Cardinal, Ruby throated Hummer, Black-and-white(20150517and18) A visit to mom's.

One of our primary reasons to move to the east coast was to be closer to family. That means pretty regular visits to Mom's house. SO we decided to pop over for an over nighter and have a visit. We were sitting around have a cuppa when I spied this little gem outside on one of her oak trees. This is the first time mom has seen a Black-and-white warbler in her yard.

It is not a very good image, but evidence material. I had to shoot through the sun room windows :)
Another popular pasttime is trying to capture the Humming birds that flit around her azalea bush.

It was a very poor day and it was actually raining when I took these images, so light was at a premium.

The next day we had some better light. ALong with the light came some different visitors, like apair of cardinals. I shot this female between the deck railings while she was in the sun.

I missed the close up shot of the male head on, but managed to capture the colour and crest from the back.

Here he is in all his glory in a nicer setting.

I also snapped this bee, I don't know which variety, it could be a wasp. I just really liked the striking black and yellow stripes.

I wasn't able to get any hummer shots in this beautiful light, some other time. Here is a portrait of one of mom's crows. She feeds them almost every day.

This just shows that you don't have to go too far in order to put a little wild in your day!
Turbo

Blackbacked woodpecker, American Robin, Blue Jay(20150511 and 15) A nice surprise out at Len's

Well now that I am settling in at Len's place for a bit the first job is to build a boat rack so we can go fishing! We picked up some lumber in the morning. The day was cool and damp with little waves of heavy mist moving through from time to time. We were working in the garage having a few beverages as this construction does not require exacting measurements and cuts. After a bit I was off to the back of the lot to utilize the facilities when a dark popped up into a dead tree. I hunted around a little and found this beautiful female.

This is the first Black backed woodpecker I had been able to find in Nova Scotia so far, not that I had really been looking. So I yelled to Len to get the cameras. We spent a few minutes with her while she worked the tree.

 It was the first time Len had ever seen one anywhere let alone his yard. I have a nice little video of a male working a log in Bebo Grove in Calgary, it is found here.
This female was looking for, and finding grubs in the tree.

With the dampness of the day, making for very poor conditions we headed back to work in the damp conditions. My Nova Scotia move was starting to bear fruit, so to speak-- a Black backed Woodpecker!

A couple of days later, my birthday actually, we had much nicer weather and I spent a little time in the back yard. Of course the Blue Jays were  present.

I also spent some time with this beautiful American Robin, a much over looked bird here in Canada.

I couldn't help posting a second image of such a beautiful bird.

Still catching up on the back log--Still in May so I have a little ground to cover. Today, do me a favour and put a little wild in your life.
Turbo

Blue Jay, Grackle, Purple finch (20150508) resting in Len's back yard.

After our 5800 kilometer journey from Calgary to Halifax it was pretty nice to put our feet up for a couple of days. Of course that never really happens, especially in spring. You can only "do nothing" for so long when the birds are visiting. This first group of shots are images of various birds that I shot in Len's back yard while getting our land legs back. First up is a Dark-eyed Junco.

Next up a rather drab, for the spring, American Goldfinch.

Another visitor was this Common Grackle. Oddly enough he seemed to be the only one around. I am more accustomed to finding these birds in flocks of up to 100.

Of course Len's back yard is always well stocked with cooperative Blue Jays coming in to say hello and grabbing a bite to eat.

There are always a contingent of Mourning doves in the area as well, today was not an exception. I am looking forward to being able to settle in to our own place and establish our own set of regular visitors.

This little Song sparrow didn't want to miss out either. This fella kept us company in the yard pretty well all the time.

The next day many of the regulars showed up. Mr Grackle had this "do you wanna mess with this" kind of attitude going on.

Of course the Jays put in an appearance. I just find these birds a ton of fun to shoot. They are a real challenge with the colour variations. I find it very tough to capture them just right, so I keep trying.

We had a new visitor today, a Purple Finch decided to join the proceedings. This is another tough bird due to its colouring.

The prize of the day though was this gorgeous rooster Ring-necked. He stode in and took over the place, even if it was just briefly.

I'll wrap up this post here. I am way behind and will be trying to get back up to date and on track here quickly. If you are a subscriber don't be surprised it you get a few notifications over the upcoming weeks.
Remember to put some wild in your week!
Turbo

Pheasants (20151008) The trees are not the only things turning colour in the fall

As autumn contines to move forward here in Nova Scotia the decidious trees are turning colour. The young ring-necks are getting the colours too.

I was actually surprised to find the mature male was chasing momma around the woods on Thursday. Here he is showing off his facial wattle. Its unbelievable how easily the hen's can hide in full sight.

Quite often the pheasants are joined by  number of other birds. This feeding buddy is a slightly leucistic crow. It has a few pale feathers on its neck and head, and one vey pale tail feather. I have yet to capture that tail feather successfully.

Here is a shot of the only female juvenile in this family group. She is a beautiful looking bird.

On the Saturday morning I was given the privileged of spending a little time with youngster. He will be breeding in the spring if he survives the winter, and can attract a hen or two:)

I wasn't the only company that this fellow was allowing in his presence. Here he is with a Blue Jay buddy.

Here the two of them are doing a little posing for the camera, a terrific morning!

Then "Reddy" the squirrel put in an appearance. This little rooster just seemed to want to share his breakfast with anyone that wanted to show up.

 I has been a gereat couple of mornings in the back yard. I also took a short video of this youngster where he does a little preening and a wing flap that is supposed to accompany a spring time "crow", you can see it here. This week, put a little wild in your life!
Turbo

Pheasants finally (201509) Finally found pheasants in the yard.

While I have been seeing pheasants around the neighbourhood, I had been hoping to find them visiting in the yard. Well over the past week I have been able to spend some time with my new neighbours in my own yard! The other morning I spied this young rooster across the street from the house. Thank god for the 600mm.

The next morning Deb and I watch as one walked across the front yard. I tried to get into position for a shot, but he was too quick and got away from me. Then on the following morning I was out in the yard and was able to grab a couple of images of this fellow.

I had spotted him in the back yard and tried to stay in front of him so I could get some more images. I went around the shed and got him again. I am amazed at how easily these large birds are able to "disappear" in the grass.

Here he is down in the ditch grabbing a drink in front of the house.

He "allowed" me to get fairly close. He crossed the bottom of the driveway.

Here he is walking up the hill on the east side of the house, carefree as could be!

A couple of days later I was out back with a visitor from Colorado. I had lent him my big lens to see if we could get a little action on his road trip. We were happy to see 5 pheasants come to visit, 3 roosters and 2 hens. Hopefully he has something that he will be proud of. After he left, I was fortunate enough to have them return. I love the "purple" that is showing on this fellows back.

Here are the two ladies resting comfortably and keeping an eye on what the "boys" were up to.

This is the oldest of the juveniles that were in the group. His colouring is significantly more developed.

Here you can see his green "head" coming in, and you can see his little "horns" are developing nicely.

I will wrap this post up here with the warning that you should be seeing more images of these beautiful birds in future posts. Oh, yeah and by the way this week, put some wild in your life!
Turbo

Sandhill Cranes, Mallard, Kestrel, Porcupine (20150503-04) Crossing the country with Len

Well we diced to pull up stakes and leave Alberta. The reasons are all personal and there are many of them, so we are off to Nova Scotia. Our first two days on the road we were all about "production", eating up pavement is what I call it. So there was no time to stop and shoot wildlife when we found it, and we did find it. Some were species that Len had never seen before like the Pronghorn antelope and American White Pelican. He had neverseen a Least Weasel before either, and I am pretty certain we spotted one in the prre-dawn dark of Day 2. Day three we were taking a little different approach as we were well within striking distance of our targetted Sudbury Ontario. Before we made that decision Len was able to find this Rock "face" while we traveling along at 100kph. It amazes me that he was able to "spot" the face, grab his camera and "get the shot" all while zooming right along!!!

I had just spotted two Sandhill Cranes on the side of the road and stated that "if we didn't have the trailer on, I would swing around and grab those birds!". That is when we decided that we had time to stop for the shots. We found a spot to swing around and parked in an area where we would again be able to get the rig spun around when we were ready to get back on the road. I should note here that in Northern Ontario a lot of the Trans-Canada Highway is only two lanes and a great deal of the road is twisty and turny. We walked along the road searching for the birds with no luck. Then Len suggested that I walk back and get the truck as we had covered quite a distance. I agreed and spun around to head back to the truck. After about 10 steps I spotted the birds on the opposite side of the road. They had let us walk right by them! I swung around and had to yell at Len due to the wind. I did manage to grab a couple of images as they flew off.

A second as they disappeared around the trees.

Here is a shot of Len walking back to the truck, checking out his results!

Here is a shot that Len captured of both me and the birds:

It was welcome break in three straight days of driving:) They were a real treat. That was our only real stop of that day. We made Sudbury in the early evening and spent the night with a few beverages and catching up with family and friends. We had planned to spend a full day with Bill to get rested up. So on the fourth we took a little side trip to see if we could find the flock of Sandhills that had taken up residence for the past couple of years in the area. On the way over we found this nice Mallard drake in a ditch.

We also found an American Kestrel. This bird was very skittish, so the shots are looong distance.

We did find the "residents" we were looking for. They too were a long way off, but it was what we came to see.

Then, on the way home we found this little Porcupine, working hard to get bigger:)

It was nice to finally be able to put some "wild" into our lives!  More delayed posts coming, I hope you enjoy.
Turbo