Without the Notre Dame poplars to host much of the local bird activity, the local Hydro and telephone wires seem to have become much busier.
Early in the morning it’s like watching a cross between theatre and a cartoon strip.
Here are a few shows from the last couple of days.
First, the drama of the Violet Green Swallow vs. the rowdy young House Finch.
A seemingly peaceful early morning scene as a House Finch and a Violet Green Swallow share the wire
House Finch youngster decides that things are just too peaceful
This is known as the “getting in your face” technique
Now the feisty house finch goes for the claws first approach.
Oh-Oh
Now the swallow is seriously annoyed
House Finch concedes defeat
To the victor go the skies
Next a bit of heartwarming family comedy with Marvin, Mavis and junior.
Marvin and Mavis enjoy a quiet moment — so rare for new parents
Too good to last …
Incoming!!!
Isn’t this more cozy?
And last, another family moment with the Northern Flickers. Apparently it’s not just the crow (or human) parents that get fed up with the constant badgering of their children.
Mom, mom, mom …
You’re not listening!!!!
Mom takes swift and agile evasive action
Ninja mom is on the move
Found you!!!
OK have this pretend snack …
… and I’m off again …
But mom, I’m bored …
OK, I’m going upstairs for some peace and quiet.
Hope you enjoyed your small sampling of Birdflix.
Subscriptions are free — you just go outside and stand around for a while looking up!
The Squirrel Buster bird feeder is an ingenious contraption. When anything heavier than a small bird (say, a squirrel for example) lands on the perch to get at the food, their own weight causes little doors to close on all the seed ports. Northern Flickers are also, technically, too heavy to use this feeder but, even though they have a couple of other food options to chose from, they clearly take this a personal affront.
Luckily they have their secret weapon, the mindbogglingly long tongue they keep neatly wrapped around their brain and ready for instant deployment. All woodpeckers have very long tongues, usually with barbed ends for catching prey, but the Northern Flicker has the longest of all of them, and their tongue tip is flattened and comes with extra sticky saliva for collecting the ants that they find so delicious.
So, back to the Squirrel Buster conundrum.
This male Flicker (you can tell by the red “sideburns”) has figured out that by hanging from the perch he can j-u-s-t get his tongue into the the gap at the bottom of the closing door. I was a bit worried he’d get his tongue stuck and we’d have a difficult conversation with the Wildlife Rescue team, but it seems he’s done this before.
Not only did he get the food out quite handily, he managed to also pick up the bits that fell out of the feeder and landed on his belly. This is where the really impressive gymnastics come in.
I’m pretty sure I saw these two, taking a break from digging up ants, exchanging bird feeder foiling tips on my dog walk the other day.
And, just in case you think it’s only the males who have figured this out, here’s a female I saw doing it in back February, so perhaps she passed on the technique to her mate.
Speaking of ingenuity I’ve been scanning the internet for COVID-19 mask making patterns, as it seems that medical advice here in North America is now pivoting in favour of mask-wearing for all to help “flatten the curve”.
So, just in case you’re also thinking about making your own mask, I’ve looked at a few and made a couple of versions for when someone from our family needs to go out for groceries. The one I like best is this one from the University of Minnesota. It seems to have a good fit, and it has a pouch to put replaceable home-made filters in (suggestions for filter material you can find about the house are included in the instructions.)
One of my most vivid childhood memories is sitting beside my mother where she’d tripped and fallen on the sidewalk while rushing for the bus to go shopping. “More haste, less speed,” she said, through gritted teeth. She had a pithy saying for every occasion, my mum, and most them were/are very true. We never did go shopping that day, or for many days thereafter, as she’d sprained her ankle quite badly.
I had great plans for this festive season. Finish up the local sales events early, leaving lots of time to update my online shop, go for long walks and catch up on the local crows and maybe even get some snowshoeing (ravens!) in before Christmas. Leisurely holiday shopping in the local shops, baking, …
Well, you can see how I was asking for trouble.
Like Icarus flying too close to the sun, here I am this festive season.
It seems to be a family tradition now, the pre-Christmas disaster. The worst was Phillip’s concussion from a bicycle accident a few years back. The most hilarious (although only in retrospect) was 2016 when Lily’s dog got sprayed by a skunk at 11pm on Christmas Eve.
The sore foot I noticed the week before the studio sale turned out to be a stress fracture. What with one thing and another, it took quite a while for the x-ray results and to get fitted for the stylish new boot, with a few days when I really could hardly get about at all. I was starting to feel pretty sorry for myself.
But, another one of my mother’s favourite sayings was “worse things are happening at sea,” and this seems to fit well into that category. We do have the Christmas tree up, and as long as I can hobble as far as the garden, or even the deck, I have some spectacular company.
It was a bit wet this morning, but Marvin and Mavis were, as always, on hand to say hello.
Moist Marvin
Mavis
I think Mavis holds me partially responsible for the change in weather.
In the garden on the weekend, there was a positive Who’s Who of bird visitors coming by to cheer me up.
The most handsome Spotted Towhee
Towhees are new to the garden this year. Always a thrill to see that oh-so-stylish and dotty colour combination.
The world’s most winsome White Crowned Sparrow.
Sweetest Song Sparrow.
Cheery Chestnut-Backed Chickadee
Jolly Junco
I’m noticing that some of the juncos I’m seeing lately have more chestnut on their hoods than I remember in the past. I always thought they were more uniformly grey or black, so I wonder if there is some sort of avian gene pooling going on there.
Heavenly Hummingbird
For years we’ve had one single Anna’s Hummingbird visit the garden all year round. Recently she has found a friend with whom to squabble about the hummingbird feeder.
Natty Nuthatch
I’d never seen a nuthatch until this one started frequenting the garden a couple of months ago. I can always tell when he’s around by the honking sound. At first I thought it was someone’s car alarm going off!
Rosy House Finch
A couple of weeks ago I noticed a couple of house finches with eye problems in the garden. Internet research revealed that there is a very contagious eye disease that spreads among finches, and advice was to bring the bird feeders in for a week or so, meanwhile cleaning them thoroughly with a bleach solution (rinsing well.) I just put the feeders out again a couple of days ago and the birds are celebrating, but I’m keeping a close watch on the finches — and planning on cleaning the feeders every week from now on.
