26 February 2009
Chipmunk
Although overcast, the day was lovely and mild. Lots and lots of squirrels: reds, greys, and... a chipmunk. The latter was scampering along the branches of a Manitoba maple which has already been picked pretty clean by the others, reaching up to grab a key here and there and occasionally finding one still with a seed. Last I saw of this little guy, he was racing down into the ravine. Not the best place to go at that moment because there were half a dozen hungry crows patrolling...
26 February 2009
Red squirrel with walnut
Earlier, I stopped to watch a red squirrel burrow down into the snow and retrieve a walnut. It came up with what at first looked like a giant (for a red squirrel) snowball. But it quickly dispensed with the snow and began gnawing away on the nut. I tried to get a photo of the snow covered walnut, which would have been quite neat, but he was too quick for me.
26 February 2009
Eating sumac
For the last few days I've also spent some time watching the reds eating sumac. They are amazingly swift. They race up the branch, select a 'cone', snap it off in a flash, almost too fast to see, and then quickly chew off and spit out the covering, seeking the seeds inside that fuzzy red coating. In this photo, you can just about see the red bits of coating falling from the squirrel's mouth.
26 February 2009
Red squirrel nest
I came across yet another downed red squirrel nest. These nests rarely last the winter, and throughout this winter I've found various ones on the ground. They are actually quite heavy and it is no surprise that with the added weight of wet snow, or with the strong winds we get so often, they eventually fall. Most consist of very finely shredded bark with an exterior made up of lengths of grass, cattail reeds (as in this one today), strips of grapevine, and so forth. I couldn't help thinking of the sheer energy and effort that these guys put into these nests which are, in many cases, not even used all that much. They're often one of several winter hideaways. In this case, the squirrels also had a snug cavity which in the fall they had enlarged and made a nest in.
25 February 2009
Red resting
Yesterday, Feb. 25th, I saw this little one lying flat out on a branch, snoozing in the sun. He opened his eyes when I came by, but kept lying perfectly still on his perch.
26 February 2009
Black-capped Chickadee
As for birds, there were robins, a few goldfinches, starlings, pine siskins, cardinals, red-tailed hawk, juncos, chickadees, house finches singing their little hearts out, mourning doves cooing mournfully, hairy woodpecker, downy woodpeckers (3 together), white-breasted nuthatch, cardinals, crows, and I'm sure I've missed some in this list! The chickadee in the photo is one that flew down and buzzed me, almost, but not quite, touching my head. He then landed in the tree mere centimetres from where I was standing and I managed to whip the camera round and fire off a shot before he took off again. Not a great photo, but I like it because it shows the cheeky little guy!
24 February 2009
CROW with bread
It was a bright, sunny, but quite cold morning. Despite the chill, house finches were singing away near the Ash woods feeder. There was not a great deal of bird activity, apart from singing finches. Chickadees, cardinals, a few juncos, mourning doves, etc. were present in small numbers. However, I did derive some amusement from watching this crow fly into the Ash woods with a big hunk of bread. He seemed pretty pleased with himself.
24 February 2009
CROW with bread
After eating some of the bread, however, he hopped down the branch a metre or so.
24 February 2009
Crow eating snow
I saw that the reason for leaving the bread behind was to eat some snow, which he did for about 10 seconds. He then flew off leaving the bread behind. It wasn't more than a minute or so later that a grey squirrel came scampering quickly through the trees, scooped up the bread and made a beeline for a nearby spruce. A crow, the same one or a different one, realized that the squirrel had the prize and gave chase, but to no avail... the squirrel won paws down.
24 February 2009
Pine siskin
While at FWG, I heard some pine siskins fly over the garden. Initially I thought they'd landed in the BYG, but by the time I got there, they were nowhere to be seen. However, once I got down into the Arboretum I could hear them calling again, this time from the conifer collection near the toboggan hill. Just where they were yesterday. They were feeding on tamarack cones (Japanese larch) and on cedar cones. A couple of goldfinches were in the flock, and a few chickadees were hanging around too. The siskins were moving constantly and unfortunately this was the best shot I could get, along with the next one, from yesterday morning. At one time or another, while trying to photograph them, I was dive-bombed by both siskins and chickadees! I don't really know if the siskins were looking for seed or telling me to get lost, but I'm quite sure the chickadees were asking for food!
23 February 2009
Pine siskin
This is one of the siskins feeding in a cedar tree, and you can see bits of the cone around his bill. When this photo was taken, he was sitting in a nearby Manitoba maple.
17 February 2009
Northern shrike
The last few days have been absolutely gorgeous at FWG. Bright, sunny, relatively mild. Birds such as chickadees and cardinals are starting to sing more often, rather than just giving their usual calls, and the house finch chorus is quite a treat! But on the whole, bird activity has been relatively slow. A couple of things to note, however: yesterday, 16 February, a sharp-shinned hawk was in the woods calling and calling away for at least five minutes. Oddly enough, no crows were attracted to or by the calls, and the sharpie was left in peace. Today, a northern shrike was around for a short time, harassing a hairy woodpecker. That is, it would fly into the tree the hairy was working on, the hairy would squawk and fly off, the shrike would leave, the hairy would come back, and so would the shrike. The hairy would squawk and leave, and so would the shrike. This went on a few times until both left for good!
17-FEB-2009
Northern shrike
Another view of this handsome bird.
17 February 2009
Red squirrel with piece of ice
I was particularly intrigued by one little squirrel who ran off with a piece of sumac cone in his mouth, only to drop it and pick up a piece of ice. This he proceeded to nibble and lick for a short while, before discarding it for another bit of ice. Over the next three or four minutes, he picked up and nibbled on about 5 different bits of ice. At times it looked like he was licking a popsicle!
Unfortunately, I was some distance off when taking this photo so it is cropped quite a bit and not the greatest.
17 February 2009
Red squirrel lapping sap
Later, another red squirrel was busy gnawing on a Manitoba maple. He had probably been there a little while when I came upon him because sap was running freely and he was having a great time lapping it up.
17 February 2009
Sap tapping
Another shot of this little guy tapping for sap!
15 February 2009
Common Redpoll
Diane was at the FWG this morning. "I saw Cardinals, BC Chickadees, House Finches, Crows, Mourning Doves, but the highlight was the 4 Common Redpolls close to the backyard feeder."
15 February 2009
Common Redpoll
Another view of the common redpoll.
15 February 2009
Common Redpoll
We haven't seen any redpolls at the FWG this winter until today, although they have been common elsewhere around Ottawa.
11 February 2009
Willow catkins
What a gorgeous day. Yes, it was overcast and it rained a bit, but it
was WARM! In the Arboretum there is a small willow (unsure of species),
whose catkins open long before any other willows in the area. I took a
look, and sure enough, the catkins were opening, lovely soft, fuzzy
buds. After that, I walked over to check out the willows at the FWG. One
had a couple of open catkins, but then this tree is always several weeks
behind the other. But, a sign of spring, isn't it?
11 February 2009
Willow catkins
Another shot of the willow catkins. I took lots of photos. I think I went a bit mad at this sign of warmer days to come. But of course, we're bound to get much more cold weather yet. Hope these survive.
11 February 2009
Birch seed catkin
While on the subject of catkins, though nothing to do with spring, alas,I photographed a couple of the birch seed catkins. These are the mature catkins from last year, not the immature ones which will emerge in spring.
Birch seed close up
I'm also attaching a photo most of you have seen before, which shows one tiny seed from a catkin cluster, photographed under a microscope. It is interesting to see the whole and the part together. These seeds are gobbled down by many of the finch species such as redpolls and goldfinches and seeing how minute they are, you can imagine how many it would take to keep even a small bird satisfied.
Red squirrel eating crabapples
I was rather entertained by the antics of a red squirrel this afternoon at FWG. He had a withered crabapple from which he was carefully peeling the pulp. Once that was done, he spent quite some time finding just the right spot to hide the seed, which he'd been holding firmly in his mouth. With his nose he pushed and shoved the seed into a crevice until it was quite well lodged. Then he rushed off to repeat the process. Only problem was, the crabapple he wanted was out of reach on the end of a tiny, flimsy twig. Several times he attempted to walk out along the twig, but each time it bent dangerously and finally he gave up. Sitting on a nearby branch he appeared to be considering the problem quite carefully. At last, he ran up another branch and tried to reach down to this elusive prize, still to no avail. Each time he was thwarted he'd stamp his feet in frustration. After about 10 minutes of this, he gave up and sped off across the trees. This photo was NOT taken today, but it does show a fat little red in a crabapple, peeling pulp.
11 February 2009
Interpretive centre at dusk
Last but not least, here's a photo of the Interpretive Centre at night.
Well, not really night, but about 5:45 or so this evening. I thought it actually looked rather festive with the lights and the reflection in the ice.
10 February 2009
American crow
Yesterday I commented on the white splotches I was seeing on crows lately. I said it looked like someone had thrown paint or whitewash on them. Looking at some photos of crows gathering in trees around the Arboretum and farm last night, I discussed this issue with someone else who said what I had been thinking: the whitewash could well be excrement. Think of it. All these birds roosting in trees, doing what birds do after eating, and dropping the stuff on the poor crows beneath them. I wrote to Michel Gosselin at the Canadian Museum of Nature about this, and he confirmed that was what it was. I don't recall seeing this the rest of the year, and it stands to reason that once crows disperse in breeding season, they wouldn't be congregating in such huge numbers, so no problem with bombs from above :-) Michel also confirmed that the white wing patches I've seen and photographed on some crows around the farm is a lack of pigmentation in the feathers.
9 February 2009
Crow with sumac
It was a beautifully sunny and mild morning, at about -5. So, while on my way elsewhere, I made a quick stop at the FWG for a short walk around. The northern shrike was near the Old Field, close to where I've seen it the last few visits. Few other birds were noted, but there were many squirrels, both the red and the grey (black). A few crows were back on the sumac bush in the Ravine, and as you can see here, were rather daintily plucking one little seed off at a time.
9 February 2009
Crow on sumac
This crow was sitting near to the one in the previous photo. Can you see the faint white on the wings? Almost looks like someone spilled a bit of paint or whitewash on him. More and more crows around the farm are showing varying degrees of white in their feathers, from large wing patches, to small splotches on head, shoulders, back or wings. You can also see tiny bits of white on the bird in the previous photo.
9 February 2009
Cottontail rabbit
This is one of the few rabbits seen this winter at FWG. Even signs of rabbits are only occasional at best. However, in the city of Ottawa as a whole, rabbits are doing very well!
9 February 2009
Grey squirrel (black phase) eating Manitoba maple seed
As you can see, this squirrel has quite a lot of reddish colouration. When he stood up to reach for a seed, his entire belly was a rich rufous colour. This may be the same one I photographed a few days ago, also showing this colouration. It is not uncommon for the melanistic phase of the grey squirrel to show this reddish colour, and sometimes you may see entirely black animals but with a lovely red tail! The greys sometimes show a rufous or rusty tinge to their pelage as well, and when such an animal is quite small, it is easy to mistake it from a distance, for a red squirrel. You might think that is impossible given how different they really are, but when you see one of these reddish greys, you'll understand what I mean!
3 February 2009
Grey squirrel (black phase)
But the squirrels were out and about... Can you see the garden reflected in this one's eye?
3 February 2009
Grey squirrel (black phase) in sumac
One sat in the sumac in the BYG and tried to outstare me, or at least, that is what I thought he was doing. I found him quite handsome.
1 February 2009
FWG in the snow
Although not as cold as it has been, it was still relatively cool out today. I found myself at FWG this afternoon, though I often don't go on a weekend because of the hordes of people. Today was no exception. People all over the place, skiers, snowshoers, photographers, birders, dog-walkers, walkers.... it was even busier in the Arboretum where the "toboggan hill" was packed.
1 February 2009
Red squirrel
This little red was sitting in a sumac near the feeder, having just tunnelled through the snow to get there :-)
1 February 2009
Amur maple with frost
Anyway, not a lot of wildlife activity around the garden, perhaps not surprising given the number of people. Although squirrels were not deterred and were as busy as ever stripping the Manitoba and amur maples of their seeds. Many of the Manitoba maples are devoid of seeds, and there are not many left still with seeds on them.
White-throated sparrow
I didn't see the white-throated sparrow today, but did on Friday.
1 February 2009
Black-capped chickadee and downy woodpecker
A couple of robins were at their usual spot in the ravine, getting some water from the increasingly tiny patch of open water yet remaining. I heard a goldfinch fly over the BYG, first one I've heard or seen at FWG in a while. A couple of white-winged crossbills and a small flock of bohemian waxwings also flew over, calling as they went. Otherwise, it was the usual suspects, such as this black-capped chickadee and downy woodpecker.