ready for the parade.


I have been studying these geese for some little time now.

There is a park across the road from where we live. Beside there being a sizeable lake, there are walkways, gardens and a playing field. This area is a sizeable habitat for a variety of wildlife and the geese in particular.

When not on the lake or some other such mischief, they congregate on the playing field in large numbers especially when the sun is out. The strange thing I found is, they all sit facing the sun as it dips toward the west, in rows almost like a battalion of soldiers on parade. It is very regimentally impressive I have to admit.

I have come to the conclusion, that just as humans have a need for vitamin D, so too do wild life, the birds in particular. Almost as if they are charging their batteries ready for the long flight south.

Of course having the geese around in such numbers, one gets to see them in flight, in their now well known V formation. Which raised another question, why? To which I also formed my own opinionated answer.

When in flight there is always one goose at the lead position, changing one could presume at intervals, moving from the lead down back to the rear of the flock. I determined then, that over the course of their journey, no doubt every goose within that group, would spend a time both leading and also at rearguard.

It occurred to me. What if they arrive at the wrong destination? They would have no one to blame, but themselves. Maybe even, all that honking is everyone trying to give the lead goose directions! Bunch-a backseat drivers! J ~

C’ya

Soaring Free

Spent the last couple of days involved in nature things. That kind of reminded me of a poem I wrote not long ago. (clickable thumbnail)




C'ya

Adventure

This is a part of an adventure that I have become involved in recently. You have seen the pictures that I posted of the park last year. So whether you're Irish or not "Keep the Green".
***
This announcement of course is more in keeping with people close enough (Ontario Canada) to take advantage of this fine event, come out and enjoy.

***

You are invited to be our guest at the 10th Anniversary celebration on Sunday, October 5th from 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. at the Park. We will meet old friends, make new ones and celebrate all that the Park has become over the last ten years. The afternoon's activities are detailed in the attached poster. We hope to see you there! (clickable thumbnail)




C'ya

A New Start

Well it seems like I have dallied long enough. With that in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to make a new start, including the banner. As you can see I have reverted back to my other banner which depicts where we now live, and along with that a few pictures to share.

This park which is adjacent to Fairy lake, is right across the street from where we now live. We now have a place to go for walks and beautiful scenery right on the doorstep, what more could one ask. (clickable thumbnails)



A nice variation on tree colors on our street.



A shot of Fairy lake.



A very nice memorial park setting.



A similar memorial setting.



Now where would we be without some Canada geese!

C'ya

Across the Pond

“The king forbade my tongue to speak of Mortimer. But I will find him when he is asleep, and in his ear I’ll holler ‘Mortimer!’ Nay I’ll have a starling shall be taught to speak nothing but Mortimer, and give it to him to keep his anger still in motion.”

This is a quote from Shakespeare’s “Henry IV” and notable for being the reason we have so many starlings in North America today.

Eugene Schieffelin was a wealthy drug manufacturer and head of the Acclimation Society of North America. His mandate was to introduce plants and animals to the New World. Fanatical about the Bards work, he attempted to bring in every bird mentioned in his plays and poems.
Thrushes, skylarks, nightingales, house-finches, for better or worse, not all survived, but the 60 starlings released in New York’s Central Park in 1890 thrived and multiplied. And multiplied….. after only 30 years they could be found coast to coast. Being relatives of the mynah bird, starlings can be taught to whistle tunes and talk.

We do get a lot of birds where we live, so we encourage them by making sure we feed them year round.

We had the pleasure of witnessing some starlings teaching their offspring how to feed, and were lucky enough to catch a short video of the family all clamoring to be fed on the suet feeder. It was funny that here were the birds perched on the food source, and not knowing how to eat, they had to be shown. Trying to show 3 & 4 not so small young ones all at the same time, is no picnic for the poor mother. We apologize for the quality of the shoot.
Also shown in the video are Goldfinches which breed in this area and a shot of doves ~ the wife had to tap on the window to make the finches fly off like that!

C'ya

Starlings

Whew!

A couple of weeks ago if you recall, I ran into a computer problem. Fortunately I was still able to write text, but the additional problem persisted and in doing so messed up my ability to blog the way I normally would.

I thought I had narrowed it down to the Norton’s Security program, but then I got additional problems happening that can only be related to Vista. I don’t know if anyone else experiences ‘Windows Explorer’ (in Vista) stop working, shutting down any open windows & then resumes working again? Anyway lately I seem to get that quite frequently. It’s pretty ludicrous when because of the problem, I now have to save my work more frequently ~ Just in case! ~

In my search for a solution I went through all kinds of checking, searching etc, going back through error files and stuff I didn’t know existed.

Along the way I twiddled and twaddled giving a few things a swift kick for good measure. Imagine my surprise last night when I went in and ran another of my many tests, things worked like they used to.

~ So bear with me if I go a little crazy and put some pictures in here that work!! ~




Elizabeth is the Pied Piper



Something to look forward to in the spring. Dancing to the music.



Our prize Cardinal, he's got his eye on you!


C'ya

It Happened

Finally, after suffering through two days of cold windy rainy weather, the temperature's plunged. Overnight the temp’s went down to -10c and very sneakily the rain turned to snow and ice pellets. We woke up this morning to a token covering of the white stuff.

For good measure snow & ice covered the truck to the point, we couldn’t get the doors to open for a while at least. It sure was a cold blustery wind blowing, ~ even the poor birds were puffing up in an attempt to keep dry and warm.



Woody Woodpecker, a regular visiter.




Today the feeders went down in a hurry I can tell you, even these two little Juncos, were looking at each other as if to say. ”What happened!” Today then was quite a busy day in the bird eatery dep’t! More cold weather is on the way.

C'ya

Just a Great Day Feeling

Up bright & early today. Already we have had the usual groups of birds drop in for a bite. Red Cardinal, Blue Jays, and even for the first time together. A group made up of the Nuthatch, a few Red Breasted Nuthatch's and surprisingly a Black-capped chickadee all on the feeder at the same time. I give up trying to get a picture of that, it's almost as if they know, for the minute I'm ready with the camera they take off!


This was quite the site a couple of days ago. ~ That's a whole lotta Pumpkin Pie!

C'ya

Giving Thanks

This year, before sitting at the table this thanksgiving, to partake of the wonderful bounty placed before us. I would like to take a moment, to offer our thanks to Mother Nature for all that she has given us already in such a wonderful year of pleasure.

This has been at a time of my life with this COPD, that I never dreamed I would participate in, let alone feast on such a menu of beauty to take home, but then who could turn down such an incentive.

When it comes to putting on a show nobody does it better than Mother Nature, who once again flexes her awesome power, putting on such enjoyable sights.

In addition to the park that we go to and I have shown so much of, we also have a small lake a short distance from where we live, it takes all of five minutes to get there. These then are a few shots taken there and some of its wildlife.

(clickable thumbnails)




Round em up, move em out!~ Time to go.




Now be nice ya hear, eat and no squabbling.



Well whadya think. ~ We come again next year?



Doncha think this is just a great turnout?




Get outer here! Ya say that to all the ducks.



Thanks for a summer to remember.

C'ya

Drop In

Yesterday we had another day out, this time the wife and I drove to this huge shopping mall, almost an hours drive from here, where she had hoped she would find some sports sandals that she had been hunting for. For some reason it has been difficult to locate any, maybe it‘s the season end.

The weather was comfortable other than being a little humid and sticky, talk about busy and the crazy traffic. Now I can remember why we moved out into the more rural area to live.

On the way back to more civilized surroundings away from the rat race, we dropped in at a smaller mall closer to home where we had some lunch in the lunch-court. They have the usual vendors there, catering to whatever tweaks your fancy. A place that is very popular is ‘Frisco Fries‘, for the folks line up to get food, I am fast getting addicted. I have had some good fries in my time, but I tell you, these just have to be the best! We rounded out the trip then with a little shopping.


At least when we arrived home we were greeted by the happy bunch seen here that we have grown to love so much. Talk about a brunch drop in! It’s just so nice to see them all together so nice and friendly. Yes, we have a very nice bird community here & life is good.

C’ya

Reflections Part 2

We were sitting bird watching one day when a couple of new faces showed up. This sent me scurrying to the computer to look them up for I wasn’t sure what kind of bird they were. That just shows how well I knew my birds but I was getting better. It turned out that we now had the common grackles and a purple finch or two. The finch was quite pretty with his purple vest and even the grackle was handsome dressed all in black. About this time I should mention that we also had three pairs of ground doves. Once in a while they would perch on the tree with the goldfinches, but mostly you had to look at the ground to see them foraging around, a thing I could overlook sometimes. Just like the juncos.

TV time again. Today I was watching a baseball game, shucks another loss, can’t seem to get any luck with the idiot box. At times I wonder why we bother with the cable TV for there never seems to be anything decent on and the news can be so depressing.

It was time for the leaves to change as we approached fall, and it was about this time that we got our latest new family members in the form of some nuthatches and three downy woodpeckers. I was a little surprised, because I had given up hope of ever seeing them in our back garden. This was because earlier we had put out a suet feeder and had no action, but here they were.
Even now, late in the year and already started into winter, we still have the woodpeckers, nuthatches and the black capped chickadees. Surprisingly, we still have an abundance of goldfinches. I thought they would have migrated south by now however; their coats seem to have changed and they look like they now sport a winter coat. Of course this would be so nice if they stay for the winter months. Unfortunately, the appearances of the blue jays are now getting more and more scarce and we had the one visit with the mystery birds. The closest we could find was that they sure looked like brown thrashers, but we haven’t determined that at this point.


In the political spectrum politicians jockeying for position, for it seems that their concerns lean more towards their own ambitions and personal agenda’s, rather than the welfare of the country and its peoples best interests. Everybody is blaming everyone else for the woes of the World. Often I wonder, just who is running the country, or even, are they?

I cast my thoughts and eyes back to the window, it was so much more simple to just enjoy the pleasures of nature. Some of the birds seem to be so tame that at times, they keep coming right up to the window and looking in on us, almost as if they are telling us the feeders are getting low again. I thought just how lucky we were to have this so available, and at the same time, thinking of the poor devils in the trouble torn countries, so many dead or injured, too many homeless, and no food or water. It is so sad. I guess that’s when I started thinking more of the simple wonders of nature and the apparent destructive actions of mere man.

Strange really when one thinks of it; there is always lots of talk of technology and progress, with man forever coming up with new ideas to make life easier for people.
Yet it would really seem more like, forever making things much worse overall in the world, in regard to the environment and wildlife in general.
Oh how wonderful it must have been to live in a world before pollution and damage to the ozone layer.

True, one cannot stay forever mired in the past. Yet at the same time, look where technology has taken us so far today. We seem to be always in a downward spiral, as we fumble with ideas of how to correct the damage
man has done this far.

It’s hard to believe that for a world that has existed and survived disasters for millions of years, it has only taken man about two hundred years to bring us to the stage we are at now.

With global warming, ice caps and glaziers melting, changes in the weather patterns which translates into more severe storms, creating devastation around the world, such as we have never seen before. In truth, the very survival of the human race now seems threatened.


There is so much that we as a race of people need to learn from nature. The wildlife, even the lifestyle and teachings of the North American Indian and other ancient peoples, but in particular for me, the birds. Perhaps it is already too late for this phase of world history. For everyone’s sake, let’s hope that it isn’t so.

I turned my attention back to the window and the birds. Life is so much simpler this way.

C'ya

Reflections

Have you ever just been sitting there in your favorite chair, feeling a little beat after a tiring day? Of course you have. I was doing just that today, and in those kind of moments my mind usually just takes off. I sat there lazily staring out of the window, with the TV on in the background, and the more I stared the more the thoughts just hit me.

It was such a simple thing really, a few birds were chattering away on the feeder and others, just flew in gathered a seed then took off again. These were the black capped chickadee’s, always very polite and orderly with each other. The thought crossed my mind that it’s such a pity some people couldn‘t take a leaf out of their book and learn something. I sat there reflecting on the past summer and all the wonders that mother nature had brought to our door or window, for our enjoyment free of charge. Such a variety of birds. Now that I think of it, far more than I have ever seen in my life before in one place and yet they all got along so wonderfully well in perfect harmony.

It had started out with three families of robins who would wake us up in the early morning with their songs, closely followed with the songs of a pair of cardinals. At this time the trees were just in bloom with a new mantle of fresh green leaves to herald the spring and summer, also accompanied by the early flowers already in the gardens.

As the season moved along, we would be joined first by one species of bird and then another, at different times some would arrive and others would move on. By the end of the Summer we would eventually end up with visits from a whole variety which included a Baltimore oriole. I get a chuckle when I think of the first time we had a visit from him. We didn’t know what he was till we looked it up on the internet; then we started phoning around frantically trying to find a feeder for him. Eventually we ended up driving 16 kilometers to a store and $15 later we were on our way home. As it happens we had a feeder out for the hummingbirds, and this is what the oriole tried to drink from the first time we spotted him. It was the beautiful sound of his singing that caught my attention at first for I had not heard one before and sadly even his stay was just for a short time, until he made another appearance later in the season. The real surprise for me was when an indigo bunting made a one time only appearance. He was such a brilliant color of blue, so pretty and so unexpected too. The hummingbirds too were always a treat as they hovered at the feeder, sometimes perching on the bird rest to drink then they were gone so fast.

I glanced momentarily towards the TV, and sighed. Another bombing had taken place somewhere in the middle east, with many dead and injured, also a few more shootings had happened in the big city here, in what almost seems like a daily ritual nowadays. Yet the pundits would have one believe that the crime rate was in decline. Sometimes I really think they get their stat’s from a flea market!

I looked out the window again because a blue jay was squawking his head off, which gave me a chuckle and a light moments break from the humdrum world of TV. It wasn’t very long before we had the first American goldfinch’s arriving, for we had already got the Niger feeder out there. Once again, such beautiful birds and such vibrant colors!

Where we live is just a small apartment building in a typical small town away from the big city. At the back of the building is a very small quiet expanse of greenbelt that runs the length of the building, with grass, a few mature trees and a small hedge on the back of the property line. This is more than enough to give us a decent amount of privacy, where we can also enjoy the countryside and the joys of nature.

It seems such a shame really, that in order to slow down and appreciate the simple pleasures of life, one has to get older. I guess when people are younger and still in the workforce, they are busy trying to make a living and having good times. Understandably it’s relatively easy not to notice such treasures of nature and they can just slip by you. Such a waste when you think about it at my stage of life. Gee, I must be getting old!

To Be cont'd tomorrow.

C'ya

Blue Jay

There used to be a little old lady where we live, she was 84 years young. Clara was thrilled when I wrote this poem for her, it speaks for itself.




Blue Jay


The old lady refills the bird feeders each day
She feeds all the birds so they don't go away
There are all kinds of birds that belong to her flock
They hover around her, like the hands of a clock.

There's one in particular, that's there all the time
Regular as clockwork, magnificent and fine
He's hungry and greedy, most every day
Yes you have got it, it's the greedy Blue jay.

You should hear his screech, if the lady is late
Worse than a horse that is last out the gate
He is my alarm, at the suns early rise
The Blue jay is hungry and noisy -- but wise.

Eric Valentine Aug 31/98

Friend or Foe

We spend a lot of time watching and seeing to the wild birds the wife and I. We make sure there is always food out, especially this time of the year for winter can be cruel.. Something happened this morning that kind of made me think a little. Not that this is the first time I have had this cross my mind, on the contrary; all the same even knowing it is only natures way, I still felt violated for the birds. Late last summer we lost a Dove to a bird of prey.

Last winter we had a Northern Goshawk, swoop in and grab an unsuspecting Junco. That was not a good day, for he stood guard over his kill a couple of hours before eventually going down and making his meal from the spoils. Meanwhile all the other birds were as frozen in time, hiding in the hedges. A safe haven where the hawk couldn’t quite reach them, but gone nevertheless until the hawk was finished and departed This hawk was the male and all the time the female hawk sat in a nearby tree watching, waiting, she was twice the size of the other bird, absolutely huge. This incident brought to mind the small mystery from last summer that we hadn't had an answer for till now. The case of the missing dove. That was conspicuous then because now we only had five instead of six. Oh the lonesme times that dove went through. Later he adopted some goldfinches and made himself at home.

The winter this year has been a little less than weird, with the first snow in this area not arriving until part way into January. I think that would explain why the Cardinals, Blue Jays, Nuthatches and even the Woodpeckers have not been seen as prominently as they usually are.

This morning the weather was pretty cold at -24c wind-chill, everywhere snow covered but frozen hard. The Sun showed his face and our assortment of birds were frolicking and singing in the hedge as always. Suddenly without warning to me at least, this Northern Goshawk came swooping in very low, about fence high trying to snatch up the smaller finches and chickadee’s. I just happened to be looking out the window at the time bird watching.

They must have sensed him, because they went right down into that hedge so fast, before you could blink where it is safer. The hawk, angry I would reckon at missing out, made a few more runs and swoops up and down the area.

Once, even trying to trick the birds into thinking he had gone away by flying up the road. Then next minute, swooping in right close and very low again in a final attempt, trying to get into the hedge but he‘s too big. This time he went away empty-handed; of course we won’t see the birds out there now for a few days as they will stay out of sight for awhile.

So at times I wonder if we are doing the birds any favors by feeding them the way we do, enticing them to stay. We’ve been doing this now for two or three years, the birds I’m sure know we will provide for them. Or is it better just to let them go on their way at seasons end and wait until the next year. Such a pity really, for they give such enjoyment to us year round.

This morning it is still bitter cold out there and the sun is shining, no sign though of a single bird. And who can blame them? Survival of the smartest I call it.

Well! What can I say, just to prove me wrong a number of the birds just showed up, very carefully and close to cover of course but all the same. On parade we have the house sparrows, goldfinches, chickadees and even the woodpecker! So much for all I know! Nature knows best. Where’s my tea/ C’ya