Having a backyard (or in this case, front yard) suet feeder is great for easy, coffee drinking (shade grown/bird friendly of course), birdwatching. Since we’ve finally gotten around to putting our feeders up, we can settle in to enjoy the show. Over the course of a week a flock of bushtits make regular appearances, chestnut-backed chickadees stop in, and a …
Backyard Birds
Red-flanked Bluetail, Brambling, Lower Mainland Twitch
This weekend was the first chance that I was able to get over to the Lower Mainland to twitch the red-flanked bluetail (Tarsiger cyanurus) that was found by Colin McKenzie on January 13. Like the citrine wagtail, the red-flanked bluetail at Queens Park in New Westminster is a Canadian first. Since it seeing it involved a ferry crossing and navigating Vancouver …
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds!
Since arriving in Nova Scotia, we’ve been enjoying the show out on the deck of the family home in South West Margaree. It is hard to get an exact count because they’re constantly moving, but I think that there’s close to 30 ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) visiting the feeders. A female Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) perched in the raspberry canes. …
Great Backyard Bird Count – February 17 to 20
Like most naturalists I’ve got a couple of backyard feeders and enjoy keeping a rough tally of the species that come and go. It’s always interesting when something a little unusual turns up, but the regulars make for entertaining viewing. Bushtits come through at least two times a week following some sort of urban feeding route which includes our suet …
Eurasian Collared-Doves
Last weekend when I spent a day birding and looking for salmon I checked out the small park at the end of Deep Bay Drive for waterfowl. The park is an excellent place to look for waterbirds and often they come in quite close to the shore looking for shellfish. While I had good looks at the ducks there wasn’t …
Where Have All the Barn Swallows Gone?
As a birder I’ve been aware that populations of certain species of birds have been declining, but I was unaware of how dramatically the numbers of Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) had fallen until I heard Dick Cannings talking about it on CBC Radio’s BC Almanac (available in iTunes – episode 2011-08-23 at about the 14:20 mark). According to Cannings, Barn …
A Backyard Visitor
We keep an informal backyard bird list and this week a new year bird showed up to investigate our fuchsia out front and our garden in the back. We’ve got lots of flowers in bloom and it seems like this immature Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) was stopping in for a quick feed. Our backyard visitor, a Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) …
Common Nighthawks Put on Twilight Display
On certain warm, summer nights in Courtenay on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Common Nighthawks (Chordeiles minor) put on a complicated and beautiful display that surpasses that of the annual Snowbird performance at CFB Comox. A warm clear night with a bit of a cloud bank building – the Common Nighthawks and Black Swifts put on a show against this backdrop. …
A Barred Owl Comes Calling
Guest post by Marcie Callewaert Every summer a Barred Owl (Strix varia) visits our property. He makes himself known with his haunting calls each night and his bold presence perched on a branch or fence post during the day – watching for his next meal. A common owl on Vancouver Island, the Barred Owl’s (Strix varia) call is a “Who …
White-throated Sparrow Surprise
Every so often a bird will show up unexpectedly. Such was the case this weekend up at Jocie’s mother’s place in Black Creek. We were sitting at the kitchen table having lunch when we noticed a sparrow with strong striping on its head working around the rock garden. Jocie and I realized that there was something different about the bird …