Birds of the Day!

 The first four pictures are of a Canada Jay digging up food in the snow. They are also known as Camp Robbers.

The next three are of a Blue Jay posing quite well while chowing down

And there are a few of the Red Squirrel that just can't stay away.

And of course, the Chickadee has to say "The End"

 

Spring Appears to be Delayed.. a bit!

The Magpies can smell a peanut from miles away. I think they have a secret spot where they can watch for a delivery!

 A lot of people don't like Magpies, but I find them to be very interesting, and intelligent.

 Speaking of intelligence, these sparrow find it a lot warmer sitting on the rail letting the sun warm both the front and backside. It was -20C today with a wind chill of -30! It was darn cold. At one time there were 8 sparrows on the rail.

Neither snow, sleet, hail or cold stops Daphnie from retrieving her Kong on a rope. It stopped me after about 1/2 hour.

Then, there was this lone Goose sitting in the middle of the Athabasca River. I think she is smart also because the water and the layer of air above it is probably 25degrees C warmer than sitting on the shore. She still looked miserable!

 My Black Capped Chickadee has returned with a mate. Hopefully they will nest in one of our bird houses again. I read somewhere that they need an equivalent of 250 sunflower seed per day in order to survive at these temperatures!

Okay everybody, have a great weekend and think warmer, please!

Whats new at the Feeder?

With the temperature still at -28C and -47C with the wind chill, the feeder has been very busy the last 10 days. We seem to be hosting 6 Blue Jays several times a day.

 There are also 8 Chickadees that come in after the Blue Jays are finished.

 There are also about 30 sparrows that like throwing shells around. This one was fluffing up the feathers.

This Bald Eagle wasn't at the feeder, but in a tree by the dog park. No matter what the temperature, Daphnie insists on her walk twice a day. I was surprised the camera didn't freeze up.

Here is a female Pine Grosbeak. She and about 10 others come in the morning and again in the evening.

Here 

Freeze Out!

The last few days have been a bust for taking photos! At -39C or -50C with the windchill it has not been possible to get out and about. Hands freeze (literally) in about 2 minutes at those temperatures. Believe me, you do not want to hold a camera with the gloves off!

Even the birds have been hold up somewhere. Today, a few Chickadees showed up at the feeder. I got a couple of shots through the window.

 This Pine Grosbeak caught my attention. I haven't seen one in weeks. He made a big dent in my sunflower seeds! The sun hit him just right.

I saw somewhere that there are only 5 more Mondays until spring. One more week of deep freeze and then bring it on!

Getting Busy Around the Yard

Both the Wrens and Chickadees are hauling bugs like crazy to the bird house. I saw one Chickadee baby stick his head out and contemplate sitting on the perch, but I was too slow to catch it. He looks fully feathered and not much different from his parents. It looks like any day now we will be "empty nesters" (Pun intended)

They do bring in quite the variety of bugs!

Update

Its been quite a time since my last Blog posting. A lot has happened! Spring has finally turned to HOT summer (it seems). The yard work is complete and the gardens planted. The trees have been trimmed and the flowers are coming up. I figured I would take a break and compute.

Our eldest grandson graduated this spring. That meant 4 days in Red Deer enjoying the event. He is off to Red Deer University in the fall. Its close to home and the living is good

 

Our bird houses were cleaned out and put back up. I put them on 2 foot galvanized pipe on top of the fence posts to discourage our neighbours cat. We will see if that works or not. So far we have a House Wren settled in. She is not spooky at all. 

House Wren

Also we have a Black Capped Chickadee in the nest at the peak of the garage. Smart bird! No cats will get up there. The male is bringing food to her, so perhaps she has already laid eggs.



Black Capped Chickadee

The other nests are being fought over by two pairs of Tree Swallows. We will see how that works out! Hopefully, your yard or acreage is bloom!







Out and About

I was wandering around the bush today looking for the elusive big game. I came up blank, but had a great day enjoying the outdoors. The only "wildlife" I saw was this weird looking mushroom

 I haven't looked it up in my mushroom book. I figured I would leave it be.

 The leaves are still hanging in, but are starting to go brown. We need a really good wind or snow.

 The bush roads are still gorgeous, and the logging road easy to walk on.

 It's still almost impossible to see any thing beyond the road due to the thickness of the grass.

 However, the colours were great. The re-planted area (about 5 years, my guess) is growing well and the trees are very healthy looking.

 This Black Capped Chickadee was very shy

 There are still lots of Robins around, but they are now forming large flocks and are very excited. It must be getting close to travel time.

Fall Colours and Assorted Things

A walk around Rotary Park in Whitecourt was pretty dazzling. 

 The water slides are all shutdown for the winter, but the fountain is still going.

 The dog park was pretty much deserted as all the kids are back to school and things are settling in for the Fall season

 Speaking of dogs, the gruesome twosome really enjoyed the outing. Daphne played fetch the Kong until I thought she was going to pass out. Brooklyn is too dignified to lower her self to chase things, Besides, she can't keep up to Daphne! She is starting to show her age.

 Brooklyn believes in conserving energy i.e. sitting

 The day out hunting today didn't produce anything other than colours It appears that the deer in this area must have been hit hard by last winter's deep snow and severe cold. Not much sign around even after 10 miles of walking.

 I could have walked by a lot of deer without seeing them.The visibility in the bush is a matter of feet.

 The fall is one of my favourite times of the year. Look at the contrast between Loblolly Pine and the yellow in the Aspen Trees.

 I heard this  Black capped Chickadee long before I saw him. He was very hard to pick out.

 This is a reforestation project from about 4 years ago. It's hard to spot anything in this mess!

 This is another view of the planted area. The grass is about 3 feet high!

 I'm not sure what type of natural grass this is. It is rather pretty.

I'm not sure what this bug is. He sure looked cold and was staying in the sun.

 I hate to say it, but we need a high wind, colder nights (below-10C) and a good dump of snow to get the leaves off and the grass flattened so that there is some visibility in the forest. 

We did get a light dusting of snow last night that melted as soon as it hit the ground. Think SNOW everybody!