Some simple suggestions ... Faithful readers of our posts will have gathered some ideas about how to attract wildlife to their gardens over spring, summer and early fall but now winter approaches and what do we do with all those native plants still standing tall? The neighbours are starting to look askance. [...]
Dark-eyed Juncos As the temperatures start to fall towards zero (a few days yet) and the cold rain falls we are beginning to see the first arrivals of birds form the north that usually spend the winter with us. Today there was a flock of over a dozen Dark-eyed Juncos busily working [...]
A Carolina Wren Although we see them every year now, the Carolina Wrens are still uncommon, not to say rare, around here. Last winter we had two (at least?) on our feeders almost daily and in the spring a pair nested in a flower pot on our front porch and fledged a [...]
Around the edge of the garden is a quite dense thicket of bushes and trees where the outdoor staff, the "Wild Things". do whatever it is they do. Just every now and again I venture in there to see what's happening and to collect the rent. [...]
Since the start of the Covid restrictions far away in early 2020, Bird Protection Quebec have had to replace the regular weekly, guided field trips at weekends with a series of innovative and interesting “virtual” field trips. This weekend past participant birders were invited to do a Big Sit. In a Big [...]
Warbler Soup! The waterfall earned its keep today with six species of migrating warblers plus a warbling vireo. Shortly after luncheon there was a terrific commotion on the header pool of the waterfall with between 15 and 20 small birds frantically competing for the chance to splash in the water. They splashed around [...]
The local teenage Robin gang met at the swimming pool after lunch but being teenagers couldn't help squabbling :)
Sometimes a parent never gets a break. Two juvenile American Goldfinch were looking confused sitting on the stem of sunflower wondering where seeds were. Still in the "learning to be a bird" stage of life they had yet to work out that they needed to be on the face of the flower. [...]
Sometimes, the colours of flowers, especially yellows and golds, really "pop" after sunset but before it is fully dark. There are creatures out there in the garden still quietly going about their business.
Snowberry Clearwing (Hummingbird) Moth Today is impossibly hot with blazing sun and a humidex of >40C ... on the other hand, these conditions brought this wonderful moth out to play amongst our phlox flowers. Hemaris diffinis The moth is not quite as large as a Hummingbird but easy to confuse at a [...]