Some catch up

Have been having some computer issues....don't know why and don't know why it is now working, but am taking advantage while it is!

So a bit of catching up to do - first have to say it was so nice to go outside after supper tonight and hear robins calling!  

so we will go back to the 4th where we woke to a dusting of snow, in fact we did that for several days in a row.  There just hasn't been a lot in the way of birds around, but that morning there was a Great Blue Heron perched on one of the pilings....

Here is a close up look.

We've also been seeing...

little Gold-crowned Kinglets from time to time....best photo I could manage.

have also seen the occasional Brown Creeper....like this guy, working his way up a big fir tree.

This is one of the reasons there has been a lack of little birds visible...

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this little hawk has been hanging around.  I think it is an adult Cooper's Hawk.  Alway's hard to tell the difference between them and the slightly smaller Sharp-Shinned.  Both feed on smaller birds.

over at Harrison Bay it has also been pretty quiet for small birds but there have been a couple of interesting items.  Have to point out how much beach there is.  The water levels are the lowest we can remember ever seeing them. That, of course will change as soon as the weather warms and all that 'almost' record breaking snow in the interior starts to melt!

So on this day, our attention was drawn by....

a pair of Common Raven that were carrying on....

in the same area....

there were two agitated male Northern Flickers....was trying to figure out why, when I realized there was a Bobcat at the base of the tree!  I didn't get a photo of it as I was scrambling to grab my little dog before he spotted it, but this......

is what a Bob Cat looks like.  This photo was taken last April in Kentucky/Allyene Provincial Park.

Back to Harrison Bay....

this Douglas Squirrel was also in the same area and maybe what the Bob Cat was after.  This is the first native squirrel I've ever seen over there.

All this brings us to today....

the start of what is promised to be a beautiful spring weekend.

Canada Geese and ducks, mainly Northern Pintail like these, but also some Mallard and a few Green Wing Teal.

One of the Bald Eagle pair near the nest....

and Dark-eyed Junco singing.   

Surely, with the weather in the forecast, the Tree Swallows will show up....this will be one of the latest dates for their 'first' arrival ever.