A breath of fresh air….

I don’t often go for a walk over to the park on weekends, especially when the weather has taken a turn for the better, but this afternoon I just felt like I needed a breath of fresh air, so headed out with camera and for a change, no dog and was pleasantly surprised at the amount of birds and complete lack of people!

First to be encountered were a number of sparrows, there were a pair of Fox Sparrow (one only in the picture), as well as some Song Sparrows…

They were busy eating the tiny seeds of the Hardhack bushes…and since the Fox Sparrow were most co-operative and will be leaving soon – we’ll concentrate on them.

lot’s of Dark-eyed Junco as well – the ground seemed to be hopping with them the entire length of the trail….

the area of the log bay was a busy place….a Great Blue Heron out there…

he looked at me….

and then went back to intently peering at something – have no idea what!

House Finch were coming down for baths…here a female

next a male….

Steller’s Jay were busy too, not exactly sure what they were doing.

had been hearing a Northern Flicker calling and finally spotted him on one of the pilings….

seemed to be busy working on this excavation…not sure if just getting bugs or if this might be a potential nesting site…would be great if it was as it would be an easy place to keep track off…

I don’t come down to where I can see into this bay very often…but thought I’d take a peek today and I see that it looks like the Beavers have been busy rebuilding a lodge in the back corner.  There used to be a beaver lodge back there but it had been torn apart the last few years.  Hopefully it will be left alone now.

heading back towards home, here is the Flicker from a different angle..

and one last shot of him….

Black-capped Chickadee were busy as well.

loved this little guy hanging right upside down!  By the way, I noticed that some of the buds on the Salmon berry bushes are showing colour today.  Hummingbirds should be showing up almost any time once that happens, in fact I thought I heard one again today but couldn’t spot it if it was there. I’ve got my feeder out just in case and I see a few others out as well.  It has become a bit of a contest to see who attracts the first hummer of the season.

Today the only ‘spring time’ birds I saw were the American Robins like this guy.  A few Yellow-rump Warblers have been spotted in the valley, along with a few Mountain Bluebirds so pretty soon we should be seeing some migrants.