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.

The sun sets faster every day

I just can't get over how fast the daylight is slipping away from us. It was just last week that we timed our walks to coincide with a 7pm sunset.

Yesterday we were out at 6:30 and it was a race to see if we could get anything at all captured!

You know winters on it's way not from the bite in the air but from the simply amazing colour that's hitting the sky these days. I know the saying goes 'hit every sunrise and sunset with camera in hand and you'll wow people with you digital expertise."

I don't think that the sunsets are as spectacular as the sunrises but then that could be a bit biased. I think the knowledge that I was up and about and out in the cold to capture a sunrise makes it more special to me.

I'm surprised though by how many people don't even notice them at all. I was on the street taking pictures of the sky when my neighbors walked by and never once looked up to comment on the sunset. Seems sad to me. How do you wander through life with blinders on?

How do you not see the things happening around you? It's funny how things that annoyed you growing up stick with you and become part of who you are as an adult. I remember being a passenger in whatever vehicle my dad was driving...I always had a book to read. It never did make me sick to read in a car...and every time he would give me crap for not paying attention to what's happening out the window.

"Your nose is always burried in a book!" He'd say, "take a look at what's around you!!"

Ironically, words I now live by, bugged the hell out of me back then. He was right...go figure.

The Canadian mint at moonrise

History repeats itself

I was sitting here trying to think about what the next title should be...I was playing with a version of "boring" when I decided to look back a year and have a look what I had posted.

Ironically? The post was titled "borrrring" and it blathered on about the lack of birds other than house sparrows and how the starlings were starting to stalk the yard from the wires and fence.

EXACTLY what I was going to mention today. Funny how thing truly work in circles...I know it's all about the visible daylight and food sources but it seems funny...the only good thing I noticed was that by this time last year the blue jays were gone...and as you can see they're still here packing it down.

The weather's been wonderful here, but it's starting to turn. My hubbie came back from walking the dog last night and said it was FREEZING and time for mitts. When he declares it's time to whip out the mitts you KNOW it's cold.

There's sunshine in the forecast for the next few days, but next weeks below normal temperatures coupled with 3 straight days of precipitation means that there's snow on the horizon and soon.

I doubt it will stay, but it'll no doubt scare away what few birds I have left so It's time to accept the house sparrows and starlings and set some goals to capture them on a lovely hors frosty day!

Bluejays...loud and corny

If there's one thing I adore about this time of the year it's the ever continued presence of the blue jay. I have a couple of pairs that take turns visiting the feeders all day and I have to say I love it.

The only thing that makes me sad though is the knowledge that the birding season has come to a close again. The juncos are all bu gone so all that's left to look forward to is the starlings eventually returning to the yard as their natural food sources diminish.

However with the weather we're having I don't see it happening any time soon. Gotta love this fall we're having...hopefully it'll hang around for a bit longer!!