~ For 2sDay I’m sharing some photos of two turkey vultures that was saw on the roof of an old barn along our road. It was a sunny morning as we were driving home and the vultures were just coming in to land on the roof. We were able to pull over to the side of the road and get some fantastic photos. It pays to always take the camera when we go out. I love the lightening rods on the roof of the barn. At first only one of the vultures or buzzards had its wings spread. They can
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Archives for Lens Friends
Quails for Q
We loved seeing quail on our visits to British Columbia. Some research tells me this is a California quail, found along the Pacific coast of the USA and Vancouver Island and the southern part of British Columbia. They are small to mid size birds in the pheasant family. The distinctive head markings on the male are lovely and don’t you just love that little plume feather on the top of its head? It’s made up of 6 feathers that curl towards the front. The female has a little top knot but it doesn’t curl as much as the male one. Here
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The Spotted Towhee
~ The spotted towhee is a western bird and we were lucky to spot some on our last trip to British Columbia. Towhees hop around moving leaves for find food. Above is the male towhee and below is the female (not the best photo) This over sized sparrow is usually a ground feeder but they will go to the feeders. When we first saw the towhee we were walking the Galloping Goose trail and it flew in front of us and landed in one of the trees. Our first instinct was to say it was a robin as the flash
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Black Turnstones
~ Our latest visit to British Columbia gave us the opportunity to check off many different species of birds, ducks and shore birds. The Black Turnstone was spotted on a rainy day while visiting Whiffin Spit. This was the same day we saw the Whiffin Spit Christmas tree. If you missed the post about that you can view it here. This species loves the rocky Pacific coast. It’s a medium sized, short legged shore bird about 20-25 cm long. I love all the barnacles on the rocks in this photo. This bird will peck inside the barnacles to find food.
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Hello Little Woody
Just photos with few words. A little downy woodpecker resting in the branches in early November. Connect: Bloglovin’ / Contact form / Instagram /Subscribe by Email SaveSave SaveSave
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Fall-ing into October
Lens Friends and The Garden 2017.
chipmunks, great blue heron, Jerusalem artichokes, squirrels, and yucca.
chipmunks, great blue heron, Jerusalem artichokes, squirrels, and yucca.
We are into a new season now. September finished off with a really hot spell, in fact some of the days were hotter than the in July and August. A quick rain storm abruptly brought that weather to an end and in a matter of minutes the temperature started dropping down. It was so hot the squirrel was relaxing under the back tree. The garden has been un-decorated and all stored away in the garage and shed. I planted up a new couple of new yucca plants that I had grown from some root when a big plant got
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Fluttering Wings
Lens Friends.
black swallowtail, butterflies, fritillary, monarch butterfly, mourning cloak, red admirals, swallowtail, and white admirals.
black swallowtail, butterflies, fritillary, monarch butterfly, mourning cloak, red admirals, swallowtail, and white admirals.
Butterflies are delicate critters that flit from flower to flower in the garden. Capturing them with the camera can be a challenge. The black swallowtail was seen in the spring when the lilacs were in bloom. The tiger swallowtail was found resting on the deck rail one day. A giant swallowtail was really enjoying the purple obedient plants just recently. A few years ago I discovered this mourning cloak butterfly by one of my hummingbird feeders which is close to a trellis where the clematis and honeysuckle vine grow. I think it had just emerged as it sat for a
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Good, Bad and Ugly
Caterpillar refers to the larval stage of a moth or butterfly or Lepidoptera. The word is Latin in origin and means hairy cat. During the year we see different caterpillars in the garden. The good, the bad and the ugly! Here is a Swallowtail caterpillar, Papilio polyxenes asterius. These like the leaves of carrots and parsley. I think I grow the parsley just to entice the swallowtail butterfly to lay eggs so I can photograph the caterpillar. These photos were taken late June. Monarch caterpillar or Danaus plexippus is munching away on milkweed. I always let the milkweed grow
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Sightings Down by the Bay
The bird sightings continue on our walks down by the bay. Last week we spotted the lesser yellowlegs. Here is another photo of one of them stretching its wing and balancing on one leg. A couple of days later we spotted some least sandpipers. At first I thought they might be young lesser yellowlegs as they were certainly smaller but and birding expert in our area, Terry Sprague, helped me with the identification and I learned that lesser yellowlegs don’t nest in our area. There was also a killdeer in the same area with the sandpipers. The swans are
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Down by the Bay
Down by the Bay and Lens Friends.
great blue heron, lesser yellowlegs, reflections, and spider webs.
great blue heron, lesser yellowlegs, reflections, and spider webs.
While walking down by the bay we spotted a pair of lesser yellowlegs shorebirds. These were most likely migrant birds passing through. We had seen the greater yellowlegs while in British Columbia last year. These were feeding in a muddy patch and some shallow water left over from the high waters in the lake where it flooded a few areas on the waterfront trail. I was lucky to capture the great blue heron just as it took off in its hunt for more food. It has a huge wingspan. It has been foggy overnight and when we arrived there
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