Sun Shiny Magpies

I always know when winter is on it's way when these guys make their way to my feeding stations. The Magpie!! I personally love these guys even though their not usually considers a 'desirable' bird to bring to ones yard.

Magpies are scavengers by nature...they eat whatever they find are are not to picky about the state that it's in. I usually only see them in the yard in winter as their natural food source diminished as it get colder.

Their food source? Why roadkill of course! Yup. These stunning birds will often be found feasting on whatever roadside delight the passing motorists have left it that day. I guess this is part of the reason regal birders like to turn their noses up at them. Even the people that run my local bird supply store seems to have an issue with them.

This makes me wonder just how many people truly see these birds. Or is it one of those times where you've been told they're bad so they must be.

I mean look at these birds! They have one of the longest tail feathers I've ever seen,stunning colour and when the sun hits them just right there's no telling what you're going to see.

The picture to the left is the best example of it...I had no idea until yesterday how gorgeous these fellas could look. The sun hit him and the tail went every shade of gorgeous! Magenta & PURPLE???? WOW.

The picture itself isn't a stunner...I added some green garland to the snow fence to make a nicer backdrop for when the birds land never once imagining that I'd be photographing these giants beasts in all their stunning glory.

So tell me...why are these a "crappy" bird to get in your back yard? How many things are you going to walk by in life because you have preconceived ideas about what is "good" or what is "bad", what's "pretty" and what's "ugly".

We rush around like frantic little ants. Scurrying around without ever even looking up to see what we're passing by. For what? More money? More stuff? I'm just as guilty of it as the next person...I love stuff. Stuff makes me happy.

The thing that makes me happier though? Is when I can re tell a story about an amazing sunrise or sunset I witnessed and others ignored. Or hiking trail that I conquered that others would not consider the thing to do on their vacation.

I spent my 36th birthday this year doing a 21km trail ride on a beat up old bike that was stuck in 2nd and 5th. I hadn't ridden my bike once in the last 3 years before this trip. And I rode through swamp, through lakes, down hills, around trees and over craters left by some unknown meteor landing (okay maybe they weren't that big, but they felt like it).

Why mention it? Because before this year I never would have even attempted it because I didn't believe I was capable of it. These pre-conceived notions we have about nature, about each other, about ourselves are ones that I feel we need to get rid of. Toss them out the window.

Get rid of the labels, get rid of the boxes and pop the bubble.

So the next time your looking around, really look with your eyes wide open...you might surprise yourself.

Nuts!

Have I mentioned how much I love bluejays lately? It could be in part because they are one of the few birds left for me to look at...but it could also be because they are, to me, simply gorgeous birds.

They're one of the few species where the males and females are almost indistinguishable from each other. I love that. Equality in nature. Not something we often see in birds. More often that not the females some shade of brown or another neutral and the males a splendiferic melee of colour and song.

I admit I'm guilty of it, when I go looking for birds to photograph I all to often will chase the male and ignore the female...the male sells, the female...well she mainly dwells on my hard drive.

There's at least 4 of them that takes turns rotating through the yard. I've taken to adding a few more nuts to the blend and they don't seem to be complaining.

I could stand at the back door all day and watch them. It seems that it won't be long before they disappear as well and all I'm left with will be house sparrows.

Don't get me wrong...I don't hate House Sparrow like many bird snobs do. It's just that after such an amazing summer where I added over 15 new birds to my life list and photographed over 40 different birds in all their glory...Well it's almost depressing.

Who knows though, if my plans of taking up cross country skiing and winter hiking come to fruition I may just be able to add some Winter Grosbeaks to my collection...now THAT would be a dream come true!

November walks in as gentle as a lamb

It's November and it feels like September. I'm hoping that the old adage that's usually applied to May doesn't transfer over to November. We had our first glimpse of snow a couple of weeks ago...the usual...gone within an hour of the sun rising.

I'm reveling in this glorious fall weather. Running is still a dream...although yesterdays run reminded me how rough the cold air is on my lungs...I had an old mans smoker cough all afternoon and into the evening.

The acoustics of this season are different and all sounds, no matter how hushed, are as crisp as autumn air. .......Eric Sloane

The Yellow Warbler

Since there's nothing happening in the yard these days I think I'm going to take the opportunity to blog about some of the wonderful birding experiences I had this summer on our various camping trips.

This post is dedicated to my ever present BFF the Yellow Warbler. These guys were at our campsite on almost every trip. I think that they've visited my yard on occasion.

I think my favourite Yellow warbler experience had to come at St. Malo this past august. We'd brought a rubber dingy with us to tool around the motor free lake, but I'd had a sneaking suspicion that I had another motive behind it...and as it turns out I did.

After noticing that there seemed to be at least a dozen of them playing in the bushes that butted up against the lake in our site I decided to venture out in the dingy with my camera (with some trepidation...expensive lens + water do NOT mix).

What I would witness next will be remembered forever and ever. Apparently when you approach birds from the water they have no fear of you. The pictures here weren't taken on that particular excursion. I decided to sit and watch more than try to photograph it.

The males and females seemed to be playing and eating in some sort of Shakespearean frolic. Aside from the fact that I had never seen so many of them in one particular place at one time, the sight was one to behold.

There was no way I could capture the beauty of what I was seeing other than imprinting it into my brain. They flitted to and fro, ducking into the bushes in an almost hide and seek manner. One would pop out and grab a bug/berry remnant, flit over to it's counterpart as if to say "look at what I have!!" Then flit off being chased like mad. It almost seemed like a spring courtship ritual.

It truly seemed magical.

The picture above was one that I took on our first trip of the year to Opapiskaw. I had just finished my first half marathon and had blisters the size of my fist on my feet and toes. Moving was definitely a challenge for the first few days.

As a result i was pretty much tethered to our trailer and my hubbie would walk the puppy. Initially I was resentful of the situation, but then I realized that buy sitting there all day long I was privileged to witness things that I otherwise would have missed.

The main one being how warbler rich our site was. For the first time ever I didn't turn the radio on (it started off that way because I couldn't walk over to it to turn it on...it stayed that way after I realized the sound would chase away the more skittish birds). Seems obvious right? Well apparently the thought had never crossed my mind before...live and learn!

The yellow warbler was a very regular visitor to our site and the desire for green worms was high...and the trees in our site had plenty!!

I can hardly wait to see these guys again next year!!

Empty...

The yard is all but empty...there's a few blue jays that make an occasional appearance, but for the most part the 3 days of torrential rains seems to have driven most of the birds south.

There's a couple dozen house sparrows still hanging around trying to chip out some seed...most of the feeding bowls filled with water and froze. I brought them in to thaw and dumped the fetid water, but the seed still seems rather crunchy.

I guess there's really not a lot to report. Nothing surprising really...it's almost November and the weather finally turned. I guess that's not that bad...we've had great weather since April.

I've noticed the solitary chickadee still coming to the yard...I hope he manages to hang through the entire winter...no sign of the nuthatch tho'.

Maybe this winter I'll have some sort of cool Grosbeak visit...fingers crossed.

These shoes were made for running...

And so the time has come to say goodbye to my faithful friends. I could no longer pretend that they could do the job I needed them to do faithfully. They'd taken me through two 1/2 Marathons, and the numerous training runs that led up to them and I found myself surprised.

I had no idea how attached to my runners I'd gotten until It came time to replace them. I spent over an hour and a half trying on 16 different pairs of runners and nothing seemed to feel as right on my feet as my Asics.

I'd read various articles when I started running about people having difficulty replacing their very first pair of runners and I brushed them off as coo-coo. I mean they're just runners right?

Wrong. They were the runners that helped me cross my first finish line, the runners that helped me change my life. They took me new places and allowed me to do and see new things...sunrises I never would have seen if not for that early morning run.


They ran me through snow, rain, sleet, hail, high winds, and bitter cold...all of which was on one day...Good Friday's run may not have technically have been my most successful run, but mentally it's still the one I fall back on when I hear myself saying I just can't go any farther. If I could run through that for 10km I can do ANYTHING!

They ran me through sweltering heat & humidity the likes of which I had never seen before...lets face it in the past when it got that hot I stayed inside and turned up the A/C.

I have no idea what's in store for them now...I can't see myself tossing them...not yet anyways...maybe I'll clean them up and put them on display. After all, we display other trinkets we bring back from various holidays that are a simple reminder of a place we've been...why not a reminder of something bigger?

Others might not get it, but then that's nothing new for me. I've never been one to cater to the "norm"...if I was I never would have trained for my first half marathon in only 3 1/2 months. A point I'm proud of...my time was slow, but so what?

I have the medals, I have the shirts, but it was the feet that got me there.

You're replacements may be shinier but they will never have the honor of being the shoes that helped me cross my very first finish line.

Sparrows, Sparrows and more Sparrows

There's something about this time of year that makes me feel all warm and cozy. There's 3 days of solid rain predicted and to me that means it's time to light a candle, crack a good book and put the ipod on shuffle.

To the birds it apparently means it's time to get the heck outta here. I spent yesterday closing up the yard for the season. The key part of that is moving the feeders in closer to the house and adding some snow fence to keep the puppy's damage contained.

With the feeders being up close and personal I've noticed that the Bluejays have dwindled slightly...either that or they're waiting for the rain to ease up. The magpies have ventured into the yard and will soon be devouring the suet feeders.

The starlings have yet to make an appearance for more than a moment or two and the woodpeckers have become steady visitors to the suet.

All in all it feels like the season's almost done.

Ironically on our walk a bout yesterday I saw a bald eagle land in the farmers field by our house...I'm thinking some poor bunny became his dinner...he was very territorial to the near by geese.

There's something wonderful about seeing that flash of white bum and just knowing you're about to see something awe inspiring.