~ What a thrill to see a pileated woodpecker in the back garden. There she was at the base of the old dead tree drilling away in search of insects. A bit of research in the birding books told us this was a female. On the male the red on the head goes all the way down to the beak. Also the males have a red stripe to the side of the beak. At other times she visited the feeders. Here she is trying out a bird cake recipe that I make. Homemade suet is quick and easy to make and once
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Archives for Lens Friends
Slate Coloured Juncos
~ The little slate coloured juncos are frequent winter visitors to the gardens. Juncos are found across North America and they vary slightly in appearance from east to west. Here in my part of Ontario, Canada we see the slate coloured juncos. They are mainly end of Fall, winter, early spring visitors. They certainly enhance our winter bird viewing. It has a solid black/dark grey head, neck, back and wings. The rest of the little body is white. The males are a bit darker than the females. They are mainly ground feeders and can be seen in groups under the
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Partial Albino Grackle
~ We had a rare visitor to the flat feeder August 10, 2018 – a partial albino grackle or a leucistic grackle. Thanks to help from an online friend Elaine, some bird forums, and internet searches we were able to correctly identify this bird. The head of a grackle is usually all bluish, but this one has white features throughout. The eye has the same yellowish circle with the black pupil. You can see similar features to the common grackle – the longish tail, sturdy beak, and long legs. Here are a few more shots as it moved to different
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The Turkey Vultures
~ 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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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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