Birds 2018

[ragdall]

I tried to start this topic a while ago, but lost all that I'd put on here and gave up. Trying again and planning to save each small bit after I paste it here.

Clicking on an image will open a larger picture.

January 4th Two American Robins flew past close to my head when I was standing on my deck looking for birds.



The birds I was looking for were a flock of Bohemian Waxwings who were stripping berries from the Rowan trees in my area.



Other frequent visitors in January were Northern Flickers

[ragdall]

The House Sparrows were already thinking about nesting in February.



Redpolls came to my feeders in flocks. Some stayed into May.



The abundance of small birds in one location, delighted a hungry hawk.



When I ventured out beyond my own gardens, I found two male Goldeneye and several Mallards swimming in a small patch of open water at the Nechako River.

[ragdall]

By March, all the Rowan berries had been eaten, deep snow still covered the ground. To my surprise, wintering Bohemian Waxwings and migrating American Robins started eating the crabapples that birds had never shown interest in before.



Mid-March, Dark-eyed Juncos were beginning to appear at the feeders again.


Ice and snow were still our main features at the end of March. Early migrating waterfowl and shorebirds found little open water when they arrived. Below are Mallards with a male Northern Pintail, and a female Mallard studying a Killdeer that was running along the edge of the water.

[ragdall]

April brought a little warmth. Snow and ice melted very slowly.

House Sparrows, American Robins, and Common Redpolls were the main yard visitors, along with a newly returned hungry Merlin who managed to scare "my birds" away for days at a time.



Eager to get out after the long winter, we made several road trips to Vanderhoof, a farming community 90 km west of us, where large numbers of migrating Trumpeter Swans gather to rest, along with Canada Geese, a variety of ducks, and small flocks of Snow Geese.

Our first trip was on April 4th. A little more than halfway there, a few swans had found open water on a creek. They flew farther downstream when my husband opened the car door on their side just as a large noisy truck rumbled past us.


The Nechako River at Vanderhoof, where we would usually see hundreds of swans and geese, was still almost totally covered in thick ice. A few birds huddled near a small stretch of open water. It appeared that a kind farmer had spread some grain for the migrants in the snow-covered field.



A visit on April 8th to our local park at the rivers' confluence found Lesser Scaups and male and female Barrow's Goldeneyes swimming, Mallards, American Wigeons,and Green-winged Teals, eagerly eating the grain spread on the snow by Ducks Unlimited volunteers.










Several Common Mergansers were swimming father upstream on the Nechako.

[meganl]

amazing pictures lass

[ragdall]

Thank you, Megan.
I'll put up more when I have time. At least I'm caught up until the beginning of April.

[sandrainsydney]

only a month (of increasing visitors?) to post!

[maeve]

Ooohhh... what fun and beauty! Thank you, rags.
Hi there, Megan and Sandra!

[sandrainsydney]

Gidday, maeve - how are your visitors? - feathered visitors, naturally

[ragdall]

Hi Sandra and Maeve! Thanks for looking and commenting. I'd like to hear about your feathered visitors, too, Maeve.


Back to my up catching:

Still on April 8th. We drove 30 km east of town to a field that has a buried natural gas pipeline that must bring warmth to the ground above it because every year the snow melts there and a flock of Long-billed Curlews returns to forage for worms and insects in the dead grass there. A photographer arrived soon after we did, with a lens that looked as if it was powerful enough to show the hairs on a flea a mile away. A tad overkill, I thought, when the birds were confined to an area close to the road.



Curlews blend in well with their surroundings -- except when they walk on the snow.



The next week, we got warmer weather,the snow began to melt, exposing more open ground and forming melt water pools in low areas where migrating waterfowl congregated.

April 14th, a little east of town I found flocks of Canada Geese and Snow Geese, with a few different kinds of ducks mixed in, mostly wigeons, Mallards, and Northern Pintails, all too far from the road for clear photos.



To my great delight, a flock of about 100 Mountain Bluebirds swept through a large field on the other side of the road. From time to time they came out to rest near the road.



The next day a check back on the curlews found them enjoying a larger area of open ground for successful foraging.

[sandrainsydney]

wow! to repeat myself

[ragdall]

My next chance for a good weather outing was late in the day, April 21st, drive about 30 minutes east of town, to a marshy area at the end of an oxbow yielded shots of water birds.

An American Coot


Mallard Drake stretching displayed the blue speculum on his wing. Pair of Northern Shovelers with their long bills.


And an Osprey on its nest high atop a power pole.

[ragdall]

Earth Day, April 22, 2018. A "drive in the country", closer to town, turned up:

Mallard pair with a Wilson's Snipe in the background.............. and a Yellowlegs





April 29th, back to that Marsh east of town, where a flock of male Red-winged Blackbirds were resting during migration,

.......

And the lighting was better for showing the detail on the white sides of a male Northern Shoveler, busily scooping food.

[ragdall]

May 10th, 2018, a visit to a nearby "wetland project" (fancy name for dealing with sewage in a series of ponds), west of town. Birds were nesting now.

Pairs of Tree Swallows, were resting on top of their nest boxes. Don't worry, we stayed a respectful distance from them, using a zoom lens.

.......

Male Red-winged Blackbirds found interesting ways to support themselves there.

........

May 17th, another sewage lagoon system, east of town, yielded pictures of a female Red-winged Blackbird and a slightly blurry shot of a male Ruddy duck with its bright blue bill.

.............

May 24th, at a rest stop 125 miles east of town, a very friendly Common Raven posed.

..........

[maeve]

Lovely as usual! I haven't had time to upload photos to any online site for a long time.

I loved seeing your tree swallows. We have them nesting in one or more of our bluebird nest boxes every year. Barn swallows used to nest on our front door on the old house- loved hearing and seeing them!  Edited to add: I do still have an online photo album with the barn swallows and various garden flowers. Glad to share a link to it to any of our little group via a PM.