Yesterday was my first official spring birding. Soon as I stepped out of my car in the woods, I heard a loud peculiar call. I saw a large, black bird landing on top of a tree. One positive thing about a late start to spring for us is the bare branches. Surely, green leaves are warming to the eyes, but bare branches allow clearer views of birds. Can you see it?
Soon I found that it wasn’t just a black bird. The red crown gave it away. A pileated woodpecker, my long lost friend! I’ve seen many woodpeckers in my neck of the woods, downy, hairy, northern flicker… but I haven’t seen, let alone photographed, a pileated woodpecker for many years.
It soon flew away, but not too far. I followed quietly, stepping over dead leaves, dry twigs and trunks to a more favourable vantage point. It landed on a large trunk on the ground, allowing me to get up close and personal.
Just as I was congratulating myself for the good fortune in my first spring outing of the year, I saw two. How rare it is to see two pileated woodpeckers together, for me anyway. This pair wasn’t afraid of nature paparazzi like myself, for I’m sure they must have known I was around. I was able to get a good pose, but still natural in situ.
Looks like a good birding year is in store for me.
The arrival of a new owlet is when I’m energized for another year of birding. Like the bear, I hibernate in the winter. I wouldn’t want to fight the elements in -20C temperatures with not much to see but a blanket of white. After waiting patiently for the snow to be gone and rain to let up, today is the first fine day to begin my few months of nature hopping. I was richly rewarded.
This single Great Horned Owlet makes it all worth the wait. Other birders told me that there were two babies this year, but one fell off a tree and was taken away by wildlife staff, hopefully to mend injury and recuperate. So, leaving this one all the more precious. Can you find baby here?
. A close up for a better view of this adorable, downy ball:
. Check out this photo below, see anything special? Only the owl can do this feat where both the head and the tail face the same direction. That’s right, baby has turned his head 180° :
. Sure knows how to pose for the camera too:
. and the natural, without needing to pose:
. Mom is close by, but like all mothers, always in need of those precious 40 winks:
. A fine day to start another year of nature hopping. More photos coming up…
April may be the cruellest month for the poet, but for me, it’s a time for newness and hope. It’s Easter month, but winter’s not totally gone yet for us, despite the official arrival of spring according to the calendar.
Many of you might be enjoying colorful roses blooming in your garden, this is what I see when I head out to the woods today––the last day of March––snow-covered creek and dried cattails from autumn past:
But the Pond is teeming with life, a cacophony of bird calls from everywhere. Here’s our first robin coming back from afar, the sure sign of spring:
Plenty of buds for the hungry chickadee:
And from afar, a coyote, which doesn’t look too enthused about the changing season. I’ve to warn a mother pushing a baby carriage nearby:
On the river, it’s a different picture:
It’s courting season already. The male Goldeneyes doing their mating dance… stretching their necks upright and singing their tune. The females (brown heads) don’t seem too interested though:
Oops just a bit too close. It’s been a few months of house-bound inactivity, don’t mind me getting excited for a better pic:
This year, there’s only one owlet at the Great Horned Owl household. Since the coming-out party, the family’s debutante is poised to become the star of the woods. Birding paparazzi converge and they’re not disappointed.
But first, a Where’s Waldo quiz for you. Can you spot mama and owlet on this tree:
Ok, blame it on my blurry pic. Mama’s on the top of the picture, baby at the bottom. Can’t see clearly? Here are some close-ups:
Mama is always nearby… the lower right of the photo gallery.
And this little one is a natural talent for the movie screen. Here are some photos for the audition portfolio:
CONSIDERING
DEMURE
SUSPICIOUS
Thank you… yes, this fluffy coat is very comfy… I like it too.
I need to specify early spring because we do have four seasons distinctly. And with each passing day, there are nuanced changes, if not the obvious. Last week we still had snow on the ground but yesterday it went up to 18C (64F), very warm for us at this time.
The Pond had melted, but for some reasons I didn’t see any ducks yesterday afternoon. A walk in the forest made up for it. The woods were teeming with life, birds chirping and Canada geese honking to mark their territory. Here are some of my sightings. Can you ID them all?
What is that in the lower right? Yes, you guessed it… a porcupine up on a tree. This is not the first time I see a ball of a porcupine high on a tree branch. A natural ‘Do Not Disturb’ notice… as if saying, ‘just let me sleep it off.’
But here’s the highlight. I was walking in the woods when a few geese flew by flapping wildly and then I saw something not exactly like a Canada goose but… an owl, a Great Horned Owl, landing on the familiar owl’s nest high up on an old tree cavity, that same spot where generations of owls had nested to breed but had been abandoned in the past few years:
The air b&b is being occupied once again! Papa Owl checking to see the home is secure for Mama and her babies. Then he noticed me, and quickly gave me a nasty stare: ‘Whatcha looking at?’
And then he flew right at me. In a split second, I decided to just stand there and watch instead of raising my camera to capture the owl in flight coming directly at me. I wouldn’t have time to frame and adjust my camera anyway. I was too stunned and didn’t want to lose the chance of seeing a Great Horned Owl heading straight at me wing spreading 4 feet wide.
So, no photo for what could have been a marvellous shot if I’d the time and the autofocus of my camera had worked fast enough. No visual to share, but the picture in my mind is indelible.
Good that Papa Owl wasn’t aggressive. He glided past me, yes, brushed past, just flew by a couple of feet beside me and then up a tree. From there he stayed on a branch to watch his home… as he always has, a loyal sentinel.
Anything can happen during a walk in the woods. This time it’s bringing me back to the very basic of seeing, just with my naked eye, and store the solitary experience in a personal vault devoid of any digital or hard copy… so, no need to declutter in the future.
At start of spring I open a trench in the ground. I put into it the winter’s accumulation of paper, pages I do not want to read again, useless words, fragments, errors. And I put into it the contents of the outhouse: light of the sun, growth of the ground, finished with one of their journeys. To the sky, to the wind, then, and to the faithful trees, I confess my sins: that I have not been happy enough, considering my good luck; have listened to too much noise, have been inattentive to wonders, have lusted after praise. And then upon the gathered refuse of mind and body, I close the trench, folding shut again the dark, the deathless earth. Beneath that seal the old escapes into the new.
Though cloudy skies, and northern blasts, Retard the gentle spring awhile; The sun will conqu’ror prove at last, And nature wear a vernal smile.
The promise, which from age to age, Has brought the changing seasons round; Again shall calm the winter’s rage, Perfume the air, and paint the ground.
The virtue of that first command, I know still does, and will prevail; That while the earth itself shall stand, The spring and summer shall not fail.
Such changes are for us decreed; Believers have their winters too; But spring shall certainly succeed, And all their former life renew.
Winter and spring have each their use, And each, in turn, his people know; One kills the weeds their hearts produce, The other makes their graces grow.
Though like dead trees awhile they seem, Yet having life within their root, The welcome spring’s reviving beam Draws forth their blossoms, leaves, and fruit.
But if the tree indeed be dead, It feels no change, though spring return, Its leafless naked, barren head, Proclaims it only fit to burn.
Dear Lord, afford our souls a spring, Thou know’st our winter has been long; Shine forth, and warm our hearts to sing, And thy rich grace shall be our song.
Spring is home construction season. The Ospreys are back and busy building their perennial home.
The Ospreys have the same address every year, that’s right on top of a highway sign. I don’t know why they like it up there above a busy highway while there are many trees close to a river nearby. No building permit required, so they are free to set up their family home and raise their young wherever they like.
This year is different. Some human have chosen that exact spot to work on something. Not sure what they’re planning for the site. A lift equipment is nearby and a little wooden triangular structure has been erected, right where the Ospreys are building their home.
So there are two different building plans on the same site, but the Ospreys are undeterred. They haul in material from nearby trees, transporting one twig at a time.
Here’s making the best of a precarious situation. When you have an unknown, triangular intrusion right by your home, might as well use it as a watch tower.
I don’t know how the story will unfold. I sure hope co-existence will be the happy ending.
First time is always the most exciting. These past weeks, I came across three sightings of something I’d never seen before. They may be common for other birders or nature watchers, but what’s important for me is, those were my first time.
From afar, I knew that wasn’t a Chickadee or a Nuthatch, albeit about the same size but plumper. I took the picture and later looked it up. It was a Dark-eyed Junco. Sure I’ve heard of the junco before, but have never come face to face with one. I further found out that it was one of the most common birds in Canada. Oh really? This was the first time I saw it, and that made it special for me. Love that tiny pink beak.
Another first-time is this photo here. Someone’s having a hearty meal, its delicate hands holding up a green shoot and chomping away. Can you guess what it is? Not a mouse:
Here, its tail gives it away… a baby muskrat. I’ve seen the adult ones but sighting a pint-size muskrat was my first time. At first I thought it was a baby beaver, but the narrow, long tail distinguishes it from the beaver, which has a flattened, paddle-like tail. Here’s a helpful page.
But the following is the most exciting find for me. In a shimmering pond lined with cattails…
I found a water bird I’d never seen before. It had a greyish white patch on its cheek:
I learned later that it was a Red-necked Grebe, breeding mainly in Canada (distribution map here). A grebe is not a duck; it doesn’t have webbed feet. I went back several times and found there were two pairs of them. I look forward to seeing their babies on their back in the coming days or weeks. I’ll be visiting them often.
Their colour features are fine and distinct, rusty red long neck and breast, with a yellow strip along their beak. Loud and distinct calls. Male and female have similar appearance.
I can’t explain it… I’m mesmerized by their serene movement, and yes, crazy calls. I’ve gone back a few times already, at different times of the day and in different weather. Nature’s calming sessions.
May has arrived! The Brothers Karamazov Read Along thus begins.
Your part of the world might be all green and colourful, more conducive to outings and nature wandering than reading. But then again, you can read outdoor too. Just bring the book along and sit under a tree … in a lawn chair, and enjoy the warm breeze.
As for me at the Pond, things aren’t that rosy yet. But I have blue sky, white clouds, and buds bursting out on trees.
All are welcome as we start our slow and leisurely reading of the classic which critics hail as Dostoevsky’s culminating, greatest work (pub. 1880, his last novel). Here’s a schedule of our posting dates, according to the four sections of the book:
PART I – May 22
PART II – June 12
PART III – July 3
PART IV & Epilogue – July 24
If you’re not a blogger, you can still read together with us. On the posting date, stop by and leave your thoughts as a comment. Or, you might have read it before, several times, I welcome your insights!
April is unpredictable. One day we have warm, sunny weather, the next there would be flurries. But the creek and pond have mostly melted. A new sound I heard a few weeks ago when I was walking by a stream, something I had never encountered before. The sound of melting: the cracking of ice, like a small firecracker had gone off.
But this is the true herald. When I saw the first robin, I knew Spring had arrived. There were many of them during my walk last week, turning the woods into a convivial nesting playground.
And up in the sky, a red-tailed hawk flew by. Sunlight seeping through its feathers:
At the bird sanctuary, the wood ducks are back, brightening up a cold morning:
But here’s what made my day: my first time sighting a Hooded Merganser. This is rare in our locale. From their range map, they’re only passing through during migration.
I often think of the female Common Merganser as having hair like Lucille Ball’s. I’ve found another celeb look-alike… the male Hooded Merganser’s hair sure has an Elvis look:
As for the female, I always find them to be more playful than the male, both the Common and now as I observed the Hooded one. Wish I’d taken a video to share. She was splashing and calling out in exuberance, while Elvis glanced back in nonchalant coolness:
Ripple Effects 