Final Irricana post of birds and critters

Our final morning in Irricana produced a drizzly morning mist fog as in a surreal dreamscape, it was beautiful soft and grey, though slightly chilly and the birds were fluffed against the cool breeze that kept them grounded.

 The clay-colored sparrow sang no matter what the weather was doing, sporty bird he is.

 The chipping sparrow priceless expression makes me think he may be grumpy about the rain.

Wet Warbler in a soft rosy hued drizzle.

 During spring a lot of chase happens on ponds across the county as males defending their females chase off interlopers or chase their females.

 Shorebirds flight, take notice as there is a Phalarope amongst the smaller birds.

 On the drive home we take backroads and came across a large pond and as we had seen only one other vehicle on the highway we stopped for our lunch by the pond. It looks like Muskrat had the same idea.

We ate while listening to a froggie choir, nothing like dinner and a musical.

 American Robin, I love how the beak of the Robin turns a brilliant yellow for a short time in spring.

 Bees at the pussy-willows. Though there were plenty of bees at this clump of bushes I've seen very few in the City this year so far.

I leave off with another frog, isn't it beautiful.

May we all walk softly upon this earth and care for her in a gentle and kind way. All the beings, mammal, bird or bug are our relatives in the big circle of life. We are all community and must go back to relating as community for if one is endangered, we all are endangered.

New Camera, New Adventures

My sweetie bought me a new Canon 7D and a quality Manfrotto pan-head for my mono-pod. I am pleased to announce Don's Photo is now our go-to camera store. The staff and manager there are fabulous, we had good laughs, received good information and, wow, we were treated with upmost respect and courtesy. Wow. After messy dealings and disrespect throughout last year from a previous #@*& camera store of which I had been a faithful buyer for ten years I can honestly say that switching to Don's Camera was a refreshing experience to say the least.

Now the learning begins once again.

Here are a few images taken this weekend, enjoy!

Blue-bluest blue bird having an afternoon snack.

Amazing rich coloration in the male Mountain Bluebird.

Northern Harrier, male.

Its unbelievable to watch Harriers hunt. They actually hover on thin air like a sky strung mobile. I've noticed that they seemingly stop and hang with their tail-feathers spread, fanned wide as in above photo; otherwise when they fly their tail-feathers are tight together as in the below image. They are also masters of low surface skimming flights, wingtips seemingly grazing the straw strewn fields as they search out gopher holes from above.

The Odd couple. 

It would seem these two are differing subspecies (see differing neck length and thickness) but they don't care what anyone thinks, they have each other and love bonds them together. Watching geese this early in the season made me realize that for geese fore-play is a joint venture of frenzied head dunking and splashing and these two gave quite the performance. See the water droplets.

 Split Ears Jack.

Jackie Rabbit sporting the new fashion craze of clipped ears and wearing a lovely short sheared hip-length tan jacket with white hare pantaloons. Ah, spring is here.

Resident Robins have returned, I hear them calling in the wee hours before daylight. Its a joy to wake to birdsong, much nicer than alarm clocks for sure. Just look at the vibrant colour of the beak, by summer it will subdue to a soft pale yellow or greyish coloration.

Have a wonderful week, enjoy the natural and give yourself a hug.

Snow Robin

This Robin perched long enough to fluff his feathers and then was gone. I think he sensed the camera scoping him out. Yesterday's spring snowfall made for a nice hazy shot.

Neva you mention lilacs in blossom where you abode, it may well be a few more weeks before ours bust into bloom. With long winters the anticipated spring blossoms are a joyful blessing when they break through the solitude of the winter. I did see a few ornamental plum starting to bud their color on the weekend. Soon we too shall have a mass of floral brilliance to breathe into the soul. Hugs to all.