This weekend the baby Red-breasted Nuthatches that I have been expecting showed up!
I'm not sure how many of them there are, at least 3, maybe more....
this is one of the harried parents. The youngsters tend to stay up in the trees making it very difficult to get pictures....
this little guy managed to find something on his own, either that or he was falling off the branch! With baby birds one is never sure!
The Black-cap Chickadee family or families continue to show up periodically.
the sunshine showed up on the weekend too, although we've had some natural fireworks as well as thunder storms roll around the province. Those water levels are again holding steady.
on Saturday this interesting phenomena was in the sky. I understand that from Agassiz the whole sky from one side of the valley to the other, looked like this. Not sure what it was - ice crystals maybe?
I'm tossing this photo of a Turkey Vulture in today's report. I took it yesterday at a debris trap on the Fraser River just south of Hope. We have Turkey Vultures here at the estuary although I haven't seen as many as usual this year.
back home, Red-wing Blackbirds have been a bit more visible again, in fact the males, like this guy are acting rather territorial again. I don't know if that means they are contemplating a second hatch this year or not. Some species hatch two or even three clutches again, I'm not sure if Red-wings do.
and just because I've never had baby Red-breasted Nuthatch in my yard before, in fact if you follow this blog you know that until this past year even seeing an adult was an occasion.... I'm closing with one more baby nuthatch picture.
With the first official day of summer just a week away it would be nice to if it actually felt a bit like summer!
It has been a cool, cloudy week but in spite of that, the water levels are now on the way back down.
Yesterday morning I saw....
this flock of geese flying. I don't think I have ever seen geese flying in formation this time of the year before. Earlier in the spring and in late summer and fall, but not in June.
The most bird activity right now, at least in our complex....
seem to be Spotted Towhee - all of a sudden they are seen everywhere, all adults so far, so I imagine there are some nests of hungry youngsters around keeping the parents busy foraging for food.
American Robins are also highly visible...
managed to spot this young one yesterday...well past the fledgling stage.
the Cedar Waxwing are nearly always down in the boat launch area, obviously they haven't yet got into the serious business of raising their families.
Not sure if they were all one family or not, but had a yard full of young Steller's Jay today......
one of the things about baby birds is that it often takes them a while to figure out what is edible and what is not. I have a basket full of impatiens on a little table, and this guy had his eye on them....quite a few buds met there demise before he figured out they weren't really food!
this one was eyeing up another planter....
enjoying the patio swing!
Jay's weren't the only youngsters around today. This young Song Sparrow was down at the boat launch. The first Song Sparrow I've seen for a while now! They always make themselves scare during nesting season.
the water levels are definitely on the rise again!
This Robin had just enjoyed a bath....
while this male Tree Swallow was taking a break from family duties to have a bit of a stretch!
back at home, this female Black-headed Grosbeak was about. I think these guys are nesting now as they aren't seen nearly as often as a few weeks ago. Like the tree swallows, these share parenting duties....
unlike the Rufous Hummingbirds. This female was enjoying a fushia basket today. It is hard to believe but in another 2 or 3 weeks the males will have moved on to the alpine meadows as they make their leisurely way back south, leaving the females here to raise this years crop of youngsters.
Today's report is a bit of a Hodge podge and actually none of the pictures were taken today - I just didn't get around to posting them yesterday. I will mention first though that water levels have definitely come up a fair bit over the weekend.
Yesterday we drove up Morris Valley Road past what is the estuary part of the year....
The Foxgloves are in perfect bloom right now and I wanted a picture.
here is another shot showing the full range of colour of these native plants.
We then drove over to Cheam Wetlands Regional Park and I'll only post one picture from there...
this one of a singing Marsh Wren. We get Marsh Wren out in the estuary area as well, some years more than others, it depends on how high the water is and how long it stays high. At Cheam they were singing their buzzy songs from every direction!
Then it was back home and a walk up along Elbow Creek...
this trail, which really isn't very long, takes off from this spot - you can see the estuary out there in the distance.
Elbow Creek runs from Elbow Lake, borders the golf course and ends up joining the other water sources at the estuary. We could hear birds, including Swainson's Thrush and something that I think was some sort of Wren, either Pacific or Bewick but didn't see anything.
this tree trunk shows that obviously this area is used by birds! the entire tree from root to tip looked like this - Sapsucker holes.
This is an area of typical west coast rain forest...
a few wildflowers typical to this environment were in flower - Goatsbeard is shown above...
the tiny white flowers of Foam Flower and in the foreground the leaves and one flower stalk of Vanilla Leaf.
Back home again and sitting outside enjoying a book....looked up and saw this...
very young Steller's Jay with parent. Had heard them earlier in the day, this was a re-visit. The baby Chickadees are still around although getting more independent and I also saw a fledgling Purple Finch, both yesterday and today but I haven't been able to get a picture yet.
What a difference a day makes! After an almost perfect day yesterday, sunny and warm but not unbearably hot, today was a bit of a shock....
dull and drizzly - still can't really tell if the water levels have moved or not. What was obvious today was the importance of our native shrubs, at least as far as their berry crops go in the eyes of
Cedar Waxwing! There were waxwings in this Black Twin-berry shrub. You will notice not only the black fruits but also some of the small yellow flowers. This shrub flowers early to provide a main crop of berries, but also continues to flower to keep the crop coming.
This one shows not only the Black Twin-berry but also some almost ripe Salmon berries. The birds don't really let the Salmon berries become completely ripe before devouring them.
No berries in this shot, just one of the Waxwings...as close as I could get as there was a boat launch full of water between us!
The Chickadee family was around today too but again, just wasn't able to get a picture...those babies are very good at hiding in vegetation!
final picture for today, a kind of fuzzy one of a couple of those Band-tail Pigeons that are still around. The bird on the left really illustrates why they are called 'band tail'....these birds should be moving up into the mountains soon.
Saw my first babies of the season today and they were of the cutest variety!
Had a whole family of Black-capped Chickadees around today - one of the babies in the photo above - the best I managed! Even brought out the DSLR in an attempt to get pictures.
this was one of the parents with a juicy little caterpillar in its mouth - the parents must be run ragged as there were at least 4, maybe 5 fledglings - nice to see!
All of the activity was right in the complex today....was standing on the street talking to a neighbour when I was almost run over at knee height by....
this Red-breasted Sapsucker!
here is a closer look. Another neighbour said they've been seeing it in that general area for about a week now and suspect there is a nest somewhere close by.
back in my shady yard one of the pair of Red-breasted Nuthatch - I expect some baby nuthatches to show up one of these days.
it has been pretty quiet at the feeders but now I'm restocked with Black Oil Sunflower seeds a pair of American Goldfinch showed up. It is a little early yet for goldfinch to be nesting.
This Western Swallowtail Butterfly landed close by while I was on the hunt for fledgling Chickadees - so got it's picture as well.
Down by the water, the levels seem to have stayed pretty much the same.
Another nice day today, albeit a bit on the breezy side......
I think the water levels were up slightly today. While I was standing trying to decide if the water had come or not....
I managed to spot this male Yellow Warbler hiding behind some leaves - they are always hiding behind leaves these days! The reddish stripes on the breast are the for sure identifying features.
heading towards home I spotted this female Yellow-rump Warbler with a mouthful of nesting material. I hope she has better luck than the last Yellow-rump Warbler nest I knew of in our complex. That one had been built down low in a roadside shrub. It was decided the shrubs were in need of pruning. Now pruning carefully with hand held pruning shears is one thing - taking an electric hedging shear to them is another entirely! The nest and it's occupants went flying and even though the nest was put back, the parents were so traumatized they quit feeding the youngsters.
in the same vein....I was on my way to check on a friends Oriole feeders when I spotted this American Robin. You will note he only has one leg. The first time I spotted him was the day I was so upset with the massacre of the latest mature tree in here...whether the two were connected I don't know but I wouldn't be surprised. He does seem to be managing OK with his handicap....he is puffed up in the photo because he was drying off after a bath.
a first year male Bullock's Oriole was at the feeder....
and a visit to the garbage containers netted this female Black-headed Grosbeak. Again today I had people commenting on the lack of birds, especially swallows...but then we realized, there are no mosquitoes! Now this could fall into the 'be careful what you wish for' category but it does seem very strange that there are none yet and of course swallows (not to mention bats and a great many of our summer avian visitors) eat mosquitoes, so if there are none here, they are either going to have to go where there is food, or starve. Another factor is lack of nesting sites. The Barn Swallows especially are having a hard time of it. The other day I had noticed a pair building a nest on a home in here, today the owner of the home has destroyed the nest - what makes a human think they have more of a right than the birds that were here first!
