Love the turnstone!

A short clip of a Sharp-tailed Grouse drumming on a lek at the @nature.org Bluestem Prairie SNA.

#birds #wildlife #nature

Two days later, the tree is completely denuded and I’m scraping down my car at the Co-op. Bring on sparrow migration, for harmless ground-pooping.

Still figuring that part out.

#blessed

I was just watching one of the last evening waxwings swallow a berry whole, then, poop right on my car’s windshield.

A compact red car in sunlight, parked, covered in shrivelled berries and bird poop.

But damn, lookit what they’ve done to my car!

A sleek, brown songbird with a black mask and yellow-tipped wing feathers leans forward in a tree to snag a shrivelled red berry.

Seven robins scavenge for fallen berries in a backyard snowdrift.

Because spring is so delayed, our ornamental crabapple tree was set upon this weekend by dozens of hungry robins, plus a few waxwings mixed in. I know it’s not their first choice of berry, so I feel there’s some desperation involved. Still, what a commotion to hear so many singing at once. #birds

Ah! So good.

Deplorable. The rural news desert brings out the grifters.

Got a little red bib and everything.

This sapsucker came back and ate some more while we had dinner on the other side of the window. What a fine guest!

A black and white woodpecker clings to a hanging-log suet feeder. The bird has a bright red forehead and throat, framed in black, with a creamy yellow line just beneath and above its tummy.

Today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme of “Feeder Friends” was fortuitous – last night’s snow is likely what forced this migrating yellow-bellied sapsucker to my suet feeder for the first time. They often pass through the yard in April but usually pluck berries from the ornamental crab tree instead. #birds

It’s balling up like a pill bug.

Chat with hot red-breasted mergansers near you today

Damn, I was game for this until I saw the day being fucked was three years ago.

I just went out in the snow and scattered suet crumbles and seeds all over the yard, and the juncos are now feasting. Poor hungry little guys. Looks like decent spring is 3-4 days off, and then hopefully it stays for keeps.

A dark grey and brown songbird perches on a backyard wooden gate. The bird is small, with a dirtied pink bill and is looking inquisitive.

Man, it’s Junco City in the backyard – with them scuttling every which way in the (sigh) latest snowfall. I counted 21 at one point. My own backyard 21-junco salute. #birds

Defenestrated Garfield

Oh wow. The red squirrel(s) that patrol my alley chase off everything in sight – especially each other!

Sweet fancy Moses! So good!

Drawing of two Northern Flickers, one red-shafted and one yellow-shafted, perched on a twisting branch of chokecherry leaves and berries. Floating white flowers and starbursts are around them, as well as a ribbon that intertwines with them and the branch, and changes from red to yellow.

Northern Flickers with chokecherries 🪶 🐡

Wonderful! Really nice crop, too.

“There’s a beaver around here somewhere, I just know it.”

Ah, thank you so much! I can’t wait for this season to finally show again.

Page of a sketchbook showing watercolour and pencil sketches of a female Hooded Merganser. A small sawbill type duck with a ridiculous ginger brown crest at the rear of its head.

Page of a sketchbook showing watercolour and pencil sketches of a female Hooded Merganser. A small sawbill type duck with a ridiculous ginger brown crest at the rear of its head.

Sketches of the Hooded Merganser at Alvecote Pools. #UKbirding #birds #birdart #sciart

Thanks so much!

Ah, thanks sir!

a silhouetted gull standing in calm shallow water, its reflection just below. A few ripples are in the background, otherwise it is a smooth yellow-to-orange gradation.

As we continue to wait for spring, which, if I remember correctly, leads to summer, I present this (likely) ring-billed gull for today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme of “Reflections.” Taken at Patricia Beach on Lake Winnipeg, on a gorgeous May evening during the thick of the pandemic. #birds

Saving their pride for Game 82 at home, I see.