Canada Goose
Red Baneberry
Sharp-tailed Grouse
Finely iridescent
On the fence
Snake's head fritillary / Fritillaria meleagris
No wonder there are so many Savannah Sparrows : )
Ring-necked Pheasant at the end of the day
Showing off for the females
Haute cuisine - Frog's Legs for supper
Is this a Pink?
A house to match
A little fungi family
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
One of yesterday's two Great Gray Owls
Tiny House Wren / Troglodytes aedon
Striped Coralroot / Corallorhiza striata
Baby fluff
American Goldfinch male
Great Gray Owl in a field of Dandelions
American Robin male
Le Conte's Sparrow
Flowers of spring
02 Tree Swallow trio
03 Blowing in the wind
Successful hunting
McDougall Memorial United Church
Dandelions - of course : )
Puffed up Tree Swallow
Front of an antique store
Wilson's Snipe, seen from afar
One of a pair
Much-needed colour
Fancy plumage
This Snipe 'doesn't have a leg to stand on'
The forest is alive with fungi, lichens and mosses
A little eye-catcher
The joy of spring
Teasels growing wild
Cinnamon Teal
One of my favourite birds to photograph
Periwinkle / Vinca minor
Western Meadowlark
First day out in the big, wide world
Colour
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01 Spic and span


Bluebirds can live as long as 6-9 years approximately. I suspect that the male in this photo from June 2015 is the same bird that I have been photographing recently. Its nesting box from last year now has Tree Swallows in it, but the male I see now is at the nest box just down the road. Its behaviour is just the same as last year and it has been just as cooperative as the bird I photographed the last two years. The female usually makes the final choice as to which box is used.
Last year, on 6 June 2015, my place was beginning to get uncomfortably warm inside. That meant I needed air-conditioning and the only place to find it was in my car. So, off I went along the backroads SW of the city. I wasn't expecting to see anything different, but there were certain birds that I was certain I would see - birds that I really enjoy photographing. This drive is just a fairly short drive and fits nicely into an afternoon or early evening.
The "usual" included Mountain Bluebirds, and this male obliged, bringing food for his babies. It seemed that Dad would bring the larger, heavier insects, especially Grasshoppers, while Mom tended to choose lighter, more delicate ones. Funny how the nearby Tree Swallows would sometimes "tease" their Bluebird neighbours by flying and landing very near the Bluebird nesting box. Out of nowhere, the brilliant flash of blue of the male flew at top speed to chase the Tree Swallows away. On this particular day, I noticed the female Bluebird landed just a couple of feet from the Tree Swallow nesting box and just sat there with a Swallow on either side of her. No idea why she did this, as it annoyed the Swallows, and of course she was chased away.
In Bluebirds, the blue colour is produced by the structure of the feather - there is no blue pigment. "Tiny air pockets in the barbs of feathers can scatter incoming light, resulting in a specific, non-iridescent color. Blue colors in feathers are almost always produced in this manner. Examples include the blue feathers of Bluebirds, Indigo Buntings, Blue Jay's and Steller's Jays."
www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/id
www.jstor.org/discover/pgs/index?id=10.2307/4077277&i...
Other sightings on my drive included the usual Tree Swallows, Red-winged Blackbirds, Black Terns, a pair of Cinnamon Teal glowing in the bright sunlight, a distant Coot feeding her little ones, a Pied-billed Grebe who was annoying an adult Coot who kept racing across the top of the water to chase the Grebe further away. My final sighting was a Coyote in a field of Dandelions. By the time I had pulled over and raised my camera, it was already heading off in the opposite direction, stopping once to look back, as Coyotes tend to do.
I almost forgot to mention the highlight of my drive! Not far from home, I noticed a Canada Goose in the distance, standing in the grasses right at the edge of the road. I thought it might just step out in front of me, so I stopped in my lane and turned on my hazard flashers. Sure enough, it did exactly what I was suspecting - and it was followed by its family of half a dozen or so goslings walking in a very disciplined single file, with Mom/Dad bringing up the rear. Fortunately, the two cars coming behind me in the other lane also slowed down and stopped till everyone was safely to the other side. May sound silly, but I find it such an amazing, humbling experience when this happens : )
Last year, on 6 June 2015, my place was beginning to get uncomfortably warm inside. That meant I needed air-conditioning and the only place to find it was in my car. So, off I went along the backroads SW of the city. I wasn't expecting to see anything different, but there were certain birds that I was certain I would see - birds that I really enjoy photographing. This drive is just a fairly short drive and fits nicely into an afternoon or early evening.
The "usual" included Mountain Bluebirds, and this male obliged, bringing food for his babies. It seemed that Dad would bring the larger, heavier insects, especially Grasshoppers, while Mom tended to choose lighter, more delicate ones. Funny how the nearby Tree Swallows would sometimes "tease" their Bluebird neighbours by flying and landing very near the Bluebird nesting box. Out of nowhere, the brilliant flash of blue of the male flew at top speed to chase the Tree Swallows away. On this particular day, I noticed the female Bluebird landed just a couple of feet from the Tree Swallow nesting box and just sat there with a Swallow on either side of her. No idea why she did this, as it annoyed the Swallows, and of course she was chased away.
In Bluebirds, the blue colour is produced by the structure of the feather - there is no blue pigment. "Tiny air pockets in the barbs of feathers can scatter incoming light, resulting in a specific, non-iridescent color. Blue colors in feathers are almost always produced in this manner. Examples include the blue feathers of Bluebirds, Indigo Buntings, Blue Jay's and Steller's Jays."
www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/id
www.jstor.org/discover/pgs/index?id=10.2307/4077277&i...
Other sightings on my drive included the usual Tree Swallows, Red-winged Blackbirds, Black Terns, a pair of Cinnamon Teal glowing in the bright sunlight, a distant Coot feeding her little ones, a Pied-billed Grebe who was annoying an adult Coot who kept racing across the top of the water to chase the Grebe further away. My final sighting was a Coyote in a field of Dandelions. By the time I had pulled over and raised my camera, it was already heading off in the opposite direction, stopping once to look back, as Coyotes tend to do.
I almost forgot to mention the highlight of my drive! Not far from home, I noticed a Canada Goose in the distance, standing in the grasses right at the edge of the road. I thought it might just step out in front of me, so I stopped in my lane and turned on my hazard flashers. Sure enough, it did exactly what I was suspecting - and it was followed by its family of half a dozen or so goslings walking in a very disciplined single file, with Mom/Dad bringing up the rear. Fortunately, the two cars coming behind me in the other lane also slowed down and stopped till everyone was safely to the other side. May sound silly, but I find it such an amazing, humbling experience when this happens : )
* Didier 85 *, Chrissy, Yves Saulnier have particularly liked this photo
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