I went out birdwatching this morning with my co-worker Deb. It was a gray, cold morning (only 5°C) but the wind was very sharp and bitter. We quickly decided not to stay very long at the river (despite there being an interesting group of shorebirds on the mudflats and a great mass of gulls on the water) because the wind coming off the river was ( Read more... )

After a winter of planning and a spring of growing, I have finally achieved my gardening goal: attracting a hummingbird to my garden!
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I returned to the Jack Pine trail first thing this morning, and while I didn't see the mystery bird that I mistook for a Kingbird yesterday I certainly heard his distinctive voice again! It turns out he is an Alder Flycatcher.

It's been a quiet week, nothing much happening ( Read more... )

The Eaglecam I posted the other day has been shut down. Both eggs failed to hatch - the embryos were likely not viable to begin with - and the parents have left the nest. More about what happened to the Hornby Island eagles can be found here. The website does say that another eagle's nest will be "coming today" but that message was up yesterday ( Read more... )

I went hiking with my friend Tanya today and we saw the darnedest thing....a beaver high up in a tree, eating berries. I kid you not - I have the photos to prove it!!!! They were taken with the binoculars, and are the best photos to turn out with them so far ( Read more... )

So I got a few pictures from my hike this afternoon. ( Enjoy. (Warning - contains graphic images of snakes!) )

So I think I sprained it last Sunday when I fell on it. The swelling is gone, but it still hurts when I touch or bend that joint (right at the base of the finger). I can't remember exactly how I landed when I fell, but I felt the pain immediately - I think now I bent at a bad angle as well as crushed it.
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After a long, dull, dreary winter of nothing but squirrels and sparrows, I just saw a chipmunk in my yard eating the peanuts I left out for the blue jays! I'll have to take some pictures....but later, once he comes to trust me. He seemed very skittish, so I don't think it was any of the ones I had last year.

This has really made my day!
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I came across this cool site which maps the northward migration of ruby-throated hummingbirds through Canada and the U.S. People report the date of their first hummingbird sighting and where they are located, and it gets added to the map!

Previous years' maps are also available for viewing. It looks like I shouldn't expect them to arrive until