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!

Nesting Time in the Yard

Here is the spot on my deck where I can keep track of all six birdhouses. I can zoom in on all of them with the camera without moving, At the peak of the garage is the house that the sparrows appear to have settled on. Last year it was occupied by chickadees.

 I don't know what time of Sparrow this is. I am guessing Harris's Sparrow.

 Another one is occupied by House Wrens. Yes, I know, the house needs repainting!

 Watching the bird trying to get an oversized twig into the nest is interesting.

 Full of songs

 And here are the Mr. and Mrs. together. How she is going to fit through the hole, I don't know

The tree swallows are trying to pick a nest out of the 4 others, but haven't settled on one yet.

More pictures to come when they settle in.

It's Getting Cold Out There!

 The weather is hanging around freezing and the birds are stocking up on energy The Evening Grosbeaks are stuffing the food down

 It is like the scene around the office coffee pot. Everyone is talking up a storm. 

 This guy has been in the Choke Cherry tree, and needs a napkin.

 That's better!

 Starting to get a few of the neighbours dropping in.

 They all seem to get along except when the Blue Jays show up. Then the bullying starts.

So far, so good. No Jays yet!

Sparrow Day Plus

Not much doing today other than a bunch of Sparrows going through my sunflower seeds!

 They are kind of cute up close, but greedy little devils!

 Yeah, you!

 Incoming!

 They are every where, even along the Athabasca River.

 The Plus were these two Cedar Waxwings. I didn't expect to see them at all.

Hope everybody has a great day!

Noon Hour Feeder

Caught him on take off! Finally

 They were definitely hungry today at -21C (-3F)

 Tossing back peanuts like crazy!

 Watching carefully and hoping for left overs.

 Waiting and enjoying some sun.

Descended Upon

They came from nowhere and descended in a cloud of about 200.  It was very busy at the feeders for about half an hour. There was some squabbling, but everybody seemed to get a turn.

This was the first time that they really attacked the tube feeder.  I guess they got trained someplace else.

 At times, it seemed collisions were imminent, but none happened that I could see.

 It's fascinating to see the colours that are present on "the Common" sparrow.