Category: Canada

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2016-12-11: What I've seen this week

***December 12th – I guess I forgot to actually hit post on this yesterday – oops! ***

While I have actually seen quite a lot this week around the neighbourhood, it has mostly been too cold to get the camera out to capture anything while out walking.  -22C was the average temperature for my morning walks, and I had to resort to mittens, which don’t lend themselves to quick wildlife shots!  The deer and fox have been around a lot, as well as the hairy woodpeckers and lots of chickadees.

For the first time in a long time though, I spotted a northern flicker in the yard, and that is the lone photo of the week (since I could take it through my office window).

Have a great week everyone!

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2016-12-11: What I’ve seen this week

***December 12th – I guess I forgot to actually hit post on this yesterday – oops! ***

While I have actually seen quite a lot this week around the neighbourhood, it has mostly been too cold to get the camera out to capture anything while out walking.  -22C was the average temperature for my morning walks, and I had to resort to mittens, which don’t lend themselves to quick wildlife shots!  The deer and fox have been around a lot, as well as the hairy woodpeckers and lots of chickadees.

For the first time in a long time though, I spotted a northern flicker in the yard, and that is the lone photo of the week (since I could take it through my office window).

Have a great week everyone!

20161211_What I've seen this week.jpg

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2016-11-20: What I've seen this week

It’s seems like such a long time since I have done one of these posts!  I was planning to do one last week, but woke up Sunday morning to a computer meltdown instead – not quite how I was planning to spend my day.

I’ve got a bit of a mixed bag from the last two weeks… Fingers crossed I can get back into the routine of weekly photos again 🙂

Have a great week everyone!

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I was very excited that the first time I’ve saw Bohemian Waxwings happened to be on a bright, sunny day.
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These were part of a larger group that were in my neighbourhood for a very short period of time.  If I had left a few minutes later for my lunchtime walk, I would have missed them.  1/800 sec, f5.6, ISO 320
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This fox has become a fixture in the neighbourhood, but (s)he is very shy and scurries away as soon as Spencer and I get close.  The weather has been to iffy to haul around my big lens, so zoom and cropping are my friends.  1/500 sec, f5.6, ISO 800
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For the Monday supermoon, I went on a field trip with my photo club.  After a year and a half living here, it’s the first time I have been down to photograph the train bridge.  All you can see of the moon is the light trail on the water. 0.4 sec, f4.0, ISO 2000 (Nikon D610)
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Same scene, different camera and a different interpretation.  0.3 sec, f3.1, ISO 1000 (Panasonic FZ1000)
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2016-10-23: What I've seen this week

This time last weekend, there was snow on the ground and it was a soggy, rather miserable day.  But on my afternoon walk, I spotted one of the deer families and managed to get a couple quick pictures.  It’s wonderful to see that this mom has managed to keep the young ones safe, especially with the coyotes in the area.

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That’s all I have for this week, hopefully there will more photo opportunities in the week to come.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday 🙂

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2016-08-29: Black Bears

When I got home from my lunch time walk with Spencer, I spotted two black bear cubs on the lawn near the entrance I use.  I quickly went in a different way so as not to disturb them, and grabbed my camera.

What a fantastic lunch hour!

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The low hanging feeder was emptied, but despite checking out the one up the tree, they didn’t bother with it (I wonder if that’s because those seeds were coated in cayenne pepper to keep the squirrels away?)

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One of the cubs was significantly smaller than the other, and at one point, they had a scrap in the yard, with a lot of snarling and growling.

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2016-06-05: What I’ve seen this week

I spent some time Saturday morning watching the birds in the backyard, and happened to be at the right place at the right time to see a male and female western tanager pass through the yard.  It was only the third time I’ve ever seen these birds, and the first opportunity to photograph, so needless to say, I was thrilled.

I had another interesting sighting earlier in the week; while out on my bike I spotted an interesting bird with a very long beak.  After looking on my bird app, I figured it was likely a long-billed curlew, a first time I have seen the species.  I hopped in the car with my camera to see if they were still in the area, and luckily managed a couple photos.

That’s enough of the chatter, I hope you enjoy the birds I have seen this week 🙂

 

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A dark-eyed oregon junco with her chicks.  Even though the ground was full of sunflower seeds that I spilled earlier in the day whilst filling up feeders, the chicks still wanted Mom to feed them.

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I was watching the hummingbirds with camera in hand when I saw a flash of yellow land behind some branches.  I moved slowly to get a better vantage point, worried I would scare the bird off before getting to ID it.  
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The male and female tanagers arrived at separate times and only stayed a minute or to.  I was really lucky to have seen them.

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A long-billed curlew.
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A pair of long-billed curlews with a chick (mid photo far right).  I was taking photos when pulled over on the side of the main road into my neighbourhood, so I didn’t spend any time adjusting settings; a couple quick photos then I was off.
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2016-05-23: Monochrome Monday

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A red winged blackbird sings his heart out. I was so glad to see this bird singing, as the song has been tormenting me from the bushes for years, and I could never figure out who was making the sound until this past weekend.
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A bit of a silly photo; the bird taking flight looks like a turtle to me 🙂
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A northern flicker perched atop a power pole.
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2016-05-08: What I’ve seen this week

I just took a pause in editing the photos for this post for some breakfast, and spotted a pair of deer in the yard.  It’s overcast and they are heading deeper into the bush, so no sense in trying to get a photo to add to the post.

This week, I’ve got some slightly better photos of the red breasted sapsucker that is hanging out at the top of my street, as well as some photos of a yellow bellied sapsucker (at least, to the best of my identification abilities, that is what it is, though they aren’t supposed to be in my area at all.

Here are my choices for the week, I hope you enjoy.

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On my Saturday morning walk, I heard the loveliest singing from the trees, but was really having a hard time seeing the bird to get an ID. Once I loaded the photos onto the computer, I realized it was the yellow rumped warbler.
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A yellow bellied sapsucker?
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I believe this is a yellow bellied sapsucker… but if you have other ideas, please let me know!
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The red breasted sapsucker.
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The red breasted sapsucker loves to hang around the utility poles and make quite the racket.
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I was surprised that this bunny hopped out of the bushes and close to the road when he/she could easily see Spencer and I walking along. I snapped this just before a car came along; luckily it hopped back into the bush and not the other direction.
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2016-05-01: What I’ve seen this week

The back yard continues to get busier, as more and more birds are heading into town.  The warm weather has also meant trips to the garden centre to start sprucing up the yard, and getting some colourful flowers to contrast the sea of green.

This weekend has flown by, and there is still much to do, so I will leave it at that and get to the photos.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week!

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Not the sharpest photo, but nice to have evidence of a few rufous hummingbirds getting along, and sharing the feeder.
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A pileated woodpecker seen on a morning walk.
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The purple finches have arrived, and along with the yellow pumped warbler, are filling the yard with lovely songs.
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The yellow pumped warbler – he’s quite a shy one!
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From the trunk up… I have no idea what type of tree this is, but it was one of the things that caught my eye while doing a photo walk downtown early this week with my local photo club.
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Lovely blossoms, but again I ave no idea what variety.
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I saw three deer while out on my bike Sunday afternoon, and then this single one spent a great deal of time in the yard on Monday.
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I snapped a few quick photos of this bird before it flew away; I was unable to tell until I got it on the computer that it is a red breasted sapsucker.
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Another view of the lovely deer that visited on Monday.
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Enjoying the backyard salt lick.
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2016-04-24: What I’ve seen this week

After a few fairly quiet weeks at the feeders, the backyard is coming alive again with new visitors.  The warm weather has brought in the rufous hummingbirds, and I’ve also seen a yellow rumped warbler around the yard.  There are at least one pair of pine siskins feedings on sunflower seeds as well.

Out on my walks, I’ve been seeing bunnies every day (including a pair that looked as if they were planning a bunny rendezvous in the near future) but I wasn’t able to capture any decent photos of them this week.

Onto the pictures, have a great week everyone!

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A male rufous hummingbird (with his tongue sticking out just a little bit).
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A yellow rumped warbler (Audubon’s).
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A yellow rumped warbler hanging around the back garden.
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A pair of crows I spotted on an early morning walk.
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A female rufous hummingbird.
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A pair of pine siskins.
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A ruffed grouse I spotted while out walking.

 

 

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