26 February 2009
Chipmunk
Although overcast, the day was lovely and mild. Lots and lots of squirrels: reds, greys, and... a chipmunk. The latter was scampering along the branches of a Manitoba maple which has already been picked pretty clean by the others, reaching up to grab a key here and there and occasionally finding one still with a seed. Last I saw of this little guy, he was racing down into the ravine. Not the best place to go at that moment because there were half a dozen hungry crows patrolling...
26 February 2009
Red squirrel with walnut
Earlier, I stopped to watch a red squirrel burrow down into the snow and retrieve a walnut. It came up with what at first looked like a giant (for a red squirrel) snowball. But it quickly dispensed with the snow and began gnawing away on the nut. I tried to get a photo of the snow covered walnut, which would have been quite neat, but he was too quick for me.
26 February 2009
Eating sumac
For the last few days I've also spent some time watching the reds eating sumac. They are amazingly swift. They race up the branch, select a 'cone', snap it off in a flash, almost too fast to see, and then quickly chew off and spit out the covering, seeking the seeds inside that fuzzy red coating. In this photo, you can just about see the red bits of coating falling from the squirrel's mouth.
26 February 2009
Red squirrel nest
I came across yet another downed red squirrel nest. These nests rarely last the winter, and throughout this winter I've found various ones on the ground. They are actually quite heavy and it is no surprise that with the added weight of wet snow, or with the strong winds we get so often, they eventually fall. Most consist of very finely shredded bark with an exterior made up of lengths of grass, cattail reeds (as in this one today), strips of grapevine, and so forth. I couldn't help thinking of the sheer energy and effort that these guys put into these nests which are, in many cases, not even used all that much. They're often one of several winter hideaways. In this case, the squirrels also had a snug cavity which in the fall they had enlarged and made a nest in.
25 February 2009
Red resting
Yesterday, Feb. 25th, I saw this little one lying flat out on a branch, snoozing in the sun. He opened his eyes when I came by, but kept lying perfectly still on his perch.
26 February 2009
Black-capped Chickadee
As for birds, there were robins, a few goldfinches, starlings, pine siskins, cardinals, red-tailed hawk, juncos, chickadees, house finches singing their little hearts out, mourning doves cooing mournfully, hairy woodpecker, downy woodpeckers (3 together), white-breasted nuthatch, cardinals, crows, and I'm sure I've missed some in this list! The chickadee in the photo is one that flew down and buzzed me, almost, but not quite, touching my head. He then landed in the tree mere centimetres from where I was standing and I managed to whip the camera round and fire off a shot before he took off again. Not a great photo, but I like it because it shows the cheeky little guy!
24 February 2009
CROW with bread
It was a bright, sunny, but quite cold morning. Despite the chill, house finches were singing away near the Ash woods feeder. There was not a great deal of bird activity, apart from singing finches. Chickadees, cardinals, a few juncos, mourning doves, etc. were present in small numbers. However, I did derive some amusement from watching this crow fly into the Ash woods with a big hunk of bread. He seemed pretty pleased with himself.
24 February 2009
CROW with bread
After eating some of the bread, however, he hopped down the branch a metre or so.
24 February 2009
Crow eating snow
I saw that the reason for leaving the bread behind was to eat some snow, which he did for about 10 seconds. He then flew off leaving the bread behind. It wasn't more than a minute or so later that a grey squirrel came scampering quickly through the trees, scooped up the bread and made a beeline for a nearby spruce. A crow, the same one or a different one, realized that the squirrel had the prize and gave chase, but to no avail... the squirrel won paws down.
24 February 2009
Pine siskin
While at FWG, I heard some pine siskins fly over the garden. Initially I thought they'd landed in the BYG, but by the time I got there, they were nowhere to be seen. However, once I got down into the Arboretum I could hear them calling again, this time from the conifer collection near the toboggan hill. Just where they were yesterday. They were feeding on tamarack cones (Japanese larch) and on cedar cones. A couple of goldfinches were in the flock, and a few chickadees were hanging around too. The siskins were moving constantly and unfortunately this was the best shot I could get, along with the next one, from yesterday morning. At one time or another, while trying to photograph them, I was dive-bombed by both siskins and chickadees! I don't really know if the siskins were looking for seed or telling me to get lost, but I'm quite sure the chickadees were asking for food!
23 February 2009
Pine siskin
This is one of the siskins feeding in a cedar tree, and you can see bits of the cone around his bill. When this photo was taken, he was sitting in a nearby Manitoba maple.
17 February 2009
Northern shrike
The last few days have been absolutely gorgeous at FWG. Bright, sunny, relatively mild. Birds such as chickadees and cardinals are starting to sing more often, rather than just giving their usual calls, and the house finch chorus is quite a treat! But on the whole, bird activity has been relatively slow. A couple of things to note, however: yesterday, 16 February, a sharp-shinned hawk was in the woods calling and calling away for at least five minutes. Oddly enough, no crows were attracted to or by the calls, and the sharpie was left in peace. Today, a northern shrike was around for a short time, harassing a hairy woodpecker. That is, it would fly into the tree the hairy was working on, the hairy would squawk and fly off, the shrike would leave, the hairy would come back, and so would the shrike. The hairy would squawk and leave, and so would the shrike. This went on a few times until both left for good!