Feed the Birds Every Thursday in Winter we start a morning's birding by visiting the nearby MBO bird banding station and filling the bid feeders followed by taking a census of the birds to be seen in the cold snow. This is quite a special thing for us - the station is [...]
We no longer keep detailed birding "lists" just for the sake of keeping lists, but we do keep records to track what happens where and when through the seasons and year by year. Today is New Year's Day 2020 - and time to record how many birds were seen in our garden during the [...]
Sparrows are perhaps my/our favourite birds. From the point of view of nostalgia I would say especially the House Sparrows that I grew up with but otherwise one of the great things about living in Canada is the number of other sparrow species (most of them more strictly Buntings, but we won't go [...]
On Saturday morning, Bird Protection Quebec organised a birding field trip in the Arboretum to which Arbo members were invited and which several joined. For my sins, I was delegated to organise and lead the outing. I don't go on many field trips (I have problems with more than six people together at once) [...]
One of our most enjoyable activities each year is spending the winter servicing and filling the bird feeders at the local bird banding station and recording the birds that are in the season when the nets cannot be put up. This year we started a bit earlier than usual after the first decent [...]
The uncomfortable silence of 2.9-billion missing birds ** I usually confine my political or controversial comments to Facebook and face-to-face but this editorial from the 5th October Globe & Mail newspaper says it equally as well, if not better, than I could ... so here are my thoughts written by someone else. The last couple [...]
Nothing to report this week, too weary to comment on politics, though I surely will once we know (around 11pm on 31 October) where Brexit is going. On the other hand I am now successfully the other side of another birthday and still fit and firing on all guns. So I will simply [...]
A little Sunday morning magicThis tiny bird appeared to accompany the Sunday morning cup of tea … the red flowers are Cuphea (Mexican cigar plant) and have proved to be the best attractor of Hummingbirds we have ever grown. They are not hardy, but plant some where you can nsee them next summer and [...]
Berries and Birds Everyone has remarked on the amazing size and variety of the tree fruit crop this year - and it has not gone unnoticed by the juvenile American Robins in our garden who have started to fill and fatten themselves on the bounty - observed by some young Song Sparrows. [...]
We seem to have slipped into the habit of writing a round-up of recent activities in the garden around the middle of each month. This one is being composed as we swelter under a “heat dome” sent to us from south of the border - far too hot to do anything physical at [...]