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~ For people who are passionate about respecting the earth, walking in nature, observing wildlife, local diet, making do, repurposing, organic gardening, foraging for wild plants and fungi, natural health, scrumptious healthy cooking, renovations, DIY, crafting, raising children simply and mindfully, their dogs, taking time for stillness, and living in harmony with the seasons.

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Tag Archives: birds

pileated woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus)

29 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by Delena Rose in birds

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Tags

Alberta birds, Alberta woodpecker, birds, Dryocopus pileatus, pileated woodpecker, woodpecker, Yellow List

pileated woodpecker3

At last, a pileated woodpecker came to visit and stayed long enough for me to get a few photographs with my camera. I apologize for the poor quality of the photos but it is difficult getting a vibrant shot on a very grey day… especially when one is indoors and photographing through a window! Until I get a proper zoom lens, quietly and patiently waiting at the dining room window is a strategy that gets me closer to many of these shy and elusive birds than I might otherwise get.


I love pileated woodpeckers- they are definitely one of my favorite birds and not because I grew up watching Woody Woodpecker! They are just such unusual birds with their ‘punk rocker hair’, and their huge size gives them a presence that demands respect. I also like their call, which to me sounds like a monkey in the jungle. Often in the summer when I am gardening I will hear one long before I spot him/her in a nearby tree.

pileated woodpeckerPileated woodpeckers are Alberta’s largest woodpecker. According to my Field Guide to Alberta’s Birds, they prefer “older, mature, dense canopied forests, particularly mixed and deciduous woods where there are large, dead or dying trees for nesting. They are rarely found in burns or areas of downed timber.”

Pileated woodpeckers can be seen all year round in Alberta. Although their population is considered stable, they are on the Alberta’s Yellow List as their preferred habitat of old growth forests is deteriorating.

pileated woodpeacker2

This unique bird is one that can never be confused with another here in Alberta. It’s unique head shape, size and striking colors set it apart from other Albertan woodpeckers. Once you’ve seen your first one, you may find yourself hooked and searching the forests for another encounter. These are truly magnificent birds!

pileated woodpecker1

Resource:
McGillivray, W. B., & Semechuk, G. P. (1998). The Federation of Alberta Naturalists Field Guide to Alberta Birds. Edmonton, AB: The Federation of Alberta Naturalists.

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the joy of feeding the birds

16 Sunday Dec 2012

Posted by Delena Rose in birds

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Tags

birds, bohemian waxwings, boreal chickadee, chickadee, Common Redpoll, dark-eyed junco, Downy Woodpecker, evening grosbeak, hairy woodpecker, nuthatch, pine grosbeak, purple finch, winter birds

Downy Wood Pecker1One thing that I do appreciate about the cold winter months is that I spend more time indoors in front of the dining room window. I usually set up my laptop on the table there and write for hours, pausing every now and then to watch the birds while working out an idea. There is almost always activity at the feeders and every so often I am rewarded with a sighting of a new bird that I have never seen before. That’s when I get excited, jump up, reach for the camera and watch the new bird(s) for as long as they choose to stick around. Later, I attempt to identity the bird using my Field Guide to Alberta Birds and then pencil in the date and the bird in my birding journal.

Here are some Bohemian Waxwings. They ignore the feeders but love the berries on the Hawthorn tree. I also get Cedar Waxwings coming through to stop for a snack on this tree. These birds fly in large flocks and are power-eaters: they can eat every berry on a large tree in mere minutes.

Bohemian WaxwingsNext are some Evening Grosbeaks. These are one of my favorite birds. I love their yellow feathers, large size and powerful beaks. They also ignore the feeders but love the Hawthorn berries.

Evening Grosbeak1Next is a Pine Grosbeak. They are winter visitors so I enjoy them while I can. I love the brilliant red color in the winter.

Pine GrosbeakI think the two birds below are purple finches. Please correct me if I am wrong. I am going by their white underparts. Gorgeous birds!

Purple FinchNext are some Common Redpolls. These are also winter visitors and they travel in large flocks. They are tiny little things, about the size of a chickadee, and the males have the showiest colors while the females tend to be brown. They love the thistle in my finch feeder.

Common RedpollsHere is another Common Redpoll sharing this feeder with a Downy Woodpecker.

Common Redpoll and Downy Wood Pecker

Chickadee dee deeAbove is a Chickadee (dee dee). These little creatures are so cheerful and friendly. Last spring, I was cross country skiing and had briefly stopped on the trail. Two little chickadees flew right up close to me and landed on a nearby tree. They kept cocking their little heads and staring at me expectantly so I took off my mitten and reached out to them. One by one they took turns landing on my hand and got an even closer look at me. Then they flew away. It was a magical moment.

Below is a White-breasted Nuthatch. I also see Red-breasted Nuthatches as well. They love the suet and I call them the acrobats because they are the only birds that I’ve seen so far that are as comfortable upside down as they are right-side up.

Whitebreasted NuthatchBelow is a Hairy Woodpecker. This is not a very good shot but they look just like Downy Woodpeckers only twice the size and they have huge, long beaks.
Hairy Woodpecker

Dark eyed JuncoAbove is a Dark-eyed Junco. I have only seen this bird once or twice. Below is a Boreal Chickadee, another personal favorite of mine as they are so shy and pretty.

I’ve seen many other birds that have been too quick to catch on film, including Pileated Woodpeckers, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, brown-headed cowbirds, a pheasant, a Northern Saw-Whet Owl and a Great Horned Owl. I also see Blue Jays on the tree quite regularly. Huge ravens fly around but have never visited the feeder or the Hawthorn tree. Once there was six woodpeckers on the tree at one time: four Downy Woodpeckers and two Hairy Woodpeckers. It was a woodpecker convention!

You just never know what you’re going to see out there. Whether you have feeders set up or not, winter is a fantastic time for birding. There are many species that only travel through Alberta at this time of the year. So as you are walking or skiing or even taking a break while snowmobiling, take a look around and find out who is watching you!

Boreal Chickadee

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moments of wonder

30 Monday Jan 2012

Posted by Delena Rose in be mindful, cabin living

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

beauty, birds, deer, Downy Woodpecker, Lucy, nature, Northern Flicker

One thing that I love about living out in the wilderness is that you never ever know what you are going to see from one moment to the next. Often I’ll be busy completing a task and suddenly I’ll look up and see a beautiful bird, like this golden winged Northern Flicker (above) and I’ll catch my breath at the beauty of the moment. Just yesterday morning, I had another moment of wonder when I opened the back door to a small herd of deer snuffling around under the bird feeders. (I admit that after enjoying their beauty for a few minutes I let Lucy chase them. She lives for these moments and although she never catches them, she lives for the opportunity to try!) I have also been glimpsing both a red fox and a grey fox quite often this past month, usually at night and in the moonlight.

This makes me wonder how many moments do I miss each day simply because I am so engrossed in a task (and forgetting to look up once in a while) or perhaps because my mind is ‘somewhere else’ and not ‘here, now’. These fleeting glimpses of nature’s beauty are truly gifts. They take my breath away, make me smile and fill my days with magic and wonder.

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the night noises

22 Thursday Sep 2011

Posted by Delena Rose in appreciate the seasons, cabin living, Lucy

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

barking, birds, cat, catnip, chirping, coyotes, dog, ducks, fox, geese, howling, Lucy, night, night noises, yipping

 There are so many rich layers to living out here.

There are the early mornings with their golden morning light, dewy grasses, crisp clean air and lively chirping birds. On our walks we can hear the cows mooing and a robust rooster crowing from a farm down the road. We often get to see and hear the hawk pair that live at the edge of the trail and lately we have been sighting a family of grouse that are often in the brush near the cabin.

The afternoons are usually warmer and quiet, unless it is a hot summer day and then there are the boat noises on the lake. Otherwise it’s just peaceful with the buzzing of insects, the songs of various birds and the sounds of whatever task I am working on (hammer, saw, paintbrush, lawn mower, shovel in dirt, humming, Lucy barking at squirrels…)

Out here though, it is the nights that are the most interesting. I often forget about the many nocturnal animals that do all of their hunting, eating, grazing and exploring under the cover of darkness. I like to read out on the deck as the sun is going down. At a certain point when it becomes too dark to read, the birds will stop their chirping. It is not quiet for long, however… far from it. This is the magical time when, in the summers, the bats come out from their daytime sleep and fill the night with the flapping of tiny leathery wings. There are many of them and they fly so close to you it is a wonder that they never seem to touch or land. This month, hundreds of ducks and geese can be heard having a conference on the shores of the lake. Sometimes their discourse carries on far into the night. During the day they fly overhead with hundreds of the water birds forming one gigantic “V” in the sky…

Then there are the coyotes with their nightly high-pitched barks and wailing. I used to think that their howls were eerie and once, when they were howling very close by (sending chills up and down my spine), I went outside and whistled loudly and they stopped at once. It was suddenly so quiet that I immediately felt sad for having stopped them. I never did it again, instead I now let them howl to their hearts content and always laugh when the neighborhood dogs join in one by one (Lucy included).

Last spring it was the foxes. During their mating season I began sighting grey and red and cross foxes nearby and finding their scat around the property. Then I began hearing them at night, crying out with their own unique yips and barks and howls. At first I thought it was so beautiful… until they chose to hang around the very back of the property, so close that I couldn’t sleep through the racket. Finally, on the third night (in a row) at around 3 am I went outside, armed with a few pots and pans, and grumpily trudged out to the back woods. By the light of a full moon, I banged and clashed the pots together and firmly requested that the fox go away and howl somewhere else. It worked but only for half an hour or so! Then they were back, seemingly even closer to my bedroom window this time! I finally gave up and took to sleeping with a pillow over my head until the last fox had found a mate.

It is in the night, not the day, that I often encounter animals…  coyotes, fox, huge (and tiny) owls, a confident black dog strutting down the highway with shining black eyes… and a large stray cat who comes nightly to woo (and rub up against) my catnip plant in the herb garden (which will be transplanted to a different spot next spring)!

Last night, as Lucy and I returned home from a city visit, she disappeared around the side of the cabin. The next thing I knew she had raced up onto the deck and was barking (her ‘intruder’ bark) at something from above. As I let her into the house, I noticed a powerful musky smell on her. She must have been sprayed by some nocturnal animal. I thought perhaps it was a skunk just warning her not to come any closer but perhaps it was some other animal…? Maybe the cat…? She did not get a full-fledged S-P-R-A-Y (yikes!!!!!!) but it was still strong enough that her eyes were watery and itchy (she kept rubbing her face into her blanket) and I had to sleep with my nose buried under my own blanket until the morning.

Yes, the days are quiet and peaceful out here but the nights… the nights are so lively! With no traffic noise to compete with the wildlife or street lights preventing the moonlight from touching our faces, it truly is a magical life.

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DELENA ROSE

Lucy’s Life at the Cabin

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