Special Days April 25 2018, 0 Comments
Some days there are ravens. Some days, there are even mountain bluebirds. When such things miraculously appear in my own urban neighbourhood I tend to (if at all possible) just drop everything and follow them. I’ve been ridiculously lucky for the past two weekends. It was the raven the weekend before last. She hung around …
Continue reading Special Days
This is a quite long story, with many pictures, and some emotional ups and down. You might need to arm yourself with a cup of tea and take a comfy seat before settling in to read. OK, here we go … By the end of June, the flicker nest was the talk of the street. …
Continue reading Flicker Family Saga – Part Two
This is a quite long story, with many pictures, and some emotional ups and down. You might need to arm yourself with a cup of tea and take a comfy seat before settling in to read. OK, here we go … By the end of June, the flicker nest was the talk of the street. …
Continue reading Flicker Family Saga – Part Two
I didn’t realize it was going to turn into a saga, but now I’ve accumulated about a hundred photos of our local Northern Flicker family, chronicling their ups and downs over the last few weeks. I kept meaning to post some as things unfolded, but it turned into such a roller coaster, I didn’t …
Continue reading Flicker Family Saga – Part One
I didn’t realize it was going to turn into a saga, but now I’ve accumulated about a hundred photos of our local Northern Flicker family, chronicling their ups and downs over the last few weeks. I kept meaning to post some as things unfolded, but it turned into such a roller coaster, I didn’t …
Continue reading Flicker Family Saga – Part One
This wasn’t supposed to be a blog-writing day, but I feel I have some “stop press” news that must be shared, along with photographic evidence. I almost hesitate to share this wild idea, but I think there is a small chance that … dare I even speak the thought? … spring might have arrived. I …
Continue reading Possibility of Spring
This wasn’t supposed to be a blog-writing day, but I feel I have some “stop press” news that must be shared, along with photographic evidence. I almost hesitate to share this wild idea, but I think there is a small chance that … dare I even speak the thought? … spring might have arrived. I …
Continue reading Possibility of Spring
This fluffed up little female Anna’s hummingbird seems to have opted to over-winter in Vancouver. She may be wishing that she’d booked her winter getaway in the fall …but too late now. She’s here for the winter, and I feel committed to help her make it to spring. I was horrified last week, the day we were rushing to …
Continue reading Winter Hummingbird
This fluffed up little female Anna’s hummingbird seems to have opted to over-winter in Vancouver. She may be wishing that she’d booked her winter getaway in the fall …but too late now. She’s here for the winter, and I feel committed to help her make it to spring. I was horrified last week, the day we were rushing to …
Continue reading Winter Hummingbird
George, cloaked in frost, uses his partial beak to scoop up some peanuts. A little video addendum to my earlier blog post: George’s Tough Year
I would describe George’s 2015 as “catastrophic”. Still, there are lessons to be learned from his persistence. His year has been so awful, it’s taken me a while to prepare myself to tell the story, and look again at some of the images. George appeared in my garden about midway through the long, hot, dry summer last year. …
Continue reading George’s Tough Year
As usual, the birds have the best idea. When the temperature soars, head for the water. I’ve been employing my own “beat the heat” strategies, most notably, getting up at 4am to get all of my “active” duties out of the way by early afternoon. It’s just too hot to be in the studio after 2, …
Continue reading How to Keep Your Cool
Here’s Hank June 26 2015, 0 Comments
First there was Eric. Then there was Hank. Now there are Hank and Eric and Vera and Eric’s mate and some babies. That’s a lot of crows for a small area, but they seem to have worked out a way to keep things civil. They key is that certain rules have to be adhered to. Eric and …
Continue reading Here’s Hank
Meet Vera May 30 2015, 0 Comments
Vera is a little nervous around the camera, but not as phobic as this photo would suggest. She was actually enjoying a good scratch! She and her partner (Hank) are one of many young couples starting out and trying to raise a family here in East Vancouver. The two of them started hanging out in my garden …
Continue reading Meet Vera
It started as a normal Monday in East Vancouver. The dawn made it’s spectacular appearance (an hour late due Daylight Savings). Birds began to reappear in the sky, taking their posts for the coming day. Eric and his family arrived at their spot — in my garden, waiting for the first peanut handout of the day. I …
Continue reading Just Another Day
Bundled in my stylish plaid dressing gown, I climbed to the top deck of our house first thing this morning to participate in the annual Great Backyard Bird Count. As I surveyed a sea of fog, things did not look promising. I could hear a lot of frantic crow activity, although it was hard to …
Continue reading Counting Birds in Fog
Occasionally the most ordinary of days is transformed out of all recognition. It started with a dawn trip downtown for an early morning physiotherapy appointment (tennis elbow: even less fun that it sounds). Post-appointment I popped into the Vancouver Art Gallery to drop off one of my bracelets, ordered by the gift shop. It was still …
Continue reading Owls, Crows, Rooks and Poetry
Crow grooming hilarity. The recipient of the thorough going-over seems happy enough for a while. S/he seems to tire of the process part way through — but there is no way the job is going to go unfinished! I am reminded of my mother polishing my face with a hankie before I headed into elementary school. You can …
Continue reading Sit Still, I Think I Missed a Bit
Goal: To have as much fun as this robin at least once a day. How do you seek out those carefree moments? I love to head out into the back yard, or around my East Vancouver neighbourhood, camera in hand and mind open to whatever lovely thing comes along. I’d love to hear how you find your daily …
Continue reading Joie De Vivre
Thanks to the wonderful staff and volunteers at the Wildlife Rescue Association of BC out at Burnaby Lake, the female downy woodpecker is back on home turf. A volunteer called me this afternoon and we headed over with the same box I used the transport her to the refuge two weeks ago. Then she was unable to …
Continue reading Free as a Bird!
One evening I was leaving Granville Island after a day at the market. Daydreaming as I wandered back to where I’d parked, it took me a few moments to realize that I was experiencing an audio disconnect. My ears were hearing ancient forest soundtrack, but I was actually under the mighty iron girders of the …
Continue reading Vancouver’s Urban Ravens
I called the Wildlife Rescue refuge out at Burnaby Lake again yesterday to check in on our little downy patient. The news is still good. She’s lively, off medication and flying around in a large enclosure. They are keeping her a while longer so she can build up her strength and agility and not be easy prey …
Continue reading Downy Woodpecker Rehab
An update on the downy woodpecker, injured last week by a cat and taken to the Wildlife Rescue clinic at Burnaby Lake: she’s doing much better! She has abrasions and bruising and they expect her to recover. Even better, when she’s ready to release, it’s likely that I’ll be able to go get her and …
Continue reading Downy Woodpecker Update
The week started so well for the downy woodpeckers in the garden. I captured this lovely moment when the mother downy, hardly any bigger than her offspring, carefully feeds him some suet from our feeder. Baby can fly a little but hasn’t quite figured out how to gain entry to the inner sanctum of the …
Continue reading Downy Woodpecker Drama
