Backyard Birds – December 21 – 27

Pine Siskins (Spinus pinus) feeding on seed scattered on the ground. I cleaned up a lichen covered limb of our lilac tree this week and instead of putting the branches into the city’s yard waste program left them as a brush pile in our garden area. The sparrows seem to like the extra habitat and I’m hoping that it will …

Birding at Buttertubs

Open water at Buttertubs Marsh from the vantage point of a viewing tower. No ducks here! Yesterday I headed down to Nanaimo to pick up my brother-in-law at the ferry and planned the day to include a little morning birding at Buttertubs Marsh. Buttertubs is accessible in a couple of places but I find that the easiest access point is …

Backyard Birds – December 14 – 20

Chestnut-backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens), a regular visitor to our suet feeders. A bit of a roller coaster of a week at the bird feeders as the Mourning Dove failed to make an appearance on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We figured that one of the neighbours’ cats had finally killed it. Fortunately, I spotted the dove yesterday morning so it is …

Comox Christmas Bird Count 2009

It’s all over but the owling and I don’t think many of the birders on the Comox Christmas Bird Count who braved the cold wet day today are up to spending another couple of hours out listing for owls. As I mentioned in my pre-count post, I was the team leader for Area 11 which encompasses a large area of …

2009 Comox CBC – Pre-count Scouting

I’m leading a group of birders in Area 11 on the Comox Christmas Bird Count (CBC) this year and headed out today to do a pre-count reconnaissance of the area. The last time I birded this territory was back in 2004 with my wife and my mother-in-law. I knew that it had a variety of good birding habitat so when …

2009 Deep Bay Christmas Bird Count

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor inadequate waterproof clothing or footwear can prevent the dedicated birder from participating in one of the season’s most anticipated events – the annual Audobon’s Christmas Bird Count (CBC) at Deep Bay on Vancouver Island, BC. A typical place usually only visited during a bird count – a powerline. No birds here, they were …

Bewick’s Wrens at the Feeder

Bewick’s Wren (Thryomanes bewickii) at the suet feeder. With the snowfall last night our feeders have been busy. I actually had to move one of the seed feeders because the branch of the lilac tree that it was on collapsed under the weight of the heavy, wet snow. This large branch is now very popular as a perching area for …

Backyard Birds – December 7 – 13

Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus) – a regular at the feeders. It’s been a weird week with some periods that were very birdy and stretches that were relatively quiet. Backyard bird watching is like that. Sometimes the feeders were very busy. Other times they were not. The weather has become a little milder towards the latter part of the week and …

Good Morning, Mourning Dove

Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) close to the somewhat safe feeding area inside our fenced vegetable garden. Over the past several weeks at least one Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) visiting our feeders here in Courtenay. Although not a rare winter bird on Vancouver Island, it is a bird that is not usually seen regularly in the winter. However, every Christmas Bird …