wordsfromanneli

Thoughts, ideas, photos, and stories.

Category Archives: Birds


by 30 Comments

A Waterfowl Meeting

Mallards, widgeons, fill the sky

Each one calling out their cry,

“Wait for me,” and “Watch my space,”

Desperate to keep up the pace.

 

In the lee by stands of trees,

Sheltered swans it seems to please,

In a line of purest white,

Feeling safe, to their delight.

For the ducks, a numbers game,

Many of them look the same,

Feeling safe amid the crowd, 

They don’t mind if they are loud.

 

In this field of scraps they find

Food enough to feed their kind,

So much harvest overlooked,

Ducks don’t mind if it’s not cooked.

 

 

 

Look quite closely, you will see

Old potatoes – one, two, three,

If these spuds are not fermented,

Hungry ducks won’t get demented.

 


by 53 Comments

It’s a Cruel World Out There

The geese are moving in from places farther north where they have enjoyed warmer weather until now. They sense that the season is cooling off and have come to visit the fields of southern BC to fatten up on leftover grain, bits of corn, and anything else that looks good. Once they have met up with their friends in ever greater numbers, and they have rested and feasted and done little test flights during this staging time, many of them will fly farther south where the winter is not as harsh.  A few smaller flocks will settle in to spend the winter here on Vancouver Island, in the hope that the coldest weather will be bearable and not last too long.

The eagle watches and waits. He will take advantage of any stragglers or injured birds to supplement his diet. Once the spawned out fish carcasses are cleaned up by scavengers like seagulls, crows, and eagles, it will be time for a new food source. For the eagles it will often be crippled waterfowl of many kinds.

This bald eagle has a good view of a cornfield that often attracts ducks and geese. If any of them are not able to keep up with the flock, they will make an easy target for a predatory bird.

Little songbirds like these chipping sparrows will be targeted by hawks who sit silently in the nearby trees, waiting for an opportunity to swoop down and scoop up a little snack.

This broad-winged hawk would be happy with a songbird or even a careless squirrel. Patience and alertness are what it’s all about.

The merlin doesn’t mind picking up a songbird either. He’ll happily take down a flicker that might be almost the same size as him.

The red-shafted northern flicker had better be alert. It’s a dangerous world out there.

The general rule for non-predatory birds, especially in the autumn, is “heads up or be eaten.” It’s the raptors who are the meat eaters, while the gentler plant- and insect-eaters need to fear them.

And I haven’t even mentioned the owls yet. Rabbits and mice beware!

 


by 34 Comments

Pileated Woodpecker Visits Again

Folks, I want you to know that this year it has been great to visit Anneli’s garden. It’s quiet (she’s hardly ever out here), and it’s so-o-o-o … shall we say, to be polite … it’s “au naturel.”

She thinks it’s a mess, but to me, it looks better than ever. Bugs are hiding everywhere, under weeds she hasn’t cleared away. A smorgasbord for me!

As a matter of fact, I think I might have one of those little critters on me. “Well, surprise, surprise, little bugs. There’s no free ride on me! You will be on my dinner menu. Heh, heh, heh, haaa-hooo!”

Messy garden, 

Perfect place,

I have dinner,

Leave no trace.

 

Bugs that crawl

Look fine to me,

On the ground

Or in the tree.

 

When the garden’s

Gone to h—,

I see bugs 

That suit me well.

 


by 55 Comments

Mother and Daughter

Again, I was in a rush and didn’t get wonderful, clear photos, but you’re all so good at using your imagination and that’s what I’m counting on today.

The woodpeckers were back. It was Pam and what I thought last week was her sister. I’ve had my eyes opened because I got a better look at the “sister.” Turns out, it is most probably her baby, not her sister.

Pam is near the bottom of the tree here, and Junior is above her.  Junior’s topknot is not a brilliant red yet, most likely for her own protection. She won’t be such a target for her enemies.

Pam is working hard, pecking open the bark to look for bugs. Junior is still afraid of giving herself a headache so she lets Mom do all the work.

Pam stops mid-peck and looks around.

“Do you see her, Junior?” she asks.

“See who?” Jr. says.

“Whom.”

“What?”

“See whom, not who? … Oh, never mind. Do you see the crazy lady with the camera? She’s always hanging around near the back door, and I thought I heard it open. I don’t mind her, but that black cocker spaniel is always wherever she is, and that dog LOVES birds – and before you say, ‘Oh that’s good,’ let me tell you, ‘No. That mutt likes birds, but not in a good way.'”

“But don’t worry, Junior, we’re safe. Just open your beak. I’ve got a treat for you to make you forget all about that killer dog.”

 

“LOL! Gimme a break,” says Emma. “Me? Kill a bird? … Well, not a woodpecker, anyway … not today….”


by 46 Comments

Pam the Pileated Woodpecker

The pecking of beaks on wood just past the fence of my yard sent me running for my camera. I was surprised to see not one, but two pileated woodpeckers.  They were a bit shy and one of them disappeared around the back of the tree. I had a glimpse of that bird just long enough to guess that it was a sister of the juvenile pileated woodpecker I could see on the opposite side of the tree. Do you see them there on the tree that is farthest to the left? One on each side of the tree; one about a foot below the other, partly hidden by a leaf.

I know her name is Pam, not Paul, because she doesn’t have the red cheek slash that the boys have. Notice how long her toenails are. Great for hanging on and for hopping up and down on the trunk of these Douglas fir trees. Can you do that?

She was finding little bugs in the bark. I watched her eat some as she came across them. I bet they were surprised to be found, thinking they were safe in the maze of coarse bark.

You can watch Pam at work in these two short videos she allowed me to take. It gave me a headache watching her slam her beak into the bark over and over again. If you watch carefully you might see her nibble at a bug she discovered between beak slammings.

In the next one, watch how she hopped around the bark so easily, hanging on with her sharp toenails.

See you around the neighbourhood, Pam, and thanks for helping keep down the invasion of insects.

 


by 41 Comments

Oh, so Pretteeeee!

He’s back, but still a bit blurry.  This American goldfinch is very shy and doesn’t like to be photographed. Again he took off just as I was focusing my camera and I had to settle for a faraway shot. When he sat on the edge of the hedge it was like trying to take a picture of a mosquito on a moose.

This time I got a better sense of his colouring. One day, maybe he’ll sit still when he’s closer in, like this morning when he sat on the garden fence until I got the camera. He is definitely camera shy.

But with colours like this flashing signals to every hawk around, I don’t think I’d sit still long either.

Cuz I’m pretteeeee, oh, so pretteeeee,

I can’t stick around, for I’m bound to be found,

Cuz I’m pretteeeee, oh, so pretteeeee,

It’s awfully hard to be meeeee.

 

 

Yes, they’ll see meeeee, oh, they’ll see meeeee,

I really must fly, if I stay I will die,

Yes, they’ll see meeeee, oh, they’ll see meeeee, 

And dying so young is not pretteeeee.

 

 

You snap pictures, I’ll read scriptures,

I pray that today will not be my last day,

Cuz I’m pretteeeee, oh, so pretteeeee,

I want to keep on being meeeee.


by 42 Comments

Penny for Your Thoughts

My friend who has the house where the peacocks visit, sent me some more photos that he snapped with his phone, so I thought I’d share them with you.

 

Here we are, folks. Remember me? I’m Patrick on the left, and I’ve brought five of my friends. Next to me from left to right, we have Percival,  Parker, Penny, Paxton, and Preston. I think Preston got into the overripe, fermenting mountain ash berries. You can see that his head is a bit blurry.

Notice that Penny has a paler face than the rest of us and her neck feathers are more green than blue. She has a light brown back and even lighter underside.

Being the older male, I’m sort of in charge of the show. My fan of tailfeathers is way better than that of any others here.  When I go up to Penny and show her my fan, with all the beautiful “eyes” on the feathers, I can tell she’s impressed. I shiver the fan just like I’ve seen ladies do with their handheld fans on a hot day at the opera. She nearly swoons when I do that.

All the boys want pretty Penny,

But she just wants me.

My impressive fan has many

Eyes for her to see.

 

When I spread my fanning glory,

And I show my train,

All those eyes will tell the story

That I’m not so plain.

 

I must have two hundred eyes,

Marked upon my train,

When I shiver Penny sighs,

“I love you,” again.


by 39 Comments

Patrick Peacock

While visiting friends, we were surprised to see this peacock at their door.  He lives in their neighbourhood and sometimes our friends put food out for him, so he comes to visit once in a while. I asked my friend to snap a quick picture with his phone, and here we have it.

Patrick Peacock feels at home,

For a meal, no need to roam,

Here he has a special dish,

“Keep it full.” That is his wish.

 

 

“Oh, but look, some people came,

Some old friends, they look the same

As they did some time ago,

One or two more wrinkles though.

 

 

I’ll sit still, so poised and cool,

Long as they obey the rule,

Just don’t scare me, or I’ll run,

Then you would have no more fun.”

 

 


by 24 Comments

Goldfinches on Two Sides of the Pond

After seeing my Mystery Bird post last week, a fellow blogger sent me photos of finches he had visiting at his location. It was interesting to compare the different colour patterns.

My goldfinch was the American version on the North American side of the pond. Here are the two blurry pictures I was able to manage to capture of these flighty birds.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, in the UK, my blogging friend Jeff Grant took these pictures of the European version of the goldfinch.

They are often hard to photograph. These birds don’t want to hang around long enough for zooming or focusing, but isn’t it amazing to find so many of them (at least 14) together in one place.

Thank you for these photos, Jeff.

I wanted to show the colour differences between the two variations – the European and the American goldfinches – but they are too far away to see the colours clearly. Concerned about copyright violations, I didn’t want to use an Internet photo, so I did a daring thing. I sketched a bird and coloured it in my own amateur way, trusting that my blogging friends would forgive my lack of artistic talent and concentrate on the colours that identify the European goldfinch.

Here is my effort at avoiding copyright violation with my own drawing.

European Goldfinch

I would love to see these goldfinches in such numbers where I live. That would be so amazing.