Neighbourhood birds in photos and video

I have a hard time getting decent photos of birds. They're so shy and always moving, hence bribery with sunflower seeds and video.

These chickadees and nuthatches

are visiting us daily, for the handfuls of sunflower seeds we put out for them.

They fly away quickly after "stealing" one seed at a time.

These turkey vultures in the trees

were waiting for their share

of the kokanee salmon during the spawn,

while being harassed by huge ravens.

This little sparrow (I think it's a song sparrow),

but he was very quiet while dodging me and

my camera, in the bushes.

The video of the Steller's jay, is more so you can

hear it's alarm call- of course it was alarmed

because I was trying to take it's picture.

Bird nests- webcam links

We see a lot of osprey here in the Kootenays,

as they go about their day to day lives, but it's always from

a distance.

Creston Valley Wildlife has set up a webcam at an osprey nest,

it's amazing to see them up close like this!

I hope you'll enjoy watching them too. June 2011

Here's a link to the Hornby Island Eagles nest. June/2011.

Eastern Phoebe nest with 4 chicks. June 2011

A pretty winter bird- the cardinal

When I was a young girl, (in Toronto), we used to have a male cardinal that frequented our yard in the winter. His pretty song was what caught my attention, and by following it to the source I was amazed to see such a beautiful bird. He became my harbinger of Christmas.

This is a cute little Christmas gift card I designed on my computer. Not exactly Hi-tech, but I like the way it turned out. (It's hard enough to draw with a mouse, let alone my handicapped one, so the design was deliberately simple.

It's been too many years since I've seen or heard a cardinal, but this adorable, and hardy little bird comes to my mind as the snowy season draws near.

It's spring time!

I love spring... don't you?

especially the return of my feathered friends.

The air is alive with their voices and

presence.

There's been a noisy pair of kestrels flying around across

the road at the campground, I think they have a nest there.

I watched the male kestrel chase a bald eagle,

away from there last weekend. It was quite thrilling.

I tried to see where the nest is, but got worried

the campers might think I'm some crazy lady

gawking at trees from the road.

*Note to self- get a good pair of binoculars.*

Mountain chickadees and nuthatches have

been coming to the feeder in Spike's pen,

but the junkos have moved on and the pine siskins

have arrived to take their place.

I've been watching a pair of ravens and I think

they may be building a nest in one of the huge cedar trees

out front... I'm hoping.

I know they're noisy, and my family will be annoyed,

but I do enjoy them.

These huge, black birds are so interesting, social and entertaining.

It'd be fascinating to watch them through a whole breeding season.

We've had noisy stellar's jays, robins (that wake us up at 4am), and tapping woodpeckers, then there's those red squirrels and their endless chatter. It's not so quiet living out in the country.

Every year we seem to have new "neighbours", that bring life,

interest and challenges. (Like the stellar's jays that built their nest on top of our step ladder...right beside the garage/studio door!)

So... maybe this year we'll share a summer with the ravens.

If you don't feel like I do, there's a lot of suggestions on-line

on how to get crows to stay away...

Here's a couple of links:

How to get rid of things has some good ideas.

A CD that keeps them away (about $20.00)-

Crow Be Gone

And other suggestions: http://www.ehow.com/tips_437_2.html

( I like the idea of using balloons, you can use marker to draw eyes on them,

if they're hanging from a tree, they'll move at the slightest breeze, and if blown real big,

they'd probably pop once in a while which could be really helpful too.)

The colours in my garden right now:

Yellow, white/peach daffodils, red, yellow & red/yellow tulips and

white, purple, pink/yellow primroses are all in full bloom right now.

Our star magnolia is just starting to drop numerous pink petals, and my

other magnolia has about 9 big blossoms just starting to open, ( it had 5 last

year).

Enjoy the season,

Angie

A baby crow

I was just sorting some photos and came across this one.
This was a baby crow (or raven?) that we saved a few years ago.

This poor fledgling was on the shoulder of the highway, unable to fly.
My husband saw it on his way home, so he came and got me, a box and a towel.
When we got there, a couple of bikers had pulled over and were holding
the little crow. They were glad to have someone to take the bird, as
they had no way of doing so, themselves.
Anyhow, he had an injured leg & was very hungry & thirsty. We did
our best caring for him for a few days.
After a couple of days his strength had returned,
so I let him outside in our dog's pen during the day, and kept feeding him.
On his 4th day with us, he flew up onto the roof and I took a photo
of his silhouette.

Then he flew high up and roosted in a large cedar in
our front yard. That's the last time we saw him.

We frequently see ravens and crows in our yard, so I'm often
reminded of this baby bird we rescued, and wonder if he's one
of them?

Sometimes birds need our help.

Here in the Kootenays, B.C. there's a group that helps injured birds. They're called "BEAKS" (Bird Emergency And Kare Society) and here's their link: http://www.beaks.ca/

They're having a silent art auction on June 5,6 & 7, 2009 at the Chahko Mika Mall in Nelson, BC . I'm going to make and donate a painting to help raise funds for them.
Why?
Last week we put a wire fence around our vegetable garden (to keep deer out).
The fence blends in and is almost invisible, how nice! At least that's what we thought.
Well, wouldn't you know it...a robin flew into it.
He recovered soon enough & was able to fly away. Thank goodness!
So now I've put bits of tape all over the fence. It might look a little tawdry,
but at least it's visible, so hopefully no birds or animals should run into it.

Anyhow it got me thinking about my feathered & furry friends and how we impact their
world with our activities, big & small.

I'm hoping that this little blurb will help promote BEAKS, and maybe remind my friends
to consider how we might be impacting our little neighbours, when we do things.

Enjoy your day, I've gotta get painting!

May 4- update
I'd already started this painting a month or so ago.
Instead of canvas I was using a piece of wood.
If you want to know more about it, I'll do a new blog ( link goes in here)

Last night I finished it (still needs a title- suggestions welcome!)
So if you're in the Kootenays, stop in at the mall...to see
BEAKS silent auction. June 5,6,7
Chako Mika Mall in Nelson, BC.

I'm gonna try & add a photo of it here...

Ok, I tried to add it, but instead I made it my profile photo.
Oh well, good enough (for now).
At least now my few on-line friends can
see it.

(Photo of "Twittering In The Trees" goes here.)

Update: May 10, 2009

Happy Mother's Day!
We're having a beautiful sunny day in the mountains,
and here I am watching "The DaVinci Code" on tv, and
"playing" on the computer.
Anyhow, I just wanted to let you know that I've followed
through with my plans. I met with Cindi from BEAKS, this
week and gave her my painting, which I'm calling
"Twittering In The Trees".
I'm a bit apprehensive, since I've never "shown" one of my
paintings, to the public.