Red-bellied Woodpecker

Photo by  Mike Segar/Reuters

Ann Love reports that a Red-bellied Woodpecker has been visiting the feeders at her  King Township 7th Concession home this winter.   The photo above was taken at a suet feeder in the village of Nyack, just north of New York City on the western shore of the Hudson River.   The attractive Red-bellied normally ranges from the southern Great Lakes and southern New England states to the Gulf of Mexico.   King Township is likely at the northern limit of this bird's usual range.   Red-bellied Woodpeckers in the north usually move south in the winter, but a few remain in our area.   The red belly for which the bird is named is almost a misnomer as its underparts are mainly whitish, except for a faint reddish wash on its lower belly, which is usually difficult to see.
Please comment if you wish.
BtheB  

Leucistic Redpoll

This photo of a leucistic Redpoll appears in the January 24th blog of North Shore Nature.   Google it at North Shore Nature for other photos and Michael's other great blogs about nature in northern Ontario.

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BtheB

John James Audubon

IN MEMORIUM

                                                    

                                                 Photo/New World Encyclopedia
John James Audubon
April 26, 1785  ~  January 27, 1851


John James Audubon died on this day, 161 years ago in New York City, at the age of 65.   Following is the entry for Audubon from the Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia...

Ornithologist and bird artist, born in Les Cayes, Haiti.   He was sent to the USA in 1804 to look after his father's property near Philadelphia, and married Lucy Bakewell, the daughter of an English settler.   He spent several years seeking out every species of bird in America in order to catalogue them.   In 1826 he took his work to Europe, where he cultivated a rugged backwoodsman image that went down well with fashionable society.   In 1827 he published the first of the 87 portfolios in his massive Birds of America (1827-1838).   Between 1840 and 1844 he produced a 'miniature' edition in 7 volumes, which became a best-seller.   The National Audubon Society, dedicated to the conservation of birds in the USA, was founded in his honour in 1866.

ROSEATE SPOONBILL

Copyright 2011 Audubon Prints www.audubonprints.com

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BtheB

Ps.   If you live in the vicinity of King City or King Township

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Useless hunting dog

It's a chilly, slippery and overcast day and I'm having trouble convincing myself to go out birding when I'm probably only going to see the usual suspects.   Birding in southern Ontario, in January, requires inspiration and determination.   I'll check my email first.   There's an email from my old buddy "Doc" Gordon.   It's called 'Useless Hunting Dog'.   This video is 3 1/2 minutes long and it has transported me for those few minutes to a blissful place, far from the cold January landscape outside my window.   Give it a whirl.   Hope you enjoy...

http://www.dogwork.com/ddsff4/

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

50 Sandhills shot in first Kentucky hunt

Photo by Bruce Moorman

Kentucky's first-ever, official, Sandhill Crane hunting season has just ended and the total birds killed were far less than the expected, and planned-for, tally.   Pre-hunt plans allowed for a total of 400 birds to be taken from mid December to mid-January but only 50 birds were shot to death.   Official state government reports have not been produced yet but the Courier-Journal newspaper in Louisville says: "Perhaps Kentuckians just don't have much of an appetite for Sandhill Cranes".   The 50-bird tally was far short of the 400-bird limit that the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources had set, but predictably, promoters of the hunt, including state fish and wildlife officials called the inaugural season a success, while opponents argued the hunt was an unnecessary threat to a species that once before was pushed to near extinction.   "It was worth the controversy"  said one state fish and wildlife commissioner.   With just 50 birds shot, one has to wonder was it worth the expense to mount the state-wide program.   One can only hope this paltry project will be deemed a non-event and that another hunt is not worth the effort and expense by the state of Kentucky.   Long live the Sandhills.

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BtheB           

Giving new meaning to 'paper cuts'

These remarkable paper sculptures are the work of Canadian artist, Calvin Nichols.

While the bird pictures above are outstanding, for me there is something extra special and endearing about the paper porcupine portrait pictured below.   Google Calvin Nichols Paper Artist to discover more of this talented man's wonderful creations.

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BtheB

Ps.   If you live in my vicinity of King City or King Township, 

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Hairy Woodpecker visits daily for real suet

Photos by BarrytheBirder

A male Hairy Woodpecker is now joining the male and female Downy Woodpeckers, on a daily basis, and enjoying the real suet to which I recently switched.   They also all still peck at the block of reconstituted suet that has been mixed with seeds, which proves that beggars can't be choosers, in the chilly dead of winter.   The few Starlings that have chosen to hang around past the middle of January are also quite partial to the suet (see photo below).

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

If you live  in the vicinity of King City or King Township,

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Shoebill ~ aka Whale-headed Stork

Photo by Filip Singer/EPA

MMSHOEBILLMM

Balaeniceps rex

I came across this online photograph today and it was labelled Whale-headed Stork.   I was startled because the bird looked familiar to me but the name was totally unfamiliar.   I immediately assumed it was a totally new bird for me, but one that resembled a bird with which I was already familiar.   A quick check revealed that Whale-headed Stork is another name for the Shoebill, which was the bird with which I was familiar.   Moreover, the Shoebill is also known as the Shoe-billed Stork and the Whale-headed Stork!   Wikipedia calls the Shoebill the 'missing link" between pelicans and storks.   There has been great difficulty in classifying this bird over the decades and the most advanced technology still can't seem to say for sure where the Shoebill fits in the grand ornithological scheme of things.   It is a native of East African countries.   Beautiful?   No.   Eye-catching?   Yes.   

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

If you live in the vicinity of King City or King  Township 

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The real suet is a big hit

Photos by BarrytheBirder

The Downy Woodpeckers love the real suet I have switched to, instead of the reconstituted suet blocks that I have put out for many years.   I don't know why I didn't switch sooner, especially since my butcher gave me the suet free!   Those other blocks aren't cheap.   The female (left) and male (right) pictured above are now a constant presence throughout the day, whereas before they were irregular visitors.   I am disappointed that the Hairy Woodpecker hasn't joined them yet.   A male Hairy showed up twice in the late fall but I haven't seen him since.   This extremely mild and variable winter weather that we've had so far seems to be confounding assumptions and predictions about feeding behaviours for a lot of species, but I am content to see what I shall see.

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

Ps.    If you live in the vicinity of  King City or King Township

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25,731 Sandhill Cranes killed in 2009/10

Photo by Charlie Corbeil

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's 2010 report on the Status and Harvests of Sandhill Cranes, approximately 26,000 of these wonderful-looking birds were estimated to have been 'sport-harvested' in the United States and Canada last year.   That number includes over 3,000 of what are called 'crippling losses' (presumably birds that are irretrievable).   In a recent blog, I said I would hopefully find numbers arising out of the first ever Sandhill Crane hunt in Kentucky.   That data is probably a long way off, so I will content myself with older numbers for the entire migrating and breeding region, which stretches from Mexico, up through the central parts of the USA and Canada, and on to Alaska and Eastern Siberia.   That 'harvest' of 26,000 birds is about 5% of the continent's total population of approximately 500,000.   The long-term (1982-2008) trends for the mid-continent population, where most Sandhills exist, indicate that harvest have been increasing at a higher rate than population growth.   Thresholds for changing harvest regulations are based on an objective of maintaining Sandhill abundances at 1982-2005 levels of 349,000-472,000 (411,000 +or- 15%) birds.   While the existing number of birds seems to be in excess of the target abundance levels, once again recent data state that: "... the rate of harvest is increasing faster than the rate of growth in crane abundance, and the divergent trends cannot continue indefinitely".   13 American states and 2 Canadian provinces are now in the business of 'sport-harvesting' Sandhill Cranes.   That's 15 jurisdictions too many for my liking.   There is no reason, in my mind, that can be forward to legitimize the slaughter of one of this world's most beautiful and valiant creatures.
Please comment if you wish.
BtheB

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Trumpeter Swans at Glenville

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Two first-year Trumpeter Swans are accompanied by mature birds at Glenville Pond in north-eastern King Township.   Despite the fact that it is the third week of January and there have been a few very cold days and nights, moderate temperatures prevail and streams and ponds are not completely frozen over.   This no doubt suits these tagged swans which are catered to by the protective  benefactor and land-owner.

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BtheB

Ps.   If you live in the King City or King Township areas

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Photo Contest Winner

Photo by Ned Bagno

Ned Bagno was Birdwatching Magazine's photo contest winner for November/December with this compelling, and perhaps startling, photo of a male Wood Duck, that he took at a pond behind a library, in Union City, California.

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

Ps.   If you live in the King City or King Township areas

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400 Sandhill Cranes to be shot

Photo by Neil Heims

A month ago (Dec.17, 2011) the first official Sandhill Crane hunting season opened in the state of Kentucky.   The hunting season was to last for 30 days and a quota was set allowing 400 birds to be killed ( .55 % of the total population of 72,000 Sandhills in the state).   While 400 permits were allotted for the hunt, only 332 people applied.   Land east of the Mississippi has not seen Sandhill Cranes hunted in more than century due to a decrease in the species' population.   Over the last three decades their population has grown more than 300% and Kentucky's wildlife experts(?) and biologists called for a hunting season that will help manage and conserve the species.   It sounds to me like the Sandhills are doing just fine without a man-made slaughter to help them conserve themselves.   It seems like bogus science to me to say that 400 birds taken out of a population of 72,000 will produce data with any meaningful significance.  Maybe the quota was just a wild-assed guess.   I know that there are 12 other states which allow Sandhill Crane hunting.   I know that Sandhill Crane populations are huge, but not damaging to the environment.   I'm told their meat tastes good, but so does chicken.   It drives me crazy how we default so easily to killing when the subject of species conservation comes up.   I'll try to find the results of this hunt over the next several days and hopefully have more to say on this sorry experiment.   Let's hope all Kentucky hunters can tell the difference between Sandhill Crane and Whooping Cranes!   Meanwhile, you can sign a petition on this matter by logging in to: kyc4sandhillcranes.com and clicking on the picture of the mother and baby Sandhills to sign the official petition against the hunt.

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB 

 Ps.    If you live in the vicinity of King City or King Township

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Young Red-tail poor substitute for a Snowy

I went looking for Snowy Owls again today in the Holland Marsh, but was not successful.   I had to settle for this immature Red-tailed Hawk.   The photos above may lead one to think these were two different birds, but lighting and shooting angles can produce many results.   This was a small bird for a Red-tailed Hawk...probably no bigger than a large Cooper's Hawk...and its hunting skills left much to be desired.

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB  


Ps. If you live in the vicinity of King City or King Township
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Starlings ~ How cold does it have to get?

Photos by BarrytheBirder

European Starlings ~ Winter Plumage

These extravagantly speckled European Starlings has been around the feeders for about  week, eating seeds and suet but never staying very long.   One wonders if they are slipping away from their regular flock, for a snack, then quickly returning unnoticed to the group.   I have pondered a couple times recently, in this space, about the flocks of crows and starlings that seem to be staying around the area this winter, as opposed to heading slightly south to the other side of Lake Erie or the Windsor area or the mid-American states.   It was -14C Friday morning when I took the pictures above.   One wonders, and will be observing, to see if and how long the starling flocks hang around.

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

Ps.    If you live in the vincity of King City or King Township

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Close encounters of the gorilla kind

Photo by monkey-pictures.net

Click on the link below to see a video that gave me goosebumps, laughter and a tear or two of joy.   I hope you are similarly touched by this amazing episode of animal interaction.

http://www.wimp.com/mountaingorilla/

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

Ps.    If you live in the vicinity of King City or King Township 

you may be interested  in my  new blog called camera on KING.
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Holiday Amaryllis

                                                                                                                                                                                   Photo by BarrytheBirder

My wife Linda brought home this beautiful, minature, pink and white Amaryllis for our Christmas and New Year's centrepiece.   It spent most of the time on the kitchen windowsill however, which meant we saw a lot more of it, as the kitchen is a busy place during the holidays, and most other times too.

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

Ps. If you live in my vicinity of King City or King Township, 

you may be intersted in my new blog called camera on KING.   

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The intrepid osprey always amazes me

My wife, Linda, directed me to this video of Ospreys, doing what Ospreys do best: fishing on the wing.   Click on the link below to view.

http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=110787

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

Ps. If you live in my vicinity of King City or King Township, 

you may be interested in my new blog called camera on King.   

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Pileated Woodpecker ~ Looking for love?

                                                                                                                                  Photo by Joanne McKinnon

Every once in a while the gods look down upon us and bestow a gift.   Surely this was the case  when Joanne, wife of my old friend, Glenn MacKinnon, shot this photo in their backyard, in Bracebridge, Ontario.   What a remarkable and delightful photograph of a real Pileated Woodpecker, juxtaposed with a handmade, wooden look-alike that Glenn and Joanne picked up at the Cranberry Festival in Bala, Ontario.   The wooden woodpecker is the work of a craftsman from the Wahta Mohawk Territory in Muskoka, Ontario.   Perhaps is was simply a chance encounter or maybe a moment of outdoorsy predestination, but Joanne will have an image to treasure and enjoy for a long time to come.   I've seen some of Joanne's other photos and she has a talent with a camera.   You go, girl!
Please comment if you wish.
BtheB

Ps.   If you live in my vicinity of King City or King Township,
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It's always fun feeding ducks

                                                                                                                                                                             Photos by BarrytheBirder

My wife and I stopped off at Sunset Beach, on Lake Wilcox, in Oak Ridges, to feed the ducks on Sunday past.   For those who disapprove of feeding  ducks bread (particularly white bread) I have to say, in our defense, that we took along the good stuff.   That is to say, organic 100% whole grain sprouted  wheat, organic flax seed, non-flour vegan high-fibre bread.   The slices were the end crusts, however, not that the ducks seemed to mind.

The Sunset Beach gang of ducks number almost 200 individuals and it appears a certain amount of inbreeding has occurred.   One example is pictured above.   Its size and shape and markings are definitely Mallard, but the colours are all wrong.   Nevertheless, it appeared quite healthy, as did the others of questionable lineage.

One benefactor, alone, could not hope to nourish this crowd, and so it is that there is an endless parade of folks, with bags of scraps and goodies to satisfy the hungry horde, that are lined-up throughout the day with their offerings.   If you think that it is a noisy process, you are correct.

After the feeding of the ducks, we visited nearby Lake St. George which Linda was seeing for the first time.   She is standing at the spot where water from Lake St. George becomes the East Humber River.   This historic stream heads east and south through Oak Ridges, Eversley, King City, Kinghorn, Laskay, King Creek and Kleinburg before merging with the main Humber River, north of Woodbridge.   From there it oxbows through the western parts of Toronto, before broadly meandering into Lake Ontario, between High Park on the east and Humber Bay Park West on the west.
Please comment if you wish.
BtheB

Ps. If you live in my vicinity of King City or King Township, 

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Visiting the Leslie St. Spit

Toronto skyline from the Leslie Street Spit

A few of the Leslie Street Spit's 55,000 Ring-billed Gulls (6% of the world's population)

It's not just birds that fly low over the Leslie Street Spit - Porter Airlines planes lands nearby

Far from the Spit, I spotted this Red-tailed Hawk when I was almost home in King City!

All photos by BarrytheBirder

It was a mild +9C when I reached the outskirts of Toronto on my way to the Leslie Street Spit, this past Saturday.   Huge, puffy, summer-like, white clouds filled the bright sky on the way down the Don Valley Parkway to Lake Ontario.   By the time I reached Lake Ontario, the temperature  had dropped to +7C, near the water.   Everyone and his brother was there, enjoying the balmy winter day.   I didn't see many birds up close but I certainly appreciated the sense of being in a place that is touted as one of the world's best urban wilderness parks.   The man-made headland juts 5 kilometres out into Lake Ontario and is has essentially been turned over to wild birds and critters.   May it always be so.

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

 Ps. If you live in my vicinity of King City or King Township, 

you may be interested in my new blog called camera on KING.   

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Monarchs in California

                                                                                                                                                 Photo by Michael Yang / Rex Features

Monarch Grove Sanctuary, in Pacific Grove, California, is one of the many southern locales where Monarch Butterflies huddle together in pine and eucalyptus trees to conserve heat, during winter in North America.   Some of these butterflies are from Canada and have made the southern migration in one long-haul journey.  The reverse northern migration, to Canada, will usually be made in three annual stages, by three different generations of descendants.   Monarch Grove Sanctuary normally plays hosts to 25,000 Monarchs each year.   As for the connection between Monarchs and birds, let me quote from Ross Layberry's, Peter Hall's and Donald Lafontaine's 1998 book The Butterflies of Canada, where they comment on the connection between Monarchs, Milkweed and birds: "All milkweeds contain poisons, cardiac glycosides, in varying amounts, that protect the plants from most herbivores.   Monarch larvae are not affected by the poisons but store them in their bodies and pass them on to the adults.   Most birds that attempt to eat adults or larvae vomit and learn to associate this unpleasant experience with the bright patterns of the adults and larvae and thus soon learn to avoid them.   The Viceroy butterfly mimics the pattern of the adult Monarchs and gains some protection by the resemblance; recent evidence suggests that the Viceroy itself might be somewhat distasteful to birds, so the mimicry could benefit both species".   It seems to me that this inherent defence mechanism of the Monarch must be an important contributing factor to its ability and success with its international migrations.  

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

Albino hummingbird is a beauty

                                                                                                                             Photos by Marlin Shank/Nature Friend Magazine

My cousin Beverley sent me a recent email containing photos of an albino Ruby-throated Hummingbird, taken by a 15-year-old named Marlin Shank.   He took many photographs of the bird at a park in Staunton, Virginia, last September.   The photos, which first appeared in his father's Nature Friend magazine,  have created a sensation and been distributed widely.   Just go to Google and type in albino hummingbird virginia to see many more of the beautiful  photographs.

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB 

Blue Crane ~ national bird of South Africa

                                                                                                                                                                               Photo by Ken Behrens
MMBLUE CRANEMM
Grus paradisea or Anthropoides paradiseus

I was checking in on Mpho Phiri's Mafikeng Birding Blog recently and found myself wondering about the national bird of South Africa.   Was there one?   What was it called?   I Googled it of course and was introduced to the Blue Crane, also known as the Stanley Crane and the Paradise Crane.   Then I immediately came upon the photo above and was stunned by the beauty of the foursome in this photo by Ken Behrens.   I have since learned that the Blue Crane has some difficulty keeping those incredible tail plumes dry and in a neat and tidy fashion.   There are other photos to be found where the Blue Crane looks a little less elegant.   Nevertheless, it is Ken Behrens' wonderful photo, above, that I will always have in mind when I recall South Africa's national bird.   Canada does not have a national bird, but all its provinces and territories do.   Many attempts, and there's always one in progress somewhere, to settle on a national bird have failed and I doubt very much that one will be chosen in my lifetime.   Oh well, it's not as though we don't have better things to do when it comes to the state of birds and birding in Canada.

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

We're still trapping and caging wild birds

                                                                                                                                         Photo by Michael Wolf

Two blogs ago I wrote about A. Radcyffe Dugmore, noted naturalist, painter, photographer and writer who had a remarkable career in the United States at the turn of, and during the early, 20th century.   Dugmore was hugely sympathetic to wild birds and their environment, in his writings.   But he, like many American citizens, was an ardent collector of wild birds which he kept in cages.   As the 19th century progressed in the USA, where the wealthy had  had aviaries on a grand scale from early on, more and more of the ordinary citizens took to imitating their rich neighbours by possessing wild birds in small indoor cages.   The USA, Mexico and Caribbean islands also supplied collectors in the rest of the world, in particular Europe, with many spectacular species never before seen (see Painted Bunting photo above).   Dugmore would rant and rave about man's abusiveness towards the avian world in general but seemed blind to the cruelty of caging wild birds.   Fast forward to the 21st century: little has changed.   Although the trapping and selling of wild birds has been banned in the USA for more than a hundred years, the practise continues in Mexico and Cuba.   It has been estimated that at least 100,000 Painted Buntings were trapped in Mexico between 1984 and 2000, despite a ban from 1982 to 1999.   The ban was lifted and the bird captures soared again.   About 6,000 birds per year were exported from Mexico to Europe in 2000 and 2001 (Inigo-Elias et al.2002).   And this is just one species!   The Painting Bunting, by the way, can be found year-around in the southern United States as well as throughout coastal Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean during the winter months.   My first sighting was in Cancun, Mexico, and was a thrilling encounter.   I'm sure if I'd seen that same bird, in a cage, it could never have had the same impact on me.   

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB            

Great Blue Heron on Baffin Island!

                                                                                                                                                                             Photo by David Kilabuk

This photo of a juvenile Great Blue Heron at Pangnirtung on Baffin Island, in Nunavut, was taken this past fall by David Kilabuk.   The presence of this bird, so incredibly far north of the bird's normal range, caused quite a stir in this Canadian territory.   Apparently it is only the second sighting ever of a GBH in Nunavut.   The sighting was widely reported by many media but I only just came across it in the most recent edition of my Birdwatching Magazine online newsletter.   Speculation is that the bird accidently wandered north or was blown north by storms.   It eventually disappeared after all the hubbub it created, but the really big question is did it migrate south, late in the year, to safety and survival, or did it perish because of its long-distance misadventure.   I choose to think it made it.
Please comment if you wish.
BtheB

-18C / coldest day of the year

                                                                                                                                                                                    Photo by BarrytheBirder

I know, I know, 2012 is only three days old, but -18C is an attention-getter, given the mild winter we have had so far.   As noted previously in this space, some local flocks of crows and starlings appear to be testing their ability to spend winter hereabouts, as opposed to heading down around the Windsor and south Lake Erie shore areas.   The group of crows above was part of a larger group of about 150-200 that were hanging out east of Pottageville.   Although there is snow on the ground, it is only a few centimetres so the crows still seem able to find spilled grain.

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

What's in a name? Duck Hawk

                                                                                                                                                                                   Photo by BarrytheBirder

The photo above shows the blade of a canoe paddle which was given to me, by my colleagues, upon my retirement 10 years ago from the newspaper business.   The painting of the Peregrine Falcon was done by Geoffrey Duck, the son of one of those publishing colleagues.   Back then I think I was vaguely aware that the Peregrine Falcon was known as the Duck Hawk in North America, a long time ago.   Here's some of what A. Radclyffe Dugmore had to say about the Duck Hawk in his 1900 book Bird Homes: "Few people associate the name of the Duck Hawk with the Peregrine Falcon of history, yet this is the bird that was used when falconry was the fashionable pastime; at that time almost any price was paid for a well-trained tercel, as the male bird was called; now that falconry has almost died out, the name of peregrine will probably go, and the more common name of duck hawk will be the only name by which this bird will be known".   Dugmore's leaning toward the name Duck Hawk did not make him a quack.   Indeed, in America, he was a renowned and prolific artist, photographer and writer on all things environmental, although his take on the relationship between humans and all other animals was somewhat out-of-step with modern sensibilities (more on that another time).   He was wrong, of course, on the winning name and I personally feel that Peregrine Falcon is an all-around grander name for a bird of such impressive credentials and appearance.   The word peregrine has French and Latin origins and is defined as 'having a tendency to wander'.   In the case of peregrine, the bird, that 'wandering' is oft-times done at incredibly fast speeds.   In a dive, it is variously estimated at speeds around the 300km/h or 200 mph!
Please comment if you wish.
BtheB 

You gotta have the right equipment

Photo by BarrytheBirder

 My wife and I gave new binoculars to the families of our two daughters as Christmas gifts.   Pictured above are our two granddaughters checking out the backyard birds on New Year's Day.     I believe you have to start them young at birdwatching.   We started the granddaughters and the grandsons when they were 3 1/2 years old.   

Please comment if you wish and very best wishes for a wonderful 2012.

BtheB

Christmas was green ~ New Year is white

                                                                                                                                                                                 Photos by BarrytheBirder

On the day before New Year's Eve, most of King Township was under a covering of snow, but it was quite mild and fog was the order of the day.   The birds in the backyard were still quite visible however.   Mt wife, Linda, noted a day or so ago that the mild weather, so far this winter, seems to be keeping the goldfinches just a little more yellow than usual (see top photo).   I have to agree, as many of 50 or 60 goldfinches we have are showing a little bit of extra colour.   The bottom photo shows a half dozen of our Mourning Doves taking over a couple of the feeders, while a tree sparrow perches above them waiting its turn.   The pecking order at our feeders has the Blue Jays at the top and one shrieking, charging Blue Jay will send this group of doves, above, fleeing in a frantic flurry of loud whistling wings.

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

The addition today of real suet to the backyard feeders seems to have been well-received by the Downy Woodpecker.   I haven't seen the Hairy Woodpecker yet, but it's the first day for the real suet that is now supplementing the reconstituted suet that contains many seeds and which I have been been offering for many years.   I did also notice a Junco, an American Tree Sparrow and a Chickadee all  helping themselves to the new suet offering.   We shall see what we shall see.

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

Well-behaved goldfinches

                                                                                                                                                                                   Photo by BarrytheBirder
"Okay, everyone smile"

The first decent snowfall of the winter has covered everything up.   This means that the space at the feeders is at a premium, a situation readily evident in the photo above.   There were 15 goldfinches posing on this tray and a couple of dozen more at the tube feeders nearby.   One certainly has to admire goldfinches for their ability to get along so well with each other.   They are easily the best-behaved backyard birds.

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

Pretty Snow

Painting by Phil 'The Forecaster' Chadwick

The first decent snowfall of the winter fell overnight and as I was shovelling the driveway last evening I could see that the scene in the morning was going to be very pretty indeed.   I told myself that I would take some pictures around the village before the wind came up and disturbed the snowy mantle everywhere.   As I was putting the shovel away and thinking of today's blogspot, I knew it should feature some of the snowy photographs I'd planned to take.   Then I remembered a copy of a painting I had in my computer by Phil Chadwick, former King Township resident, former Environment Canada weatherman and plein air artist extraordinaire.   Phil's outstanding talent with a paint brush is exceeded only by his formidable output.  The copy of Phil's painting you see above is exactly what King City looks like this morning.   Lucky us.   
Please comment if you wish.
BtheB