05-MAR-2014
Hairy woodpecker work in Ash Woods
Although the hairy woodpeckers are not seen that often, signs of their recent and frequent presence are unmistakable and abundant. Here, the bark has been stripped from the ash trees, from top to bottom. They are, of course, looking for the emerald ash borer larvae.
05-MAR-2014
Two female downy woodpeckers
Taken at the Backyard Garden feeder. These two female downy woodpeckers flew in together and landed on either side of the feeder, working away at the suet. The one of the left eventually flew to the serviceberry tree nearby and proceeded to push a huge quantity of suet into a crevice in a branch.
05-MAR-2014
Black-capped chickadee
As can be seen, it was a blue-sky day, and sunny. But it was still quite cold at -12c, and there were very few birds around in the hour I was at the garden. A pair of cardinals, about 8 chickadees, a lone crow cawing away, a few house finches singing while hidden in some shrubbery, the two downy woodpeckers of the previous photo, and a huge flock of starlings which landed briefly in the Backyard Garden and then flew onto the willows in the Arboretum, where their cheery, gurgly song could be heard right across the garden.
05-MAR-2014
Grey squirrel, black phase
Under the blue skies, there was an abundance of fresh soft snow, but few animal tracks. Some faint fox tracks heading west of the pond, but not on the pond itself, and of course grey and red squirrel tracks, and a few signs of cottontail rabbit feeding. Red squirrels were not quite as much in evidence as they usually are, though I could hear them scolding from various points. Grey squirrels were the most common mammal around the garden, apart from dogs and their humans.
