woodpecker – Jennifer Sawicky Photography

March 15, 2020

2020-03-15: African Birds

It was far too cold for me to get out and photograph any local birds this week, so instead I have come up with quite a random assortment of African bird images to share this week.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead. Stay safe out there!

DSCF0531 copy-Edit — A pair of crested francolin, part of a large group that were foraging along the side of the road.

DSCF0890 copy-Edit — My personal favourite, the lilac breasted roller.

DSCF2467 copy-Edit — A female bearded woodpecker seen on an early morning game drive.

XT3X3188 copy-Edit — This photo makes me laugh, because when I look at it, I can hear the bird calling “Go Away”. These are a pair of grey go-away birds.

XT3X3703 — A coqui francolin pausing from it’s foraging to give me a photo op.

May 1, 2016

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!

20160501_What I've seen this week-9 — Not the sharpest photo, but nice to have evidence of a few rufous hummingbirds getting along, and sharing the feeder.

20160501_What I've seen this week-10 — A pileated woodpecker seen on a morning walk.

20160501_What I've seen this week-7 — The purple finches have arrived, and along with the yellow pumped warbler, are filling the yard with lovely songs.

20160501_What I've seen this week-8 — The yellow pumped warbler – he’s quite a shy one!

20160501_What I've seen this week-5 — 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.

20160501_What I've seen this week-6 — Lovely blossoms, but again I ave no idea what variety.

20160501_What I've seen this week-3 — 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.

20160501_What I've seen this week-4 — 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.

20160501_What I've seen this week-2 — Another view of the lovely deer that visited on Monday.

20160501_What I've seen this week — Enjoying the backyard salt lick.

April 17, 2016

2016-04-17: What I’ve seen this week

It’s been a great week for birds around the neighbourhood, especially yesterday, when I managed to capture photos of 5 different species in one morning walk (plus 3 different bunnies).

Wishing everyone a wonderful week 🙂

20160417_What I've seen this week-5 — I actually saw a pair of flickers yesterday, and while they conveniently perched together in a tree, I didn’t manage to get any shots of the two together worth sharing, as they were so high up, and I didn’t have to big lens. This one was working hard tapping at this dead tree; I heard it long before I saw it.

20160417_What I've seen this week — A hairy woodpecker pauses from pecking between the tree branches early yesterday morning.

20160417_What I've seen this week-4 — A sure sign of spring are the robins singing from the treetops every morning. I caught this one searching for worms on the roadside.

20160417_What I've seen this week-2 — Earlier this week, I saw frantic activity below a large pine tree; I snapped loads of photos just so I could try to identify the birds. This was the best that I managed, but I include it here as it was a new species for me, a white winged crossbill.

20160417_What I've seen this week-10 — The juncos are back in town, but generally don’t visit the feeder; they are part of the clean up crew that keeps that area beneath the feeder tidy (thanks guys!).

20160417_What I've seen this week-3 — The pileated woodpecker was tapping away at the top of this pole, making quite the racket.

20160417_What I've seen this week-6 — One of the 3 bunnies I saw yesterday; this one was right next to my driveway at the end of our walk. Luckily, Spencer only barks at them about 1 in 10 times that he sees them. Mostly he just patiently waits for me to finish taking a photograph.

20160417_What I've seen this week-9 — I’ve been hearing the ruffed grouse drumming for some time now, but this was the first time I’ve seen one this year. This beauty hung around under the bird feeder, cleaning up fallen sunflower seeds.

20160417_What I've seen this week-7 — I was happy I was able to quietly sneak outside and get a few photos (I was hiding behind the garden hose reel so I didn’t disturb the grouse browsing).

20160417_What I've seen this week-8 — Sunflower seed success.

March 13, 2016

2016-03-13: What I’ve seen this week

Last Sunday brought clear skies and a showing of the aurora; unfortunately I knew I would be really busy Monday morning, and decided to just hang around the yard and snap a few photos. I did see a few glimpses, but I’m sure if I would have headed for an area with fewer tall trees, the view would have been outstanding.

I spent a bit of time outside today watching, and photographing, the redpolls. I don’t think they will be here for much longer, but I know their absence will be filled with other birds heading back after wintering further south.

Signs of spring are all over the place; tree branches in bud, and more visible ground than snow, though yesterday we had quite the afternoon storm with driving wind, hail and a bit of snow. My attempts to photograph the near sideways hail left me flat.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week; here are the photos.