Skidmarks in the Sunflower Seeds

Wrinkles and Sags

2011-08-18T22:27:00.000-07:00

I am getting really annoyed at all the "then" and "now" photos of movie stars, claiming that they looked so much better "then". For most of those pairs of photos, I find the "now" photos are simply genuine aging with a good deal of grace in most cases.

The multi-multi-billion-dollar cosmetics and 'looking better' industries worldwide need to calm down and find another way to make money. In fact all of the people sucked in by the ads and promotions, spending fortunes on cosmetics to get rid of wrinkles and sags, bulges and droops, are fooling themselves, but not fooling me.

I worked REALLY REALLY HARD to achieve the honest wrinkles and sags, bulges and droops my body has acquired during a long, interesting, challenging, wonderful life. And I expect if the population of the world should change its mind about 'looks' and become proud of what has been acquired through years and decades of hard labour, the money now being spent on all of that cosmetic uneasiness could be spent instead on educating and feeding children who have no chances, at providing millions of small loans to women worldwide to start their own businesses that will support the families they are already trying to raise alone.

In fact it just occurred to me the other day that really, when you look at every society on earth to see who is raising the children and making things happen--it is the women who are doing the constructive and educational activities, and the men (mostly) who are trying their best to tear it all down--whether through war, or violence against women and children, or simply by walking away from their G-d-given responsibilities, leaving women to cope as best they can, with NO male support.

In most societies, it is really the women who do the home-building, the child-rearing, the education, and the community building of all kinds. Men rarely are around to do it. However, they ARE around to criticize and point fingers at the way women appear to them---the clothes, the makeup, the hair, the shoes, the body shape and condition and the sexual attractiveness or lack thereof. And women BELIEVE what the men tell them, and spend those billions on continuing crusades to satisfy those who will never ever be satisfied.

And the women do NOT seem to criticize or care about the wrinkles, sags, bulges, droops and hair loss of the men. However, more and more, men are convincing themselves that women do care tremendously about this and they are buying in at a phenomenal rate to the fantasies and self-deceptions.

I think that Nick Nolte, Tommy Lee whatever, Brigitte Bardot, and so many others are honestly providing me with the visual treat of proof of their lives hard lived.

I think I got this attack of clarity while watching the bird-ladies on my deck, as they built the nests, laid the eggs, brooded the eggs to hatching, then provided conveyor-bird feeding to the young (I admit that many species' males do help on feeding). But it is the women/females/ladies of most species including human, who provide. When the men provide, it is limited, in both time and focus, and often totally self-interested, with a timer on the interest that clicks off when sexual arousal seems to disappear.

Time to turn things around.

Time for all of us--men AND women--to be PROUD of those wrinkles and bulges so honestly earned.

Time to tell the "fashion" and "cosmetics" industries to look at us differently, and help us to build pride in our achievements, however they appear.

Time for all women to STOP listening to and obeying those billionaire (trillionaire) industries and stand up (however creakily) for the hard-won achievements of appearances that demonstrate lives lived.

Another Thing About Crows

2011-07-31T14:22:00.002-07:00

They seem to have phenomenal memory.

Over a year ago, I did my best to discourage them from nesting in the cherry tree to the left of my deck. Clapping my hands, throwing things, loud mouth noises...it seemed to discourage them enough to stop building and move elsewhere. I finally realized too that I was annoying my human neighbours as much as the non-h types.

This year, though, they're back, and very very quietly, and inconspicuously, they built the nest in the cherry tree, and every time I went out on my deck they would wing away from the nest to the south and away from my deck. But when I was not on the deck, they'd do a low-hanging flyby with a loud CAWWW that would scare the bjs out of anyone...

While I'm sitting on the deck, they are quiet and really not noticeable at all. But the minute I leave, they're rowdying up the neighbourhood....

And there was a pair out front for a few years---I used to make loud noises to scare them off whenever I went out the front of the building. They knew me, I guess, by my white hair, and my height---heaven only knows by what else---and every time I'd go out, they'd sit up high in a tree and jeer at me---LOUDLY---until I moved off by foot or by car....They never seemed to pay any attention to anyone else leaving the building.

Therefore, I am one of those humans who grant major intelligence to non-humans---and the crows have taught me some very intricate lessons. And octopii and wolfeels....but those are other stories.

The Young and the Feathered

2010-05-24T20:40:00.002-07:00

You can't quite call them babies, but the young Downy Woodpeckers are now fluttering after their parents and chirping away at them for food. They are almost as big as mom and dad, and just as colourful with black and white markings, and the boy with a red topknot that he flairs at every opportunity and more.

For some reason the resident Black Capped Chickadee family, or at least the dad, takes offense at the appearance of the Downy Woodpecker family and practices his fly-by terrorist attacks. He's chased them all away from the trees and shrubs around my deck, but he has no affect whatever on the youngsters as they chop out and inhale suet (mostly the one with peanut butter). They don't even duck, just feed. The parents are more cautious and flit from tree to stake, to planter edge, to wall, to stake to tree....well you get the picture.

Why the daddy chickadee is so intent on chasing them away is beyond me. Mom just goes on converyorbirding with big fat white grubs and wiggly black whatevers for the growing chicks.

This evening, as the sun was lowering, I opened the front of the nestbox to see if any youngsters poked their nosed up over the edge of the nest---not a one. When I VERY gently felt in the nest, there were several warm little bumps. So I closed up and got out the hose to water my very dry deck plants. As soon as I put the hose away and went into the house, the chickadee conveyors were back, and then the woodpeckers.

Other constant visitors are what I am sure are male and female White-crowned Sparrows. They look much alike, but the slightly larger one, who moves a bit slower and seems to bend forward, I've decided is mom, and the faster one who is more upright I've dubbed "dad". They LOVE the chopped sunflower seeds, and stand in the middle of the pile for minutes at a time, crushing and chewing on seed. They make of lovely mess, and when absolutely every edible thing is gone from the seed tray, they have usually left me wtih little black turd reminders.

The little raspberry-coloured finches are constant too, and both moms and dads appear. About 3 weeks ago, I am sure the first nestlings were around---fluttering and demanding while standing knee-deep in the seed pile. The currently-present parent would put up with the yammering for a while and then quickly p;ug the shrieking beak. The youngster would eventually get it, and start nibbling at the seeds around its feet, and the parent would hustle off.

Spring in birdland is just fascinating. Always new things to see.

A beautiful young Great Northern Flicker has become a regular at the suet blocks, also preferring the one with peanut butter--note to self....

One day while the flicker was noshing, an Allens Hummingbird appeared and buzzed all round the feeding flicker. Then took off, but appeared again a couple of times, investigating the flowering Penstimon, Wallflowers, and around and around the flicker. Haven't seen the hummer since, but the flicker is always there in the late afternoon. I wonder where she or he spends the rest of the day.

Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers

2010-01-18T15:43:00.000-08:00

During the tiny bit of snow in December 2009, I took some photos that turned out to be mostly silhouettes, of the two types of woodpeckers that are constant neighbours at the suet blocks.

You can see the tremendous difference in size between the tiny Downy Woodpecker, and the (pigeon size) Hairy Woodpecker. Not only in the length of the body, but the length of the bill is hugely larger in the Hairy Woodpecker. The red patch on the back of the head on both males is identical, and the only other difference is in the whiteness of the sidefeathers in the tail. But the size alone is amazing.

I remember a couple of years ago, I was lucky enough to be looking out when a Pileated Woodpecker landed on the feeder. It was truly HUGE...and to my delight, banged around for a while, but it hasn't been back that I've seen.

Intending to keep the birds wild, I intrude myself and my camera as little as possible on them. Just my movement in the living room inside the glass door is enough to startle them, but they do seem to hang around in the trees quite happily as I load up the feeders. Although they dash off with frantic haste as I open the door, they're back with seconds when they hear the door closing again. First chickadees, then juncos, then whatever....

Squirrels seem to have pretty well given up---thank G-d. I rarely see one now. Or maybe the coyotes have got them. Good meal for a coyote. The feathered neighbours seem to be thriving in amazing numbers, possibly partially due to a particularly mild winter this year. There are more than 10 chickadees coming and going in pairs and individuals, and gangs and bunches. They seem to have their own very carefully worked out and obeyed order of ascendency---nobody jumps the line. With the juncos, a different routine---whoever lands first defends like mad, while grabbing beaksful. Then dashes off and forgets about it all until next time.

My friend Mikal was here from New Mexico for a day or two, and she told me about the huge bird rescue centre she runs in her home. She takes her own showers at the neighbours because she usually has a duck in each of her two bathtubs. Adults and kids all bring her feathered bits of fluff in various states of disrepair and ill health. She does what she can to rehabilitate and get them out again, and seems to have a pretty fine system of care and antibiotics and food including a freezer full of mice, and other foodstuffs for the raptors, and pails of mealworms growing for the smaller critters. WAAAAAAYYYYYyyyyyyy beyond what I'm interested in doing. But she loves it and feels so good about making such a difference. I"m so glad there is Mikal and that others are doing the same. In our various ways, as we watch and learn, feed, and care for, we are learning more and more about our wild neighbours and how to live with them.

The other interesting thing lately has been the activity of crows on the lawns all over Vancouver. They dig in like made, tossing turf all over the place, and when they are through, the lawn looks completely plucked. I asked at the Wild Bird store about they are doing, and found that there is an invasive European beetle that they are after in the grub stage....the grub being about 1/2 inch long, and I'm sure full of fat and all sorts of delicious things for crows. Al at the Wild Bird store also told me that the neighbourhood skunks have been doing their part in this wild pest control activity, and that that is why some of the lawns look as if a rototiller had been through. The crows scruff it up, but the skunks really go digging and throwing it aound.

Now I'm wondering if the lawns will recover next summer, or if we are in a natural state of returning our lawns to vegetable gardens, which they should have been all along.

Feeding Arrangements

2009-12-31T15:59:00.002-08:00

My weighted squirrel-proofed feeding arrangements have been working out really well for the birds and for me and NOT for the squirrels. Although the squirrels, with their pea-sized brains, never give up. They are constantly on the cage and trying to figure a way to the seed and suet. When I am there and see them at it, I open the door quietly with my big jug of water in hand, and as they do the double-back-flip and scoot I chuck a stream of water after them. I'm getting quite good with my aim now, using a 4-litre plastiv container that came from the Wild Birds Unlimited store, with seeds in it. Squirrels HATE getting wet, and it is a good, and harmless way for me to vent, and them to get chased.

They are very very cautious now about any movement they perceive inside the glass door, and are off like lightening when I open the door. Well, most of them. There is a grey one that just doesn't get it. I think someone out there is feeding it/them, and when the door opens it just sits and watches, as if waiting for me to do something lovely....the water flip is definitely not what it wanted.

I do think too that the coyotes are keeping the squirrel population in check. There seem to be 3 black and 1 grey squirrel, probably all the same family, that tour through on a regular and almost predictable schedule. They seem to come from the east, as if they've been foraging in the golf course on the other side of the Cambie Street boulevard, and are heading for home in some tree or rooftop west of me. They always scoot for the bushes to the west, that surround the swimming pool. Sometimes a mad dash up the cherry tree, but usually not. And I've never yet been yelled at. Maybe it is the little native red squirrels that yell at you if they don't like what you are doing. They sure do a lot of it when you are walking through Stanley Park. Now, if there were only the little red squirrels, I would be happy to have them share the food supply. But the blacks and greys are so big, and their teeth and claws rip such shreds in things. They do a huge amount of damage for their size. Never heard that a red squirrel did---although being half the size may have something to do with it.

Years ago, I watched a tiny red squirrel being fed peanuts in the shell by a man sitting on a bench in Stanley Park. The routine was: man holds peanut in his fingertips on his knee. Squirrel comes bouncing from round the back of the base of the huge pine tree, hoppity, hoppity, hoppity.....right up to the man's feet, then quick scramble up his trouser leg, with an energetic hop to get onto his knee. Grab the peanut and launch onto the ground and lopppity-lopppity-lippity-lop off to the back of the pine tree. Maybe 30 seconds or less, and here it would come again, across the grass, to the feet of the man, up the trouser leg and hop onto the knee.

This went on for quite an entertaining while, as I stood and watched. Short of a brief smile, the man paid me no attention, and the little red squirrel even less.

After maybe 10 or 15 minutes of continuous trips, here came the little squirrel again, across the lawn, up the trouser leg, onto the knee, grabbed the peanut---------smelled the peanut--------------flipped the peanut over its shoulder and held out its paws for another. As my mouth fell open and I laughed, the man gently flicked the little squirrel with his forefinger and it hopped onto the grass. It looked up at him, seeming a bit dejected, then picked up the despised peanut and disappeared for quite a while behind the pine tree. Neither the man nor I will ever know for sure, but probably that peanut was not the top of perfection, to which the little squirrel had become accustomed, but was not bad enough to simply ignore. Maybe he/she even took it and buried it along with the others. However, I think that peanut went to a secret garbage dump that only squirrels know.

Coyote Howl

2009-12-31T15:35:00.001-08:00

The other day, Lorraine and I visited the Van Dusen Botanical Gardens again, with leaves mostly gone from the trees, but now showing wonderful shapes and forms and textures in the trunks, limbs, and twigs. Birds all over the place, including the sound of the ravens.

As we walked to the west on a track we'd not explored before, we were roughly paralleling the Avenue, which is just off Oak Street, and one of the busiest thoroughfares in Vancouver. We didn't pay any attention to the sirens, but the coyotes sure did. As the sirens (who knows: fire, rescue, ambulance, police??) started up, so did the coyotes---from three different parts of the Gardens. It was wonderful. We stood with our mouths open, looking at each other, as the coyotes out-performed, out-sang, and definitely out-did the sirens. As the sirens faded, the coyotes did too---with a few last yips to close the symphony.

We have known that there are coyotes in the Gardens, for years. But we didn't know that they participated so fully in civic life. I have actually seen a biggish coyote trotting nonchalantly west on 49th Avenue, with a parade of cars slowly in its wake. I watched in awe as it paid no attention to me, took a right onto Oak Street and disappeared toward the Gardens. Probably came from the Langara Golf Course, and I suppose there is a coyote highway up from the river flats, into the golf course, and then on to the Gardens--both Van Dusen, and Queen Elizabeth.

They are so very very welcome. They are keeping the squirrel and rat populations in check, and staying healthy and bright-eyed as they do this. I so vividly remember the morning when Cookie was visiting, and we were breakfasting with the curtains opened onto the gardens that surround my happy abode. Cookie whispered urgently, "Rivka, Rivka, look, look!!!" and there was a gorgeous young coyote standing just out of the bushes and gazing into the early morning sun. It paid us no attention, and took off at a trot to the north through the gardens and townhouses and swimming pools.

I've sometimes wondered if they visit my deck at night, when I've found the heavy squirrel-proofing on the suet and seed arrangements knocked over. But then, it might be my neighbour the skunk....or......

Deck Dance

2009-10-25T17:24:00.005-07:00

RED BREASTED NUTHATCH and HAIRY WOODPECKER SHARE LUNCH

Since the onset of cooler, even chilly weather, the deck has been a constant dance of birdlife comings and goings. The birds that have been absent all summer, are back in flocks and bunches---junkos, toheys, Pine Siskins, Fox Sparrows, nuthatches, Stellars Jays, Great Northern Flickers...

And the daily, and probably many times daily company of the Hairy Woodpecker has been a delight. After all, I do have a life besides birdwatching, so I don't really know how often feathered friends visit. But the last week or so has provided a constant and changing dance all over the deck, on the feeder rests, the seed catcher, and all over the several suet blocks.

At the moment, the squirrels seem to be taking a break--although I suspect they are simply regrouping for the next onslaught. Seems no matter where on the deck I position things, a squirrel will find a way to launch itself across 8 feet and UPwards, to land on the pole. I keep hoping it will spear its little self, and end the debate, but no, every one of them has found a way to get to the seed feeder. So all of the planters are at the edges of the deck, the screen door (as it is not needed with colder weather) is shoved as far as it will go to the north, and all tables and other launching pads are moved (hopefully) out of reach of the pole by the squirrel brigade.

I got all excited the other day when someone told me it was a red squirrel in the cherry tree. So out I went to investigate, and nope, it was just a grey squirrel and a not-too-well-educated onlooker. Now it if had been one of our native tiny red squirrels, I'd have welcomed it with pecans and other delicacies, while snatching back the snacks when the bigger predators arrived. Saw a tiny red squirrel zipping across the road into the toolies the other day in Stanley Park, but not otherwise. Sigh.

However there now seem to be several Downy Woodpeckers in residence, and sharing quite amicably with the super-size Hairy Woodpecker.

MALE HOUSE FINCH VISITOR:

RESTING JUST THINKING

And also this afternoon, a little male House Finch took a rest on the deck where it seemed to feel safe enough to snuggle its nose into its backfeathers for a small snooze. Occasionally looking up and around when bird shenanigans got riotous enough to wake it. I was concerned that the little fellow was not well, as it was all fluffed up and just sitting on the deck. But after a few minutes, it flew to the seed tray for a nosh, then to the birdbath for a drink, and off into the cherry trees.

I do think, however, that the local and visiting birds find the deck a haven. The Black Capped Chickadees and the Red Breasted Nuthatches at least, come zooming in to the feeder even when I'm standing nearby. So I guess they've figured out that at least I'm not out there with a shotgun, and that the thing in my hand is probably food. They also seem to be happy to have me chase the squirrels with loud bangs of the door, hand clapping, and hissing noises. These two bird species are back almost instantly at the feeder after all my noisemaking. But the squirrels stay GONE for at least a while. And the other bird species come back around pretty quickly, so I think they've figured it out---birds, YES, squirrels NEVER!!

Hairy Woodpecker Scores!!

2009-09-30T01:33:00.005-07:00

Well, the Hairy Woodpecker is definitely a neighbour now, and visiting many times a day.

I got lucky with my camera the other day, and here are the results.

HAIRY WOODPECKER CHECKS THE LARDER AND DIGS IN

GRABS A BITE

SCORES!!

Then roars off with a huge flumpf of wings.

In the meantime....smaller birds dig in from any position....

RIGHT SIDE UP OR UPSIDE DOWN

Any old stick will do for a hidey-hole. Chickadee investigation is at peak right now....

And position is everything....

Including just taking a break....

Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers

2009-09-23T00:31:00.013-07:00

HAIRY WOODPECKER AT THE SUET BLOCK

PHOTOS THROUGH THE SCREEN, BUT SHOW THE SIZE

DOWNY WOODPECKER AT SUET BLOCK.
BILL IS SHORTER, AND THE BIRD IS SMALLER.

The Hairy Woodpecker is now a regular, in fact, several-times-a-day visitor. It always, invariably arrives with loud screeches, in the cherry tree, or on the railing around the deck. It looks all around and screeches some more, then WUPs, it lifts up and lands on the suet feeder with a flumpf and more screeches.

Seems to need to announce its arrival. I haven't been able to figure out why yet, but I do notice, that when the Hairy Woodpecker is there, the little Downy Woodpeckers are not. However the chickadees, finches, and sparrows are all coming and going despite the flumpfing around and screeches. But the hordes of tiny Bush Tits are nowhere to be seen while the screecher is on base.

I've only been able to take pictures through the screen door so far, as the screecher doesn't appear when the screen is open. So they are rather fuzzy, but do show the huge size of this bird.

When I look at the difference in appearance of the door from the deck side, it is like having a huge black hole open with the screen door open, and a fuzzy wall when it is closed. So I guess shy birds, even if they are big and noisy, are edgy about that black hole.

Hoping the Hairy Woodpecker will stay a regular for the winter. He is even more entertaining than the smaller Downys. And it is definitely a male, with the bright red patch on the back of its head.

Leaf Bathing

2009-09-23T00:22:00.002-07:00

REGULAR DRINKERS AND BATHERS

Something new.

Last week, while I was watering the deck planters and the ones on the railing, getting lots of extra water from the hose onto the leaves and into the earth in the pots, I thought about how much water birds need to drink and to bathe.

About half an hour after I'd turned off the hose, I noticed a Black Capped Chickadee in the twigs of the honeysuckle. It was moving around a lot, and when I looked closer, I found it was taking a shower in the water left on the leaves of the honeysuckle. It hopped onto a twig, turned upside down and bounced, showering itself, then moved to another twig and rubbed its wings and head and tail all over the wet leaves and twigs. It kept moving around and finding new bath water.

WONderful!!! Another trick new to me. I had heard of birds flying through the drops of a sprinkler, bur never leaf bathing.....

Seagulls being Seagulls

2009-09-06T20:23:00.002-07:00

I was peacefully munching on a huge cinnamon bun while watching the rain and wind, boat and air traffic, at Brockton Point in Stanley Park. It has been a windy, gusty day and rain started in the afternoon as a fine drizzle, then came on as definite rain. As I finished the cinnamon bun, cleaned up a bit and started to pull out of my parking space, I noticed a seagull coming in for a landing in the empty space beside me. Always interested in what they'll do next, I watched. A young gull, with a lot of grey still in the feathers, but full size. It landed fast and ducked down to pry a starfish off the wet pavement!!! A smallish starfish by our standards--only about 4 or 5 inch diameter, but a fully alive, purple starfish right there on the pavement. The gull is a Glaucous Wing, the biggest seagull on earth, and it needs to be to be prying up starfish and slogging them down.

Well, this starfish wasn't going easily. Who knows how it got onto the pavement--probably pried up earlier from its surf-zone home and dropped by a crow or a gull to try to kill it or at least macerate it enough to get it down. It had its five arms spread right out, and these purple starfish are really stiff with a calciferous structure right under the plushy wet purple 'skin'. So the seagull had much more than a mouthful. An older seagull swooped in to bully, and the youngster took off with the starfish. I laughed, and wondered what would happen next, but stayed on a bit to watch another seagull, same species, also a greyish youngster, trying to park itself on the top pointy bit of the lighthouse roof. Only thing is, there's a spike right at the top, and the seagull couldn't get a grip on the slippery roof all round the spike, kept sliding off. So it tried to straddle the spike--YOUCH--speared in the tender underparts. But it kept trying, and trying. Finally compromised with two feet in front of the spike, heading into the wind, and its bum parked on top of the spike. And so it goes. But if the wind took another twist as it had been doing all day, there would be one goosed gull.

As I pulled out once more, laughing, and started around the oval, I noticed a couple of bicyclists stopped and watching a young seagull on the lawn. It was the same youngster with the starfish firmly lodged in its beak. So I pulled over, and watched too. The bicyclists took off after a minute, but I stayed. The gull seemed really puzzled about what to do. The starfish has suckers, hundreds of them on the bottoms of its arms, and by this time, I'm willing to bet the suckers were hanging on for dear life to the inside and outside of the gull's beak. Not only that, the arms were still stiffly sticking out in all directions.

The gull just stood there, beak to the wind, then sssllllloooowwwwwwwly squatted down on the grass.......as an older, pure white gull came bullying in to take over. Both gulls took off to the west, behind the trees, and that was the last I saw of it. But I'll continue wondering, possibly for the rest of my life, what happened to that starfish. I guess, if the gull could find the right rock, it could bang the starfish hard enough against it to do serious damage. Then things would get foldy enough to go on down the beak and throat. But what about those sucker feet. They take a LOT of prying loose.

In all the years--more than several dozen that I've lived on this coast--I've never seen a gull trying to swallow a starfish whole. I guess today's youngster may learn something from the experience---but I'll never know what, and never know who won.

Old and New Neighbours and a Contortionist

2009-09-02T23:33:00.003-07:00

Everybird seems to get along pretty well with every other bird species---the arguments and full-flight-flappings are between members of the same species---often same-sex. I laugh and they don't seem to mind---just continue the flapping controversy until they either disappear into the bushes, or settle it and get back to food.

WHITE CROWNED SPARROW

Everybody is working away on the deck to keep it cleared of dropped seeds. Even the Hairy Woodpecker took a long turn on deck, with chickadees, and white-crowned sparrows for company. Things are staying really clean, and the squirrels are only occasionally in evidence on the concrete deck. They seem to have given up for now the noisy launchings or attempts at launchings onto the feeder arrangements.

A Hairy Woodpecker arrived on the suet block!! First one I've identified for sure. It is about 1/3 bigger than the little Downy Woodpeckers, has a very long beak, and is a contortionist. Hopped and climbed all over the wire cage, and chose to be upside down, hammering into the bottom of the block. Occasionally would stretch a looooonnnnnng neck to peer around at the neighbourhood.

It is probably a this-year's juvenile, as it was pretty wobbly in trying to land on the seed feeder. Then it landed on the pole that supports all of the feeding equipment, and acted like a slow fireman Slooooowwwwwwlllllyyyyy slid down the pole, while gripping it in both feet. Evidently somewhat embarrassed, it started investigating the clip and the screw-stop with its bill and tongue while sliding. After a while it managed a neat landing on the footrest of the seed feeder and proceeded to investigate all the cracks and crannies on, under and around the feeding holes. Finally got its nose/beak into a feeding hole and noshed happily for quite a while.

Came back a couple of times, and between visits hopped and clambered around on the cherry tree, inspecting the bark and digging and hammering into it at times. Wasn't quick enough to get a photo, and when I opened the door quietly, it took off across the property and away west. Hasn't yet learned that I'm not an enemy. The other birds seem to know I'm at least a neutral, and that my appearance will probably mean fresh grub, and bathwater.

BUSH TITS AT SUET

The tiny bush tits are back in full flight and feathers. Their quiet chirping is comforting, and the chickadees seem to appreciate the company.

PINE CONES HUGE AND FULL

Seedcones are looking huge and plentiful -- or maybe I'm just noticing them more, but I wonder if they are not pre-supposing another hard winter.

Insect Repellant for Birds

2009-08-16T17:42:00.000-07:00

Years ago I spent some time waiting at the side of the road for something that now escapes my mind. What I DO remember is the activity under the tree across the street. There was a dusty, scruffy looking area directly under the tree and around the front of the trunk facing me. In that dust, there were flocks of small birds arriving and leaving. While they were in the dust, they took a dust bath--which I've seen in many places and with many birds. But they did something else I couldn't understand at the time. After thoroughly dusting themselves, each bird would squat in the dust with its wings outspread to make a sort of tent over the dust. Each bird would sit for a while making the little tent, and then kind of shake itself and fly away.

The whole thing came under my personal heading of "What's Up?" The dust bathing would be followed by a preening session in nearby branches where the dust and old oil would be carefully and painstakingly removed from the feathers. But the business with the tent...."What's Up?"....

I couldn't figure if the same birds were coming and going, or if it was flocks of newcomers, but it seemed to be a regular progression of birdlife coming in from behind me, dusting and tenting, then taking off over the hill in front of me and disappearing.

The behaviour stuck in my memory until one day, I think I saw it on a TV documentary, or maybe someone told me about it, but I learned that the 'tenting' behaviour after the dust bath was taking on a load of insect repellant.

In the dust, too far away for me to see them, were hundreds, maybe thousands, of ants. The dustbowl under the tree was just loaded with the little suckers. And they just hated the birds that came to stir up their homes, and bathe in the ruins, then squat and watch it all collapse. The ants, thoroughly stirred up and annoyed BIG-time, would also squat in the dust and aim their formic-acid glands at the tented feathers above them, and squirt like mad to try to drive the birds away. The birds would take on a load of formic acid, and while doing so, drop a load of mites and other hangers-on in their feathers. These hangers-on can't stand formic acid and will leave the vicinity when any appears---usually by dropping or flinging themselves off at high speed. Fleas can JUMP---and they do.

The formic acid was delivered in precise enough doses to be no bother to the birds, but a HUGE bother and even life-threatening attack on mites and ticks and fleas and other bird-riders.

So what I had been watching was a major pharmacy doing huge business for the neighbourhood feathered inhabitants. Not only did the ants drive the birds away, eventually, but they got a good meal out of it too, as a lot of the bird-riders, trying to escape the acid hoses, landed in the dust amongst the ants. Yum!! LUNCH!!

No matter where I am or what kind of delays are involved, there is always something fascinating or at least very interesting going on. It is usually something I've not noticed before, or not noticed in that particular setting.

So today, while semi-snoozing on my chaise on the deck, I watched the chickadees arriving and departing, carrying on conversations and arguments, carrying away seeds, and acting as the warning system for the bird-life in the neighbourhood. I noticed that a lot of the chickadees were really scruffy and missing a few feathers in odd places. Then I remembered that it is August, and the exact time of year for the moult and regrowth of new feathers for winter and for some---for the long flight south.

I noticed too, from my unusual vantage point above the ground-fossicking birds, that the male purple finch has a sort of crown of raspberry-red feathers, and if you watch really closely, there is also a flash of the red under the wing converts, along the body.

My feeding system seems to be working as I want it to, and the grey squirrel simply passed by, not even attempting to come on deck for a nosh. I've heard crockery falling some mornings. The evidence trail indicates that they've evidently been launching themselves unsuccessfully from stacks of pots, tipping them, and crashing them onto the concrete. So far--pots intact, squirrels gone. YAY!!

Gotta Fish...

2009-08-09T22:13:00.021-07:00

FINDING A FISH

It is just amazing what wonderful things my friend Lorraine and I see when we walk slowly, sit and watch a lot, sneak up on...whatever. We've taken out memberships in the Van Dusen Botanical Garden. This last visit was special again...

The heron produced a saga as it caught a really good size carp and swallowed it. We'd been admiring the huge carp in all the ponds, upwards of 14 inches some of them. After the heron's meal, we noticed a lot of smaller carp following the big ones, or swimming below them.

It's amazing watching the heron ssslllllooooooooowowwwwwwllly stalking a fish. The patience and eyesight are superb.

GOTTA FISH

It caught and swallowed a little fish or two, but the big one was a real problem to get down. It had to get it out on land, then turned the right way around in its beak, and the fish was objecting like mad.

SWALLOWED THE FISH

So the heron dropped it on the ground a couple of times to get a new hold. Finally, after about 10 minutes it got it right, and the fish disappeared nose first down the heron, with a HUGE bulge indicating the progress through the long neck of the heron....Lorraine and I laughed!!!!

GOT THE FISH ALMOST DOWN

On a sunny day, the turtles are out on the rocks and logs sunning, and the dragonflies in all their multi-coloured glory are zooming all over the place.

This last visit was somewhat overcast, so no turtles, and the little yellow waterlillies were folded up. But there were simply thousands upon thousands of bumblebees---small ones---at almost all of the huge variety of flowers.

We also heard ravens but didn't see them. To me this was a HUGE treat, as I have not seen nor heard a raven in Vancouver proper before these ones. Lots of crows, but this was the first for ravens.

DIGESTING & THINKING ABOUT IT

The young Pintail ducklings we saw before are fully fledged now, and just a bit smaller than their mom and aunties. They were making a huge production out of getting a bath---it looked as if they were rowing with their wings---then huge flappings and disappearing underwater for about 5 seconds, and POP up again.

Goes to show

2009-08-03T21:39:00.003-07:00

While I was watering my plants, I noticed that the very deep hole in the grass outside my deck's balustrade was still there. I don't know what it is about talking about something that often seems to make it come true. No sooner had I posted the last blog entry about no more rodents, than right there at the foot of the suet feeder was a rat---a young one.

So I shoved a poison packet down and into the hole, then tried to plug the top of it with a stamped-down block of very hard earth. I'll keep an eye on it and if it gets dug out again, I'll ask management to try to deal with it.

On the other hand, the entrance to the drain for the deck does NOT seem to be rodent-filtered with a screen, so I expect I'll talk with the men who did the work and see what is going on.

I wonder where the tunnel goes that I've tried to poison and plug...

Long and HOT but Now Rodent Free

2009-08-03T18:55:00.005-07:00

The summer has been long and HOT for Vancouver. From 32 to 34 degree Celsius for days--record breaking.

The birds and I have had interesting challenges. Finally got rid of the rat(s), when management tore up the old and rotted wood decking and left a clean concrete surface, with attractive wooden inserts. They've sealed the drain with a wire trap to exclude rodentlife and the deck feels much better and cooler. The management team who tore up the deck were all too familiar with rodentlife in the neighbourhood and more than happy to help me exclude it from the drains.

During all of this the planters were moved outside the railings, and I tried to keep the birdbath filled on the south side. No seed feeding, but the big suet block has had constant visitors: new Black Capped chickadees, new fluffy-looking Bush Babies who are noticeably uneasy about landing, but who have no difficulty flying. The Downy Woodpeckers are still around and I've heard the voice of a flicker.

Now that things have settled down again---took almost a month during our hottest weather, I've moved the suet onto a concrete pillar on the deck and the birdbath beside it, with my deck and visitor chairs nearby. Being as circumspect as I can about the feeding and bathing arrangements. Feels almost normal again.

The hot weather is, I think, hard on the birds too. No signs of squirrels or rats anymore, and hoping I've seen the last of the latter. I expect the tree rats will return with cooler weather and the fall crop of nuts and seeds.

Ohhhhh

2009-06-21T23:12:00.002-07:00

The folks at the Wild Birds Unlimited store tell me that the Pine Siskins I'm finding who are 'slow' or 'brain damaged' or otherwise visibly impaired are victims of salmonella---the same as the small one earlier in the spring. Evidently, the Pine Siskins are particularly prone to infection, or at least to manifestation of the disease. They also tell me that a lot of (most?) bird species carry the infection but have no problems with it.

Chickens, and particularly turkeys are infected, and so are their eggs.

You've probably already heard all you want to about washing fruit and vegetables, and cooking meat and eggs thoroughly.

Well, also wash thoroughly after handling ANYthing that has been or could have been in contact with wild birds. Every time I fill the feeders, or the suet holders, I come in and wash in hot soapy water, including scrubbing with a nail brush. I also do it after sitting in the chaise on my deck, as the birds just love that padded liner as much as I do. But unlike me, they also use it as a place to poop. So I've made it a habit to wash thoroughly when I come in off the deck---summer or winter.

Who would guess that those adorable, hilarious, friendly, bumptious little feathered critters were so dangerous.

Hilarity and Delights

2009-06-17T19:52:00.008-07:00

Well just when I thought I had seen almost all the bird behaviours, dozens and dozens of youngsters arrived. Such flutterings and flappings, such fluffings and circlings, squawkings and screechings, and somersaults in midair. Even the occasional baffled-looking wee one arriving through my open screen door, and landing on the edge of the coffee table or the television. A puzzled look around, a small screech and out again...

TWO young flickers are coming to the suet block. One with the delightful red mustachios, the other without, but both digging into the suet and peanut butter mixture, and flicking their heads back while smacking their bills together---because peanut butter also sticks to the roof of a flicker mouth....

SLOW YOUNG PINE SISKIN

A really fat and fluffy young pine siskin seemed to be either brain damaged or really slow. I went over to it, and it just squatted there on the deck watching me bend down. I put a hand down to stroke it, and it move a bit out of the way. Again my hand, and again it moved. Then I put a finger in front of it, up against the breast feathers and it clambered abord my finger. I toted it around the deck a bit, talking softly to it and assuring it I meant no harm. It seemed quite content to ride along, even making soft chatterings at me or at any bird-neighbour nearby. I did this several times during the long hot afternoon. This youngster made regular trips around the seed feeder, to the birdbath for drinks, and into and around the bottoms and through the tangled tops of various planters.

It's now several days later, and I am certain the same youngster is gaining confidence and losing weight. I can get very close to it, but it quietly edges away from my hand now. It's feeding just fine and seems to be growing happily.

The squabblings and fluttering fights in mid-air are hilarious. Every one of these youngsters of whatever species seems out to prove to me that flying is definitely no problem, but landing is the tricky bit. And the 'abort abort' 'fly around' 'fly around' wobble wobble tilt tilt of the landings is wonderful, and as varied as the species practising.

The other day I wondered what the robins were sreeching about. They were making a tremendous racket from the tops of the cherry trees. I went out and found that a crow had landed on a robin baby out there on the sidewalk. So I quickly clambered around the end of my railing and ran over. The crow left fast, and the baby squatted there with its wings spread, its tailfeathers really short, and its speckled breast heaving mightily. When I bent down to pick it up, still with parents screaming overhead, the baby flew off and away over the planter boxes to the far side of the big public deck. With parental screams for company, I followed the baby, and by coming around to the west, behind it, encouraged it to take flight into the grassy place, and land under a bush. Again, flying: no problem, but landing, hoooo boy: very tricky. As soon as the baby landed under the bush the parents stopped screaming and screeching at me and the world, and quietly flew over to roost above their offspring. Baby saved this time. Parents saved from full dementia, and crow exasperated and done out of a hefty meal.

Some starling youngsters have been shown my feeding arrangement by their parents, and are attempting to land and feed, but every time I see them I greet them with loud clatters of my hands and bangings that scare them away. The last thing I need or the other bird neighbours need is a flock starlings hogging the food.

I'm wondering if one of the gigantic black birds I'm seeing is a raven, not a crow. I've never seen a raven in Vancouver, but this black bird is truly huge---and silent. It is probably just huge in comparison to all of the tiny siskins, chickadees, finches and sparrows, but I'm not sure yet.

The squirrel-proof feeder is adjustable for the weight landing on the roosting ring, and I've now got it adjusted perfectly to allow the flickers to feed, but to close up when a squirrel or crow lands. Unfortunately, the starlings are a little smaller than a full-grown flicker, so all I can do is continue my targeted scare tactics, and hope they'll move off. I really really want to have flickers for neighbours, but not starlings.

Both mom and dad Black-capped Chickadee are taking turns trying to encourage their offspring to land on the suet feeder, but so far, no luck. Parents land on the hanger above, call dee dee dee, dee dee dee, and look around at the youngster teetering hopefully on a cherry twig. Then parent moves down to the suet with more dee dee dees, and plunges in for a beakful. No luck getting youngster to fly down, so parent retreats to the cherry twig with a beakful and stuffs the face of the offspring. This has been going on for a few days, and I expect any time now, the youngsters will 'get it' and come on down.

In the meantime, I'm call the Downy Woodpecker children, fluffy woodpeckers, as they land with a 'flumpf' of downiness and are all fluffed up and out with baby down still attached. There's both a boy and a girl arriving, and sometimes mom comes and digs hard into the suet then shoves it up at the face of an offspring who happily gorges.

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW

The place is flapping with babies and youngsters, and they all seem healthy and happy and full of fight. Except my little possibly brain-damaged, or just slow Pine Siskin. Nice to see it improving in strength and abilities.

Sadness

2009-06-05T16:50:00.001-07:00

As it has been several days since there was any adult movement to the nesting box, I opened the front just now and found inside two dead chicks and an unhatched egg.

Sadness.

The smell was pretty bad too.

Trying NOT to imagine the feelings of the parent birds, after all of that effort. But I think that at least one chick fledged. I sure hope so.

So I've cleaned out the box, and replaced it.

The Black-capped Chickadees are still arriving at the seed and suet feeders, so they're in the area, although I've not noticed any young.

So, just in case my opening the box was too much for them, I'll not do that any more. If I can find a camera I can afford, I'll try putting it in the back of the box to watch nest-building and the rest of the goings on next year.

New Neighbourbird

2009-06-02T22:43:00.004-07:00

Another weirdness has been visiting my feeding arrangements. Turns out that it is a Dark-headed Grossbeak. Have never seen one before.

This bird is also very shy, so I've not been able to get a closeup photo. It nips around the edges of the seed scattering on the deck floorboards, and then hustles off through the holes in the railings to wait for another opportunity.

Birds at the feeder for suet or seed have been pretty few these days, as there has been a bumper crop of wiggly critters in the trees and bushes. At least, the evidence in the beaks of the Black-capped Chickadee conveyorparents has been massive.

Two White-crowned Sparrows, and raspberry coloured finches, currently with flutterings of incoming offspring are my visitors these days. The finch offspring are so cute, and so bumbling. They can fly just fine. It's the landing that's the tricky bit. And they'll try to land on anything, even my head if I'm still enough while they're fussing around their parents and the feeding arrangements. That would be just fine with me if I didn't know that bird-poop is very much part of the package with human-head landings. No thanks.

Almost Gone

2009-06-02T22:39:00.001-07:00

WOW.

Today I opened the front of the nesting box to find only one child still inside.

The parent Chickadees have been working so hard on feeding and encouraging the kids to take flight. And it has evidently been working. I sure hope this last chick will not be forgotten, but is only the last-hatched, and will be encouraged the same way as the siblings.

Babies Near to Fledging

2009-06-02T11:56:00.003-07:00

When I oh-so-carefully opened the front of the nesting box yesterday evening, I was delighted to find at least 3 nestlings. Tiny, fully-feathered birdlets, snuggled into tne box corners at the edges of the nest, or down in the downy interior.

Mom and pop Black-capped Chickadee seem amazingly okay with my peeking at their babies. They'll sit on a nearby twig or hang out on a stake and eyeball me as I sneak a peek, and when I quietly close the lid and retreat, WHOOOSH, one of them is right in there.

Definitely, this morning, they are encouraging the kids to get out and about. The mom and pop cheering section is now in full force, and converyorbird is slowing. Even with me ensconced in the deck chair, mom and pop will sit on top of suet stand, and/or cling to the stake in the planter on the railing, and call to the kids. A mixture of pretty sharp DEE DEE DEE, and softer dee dee dee. And this morning, there were even warning calls---what the bird books write as 'phee bee, pheeeee beee'. I sneeked a peak around the edge of the curtains and found the entire crow family out and about---mom, dad, and at least one crowchild. So I'm learning the language of Chickadee, as do all of the other critters in the neighbourhood. The Chickadees are such good scouts and wardens, gatekeepers, and watchbirds, that abssolutely everyone pays attention to the their calls, now including moi.

Now, if the kids are not fledged during the day today, I'll take a camera with me in my peek into the nest this evening. The shot this morning, with flash, was a bust--only egdges of the nest and the walls of the inside of the box. No kids.

ARRRrrrgh More Squirrel

2009-05-31T12:22:00.004-07:00

I've just come home to aNOTHER squirrel on the suet pole. My bang on the window caused a backflip into the potted chives, and a zoom through the open brickwork of the wall around the deck, then off into the bushes...the squirrel-proof seed feeder seems to be working well enough, but they still try their luck on the suet blocks.

Yesterday, I spent a long time in the deck chair, reading and snoozing, and discovered that the conveyorbird food chain of parent Black-capped Chickadees is still in full force, and beginning to be greeted by conversation on arrival in the nest box. I could hear a low and melifluous cheepchirping going on when the parent got inside. And both parents were sitting outside, on the suet pole, or in the cherry tree, for long minutes, calling dee dee dee, dee dee dee, and not so softly any more, but more as a louder, sharper signal. I think they're practising the calls to get the kids used to hearing them. They'll sit for a while with a squirming worm or grub or caterpillar in the beek and call and call. Then zowie--into the box. And out again, as often as not with another fecal package for deposit at a distance. How DO they know how to do all of this???????

I think the conversations are getting the kids ready for testing their wings. As I understand things, and as I've observed in years past, FLYING is no problem. LANDING is the tricky bit. Will be entertaining if I can catch them at it.

What Chickadee Parents do with Baby Poop

2009-05-24T21:50:00.007-07:00

Today was a weird day in Black-capped Chickadee land. At least it was weird to this human. As I sat sunning myself and enjoying a new book, conveyorbird was in full flight.

I finally witnessed the removal of poop from the nesting box. An adult emerged with a white sac in its beak and flew away, just as is illustrated in the book. Evidently the babies eject nice compact little mucous coated sacs of poo that the parent can pick up and take away so the nest stays tidy and relatively clean. I've been watching arrivals with beaks full, but departures have been empty until I noticed this one.

Late this afternoon, a major pause was in effect. One adult was up in the cherry tree, giving a constant, low-pitched dee dee dee. I could see the tiny throat pulsing with the sound. The other adult was perched on top of the hanger for the suet blocks and doing a bizarre set of manoeuvres: flip the wings a bit and rattle them, then stretch both out to full feather. Retract and repeat. Then hang head down and droop all feathers.

At first, I thought the parents were actually in the process of encouraging the young off the nest, the process of fledging--taking flight for the first time. But I got worried after watching the drooping adult for a while. Something seemed to be wrong. So I went onto the deck as quietly as I could. The adult in the cherry tree continued the dee dee dee, but the one on the suet hanger perked right up and eyed me, then flew to join the adult in the tree, who continued the dee dee dee.

Then silence.

I waited for a couple of minutes, but thinking maybe the kids had already fledged and were on the ground, I tiptoed around the clutter on the deck with no visible or audible reactions from the parents, and no babies visible on ground. I quietly opened the front of the nesting box, but couldn't see anything over the edge of the nest. With a veeeeeeery gently inquiring little finger I found tiny round heads lining the inside of the nest, so I quickly shut the box and retreated to the house.

ZOOM. Mom was into the box like an arrow, and pop started up deeing again in the tree.

I had promised to go to a drumming session with some friends, so I have no idea what happened before nightfall. Drumming was intense, edibles were AWEsome, and so was the company and the Jewish learning. I'm hoping to wake up early enough in the morning to watch activities and see if anyone but mom and pop leave the nest.

Feedings in Full Force

2009-05-18T18:44:00.006-07:00

Not only are mom and dad Black-capped Chickadee colliding at the entrance to the nesting box, but the House/Purple (hard to tell which is which) Finch youngster is in full throat. Dad arrives at the seed feeder, landing on a perch. Junior arrives immediately after, landing with a precarious swaying...and starts the cheepity cheep cheep cheepity cheep....not stopping for breath, and definitely not stopping for seed-eating. In the meantime, dad is demonstrating taking seeds out of the feeder and chowing down. Junior continues loud cheeping and jumping from perch to perch chasing dad, occasionally sticking his nose into the seed hole, but not grabbing anything.

I guess dad got tired of the cheeps, because he turned and stuffed junior's beak with something. But it delayed cheeping about a nano-second. Then junior hopped off the perch to the deck, and continued cheeping, while bouncing around, possibly in search of a parent, or maybe beginning to clue into food being found on the ground.

Then back to a precarious perch to follow dad around the feeder some more, cheeping getting louder and more monotonous until I called "stop it already and take a seed". Which, of course had a huge effect--NOT. Cheeping continued wtihout pause, until another male (you can tell by the raspberry-coloured head) appeared and both males fluttered up and down the air column at each other, battering each other with wings, raking with claws, and providing huge amusement to moi. Cheeping briefly interrupted (like 3 nano-seconds this time) then resumed, and one of the males (dad?) continued feeding for a few seconds, then flew off, with cheeper in tow.

Meantime, full frenzy on the converyorbird front at the Black-capped Chickadee nesting box. Watching for a time when both mom and pop took off together (rare), I climbed up on the chaise and opened the front of the box. Nothing visible above the edge of the nest, so I put my little finger in to see if I could as gently as a feather, feel eggs or kids. KIDS! Definitely---tiny bodies felt sort of prickly and there is a definite warmth rising from them.

Quickly closed up the box, and as I got down from the chaise, mom or dad arrived with a beakful and eyed me suspiciously, not upset, but definitely eyeing me. A sort of shrug, then plunge into the nest, to emerge in 5 seconds (I counted) and zoom off for another beakful.

I'm wondering where and how they find the caterpillars and grubs they are bringing. There are less than 2 minutes between arrivals, and often just a few seconds. Maybe the rain today is producing a new hatching of edible bugs and the conveyorbirds are taking full advantage.

A robin, the first one I've seen here this year, appeared in the cherry tree in front of my deck. What a treat. My friends have been telling me of robins by the dozen in their yards, but there've been none in sight here until today. Now how would I encourage robins to nest nearby? They build an open basket in a fork of twigs and branches. I'll have to go to my gurus at the Wild Birds Unlimited shop and see if they have suggestions. There are LOTS of worms available in the extensive grassy areas. I occasionally see a crow pulling one up, and I remember a couple of years ago the robins were feeding non-stop. And if the planters and underneath the planters on my deck are indicators, there are zillions of worms out there for robin food.

Am leaving the right-hand curtain open overnight now so that when at 5:30 am, I am returning from my usual trip to the loo, I can see if mom and dad are active yet, and maybe even catch the youngsters as they fledge and fly. I understand that flying is no problem; it's the landing bit they have trouble with, and that should be worth watching if I am up in time. I also understand that Black-capped Chickadee fledging usually takes place early in the morning...so if I can build a new habit of getting a coffee and ensconcing self near window, I may catch the show one morning.

Way too early yet, the babies felt very very small to my questingly gentle finger. I'll leave it a couple of days and look again if I can find a pause in the feeding loop.

Swallowing a Bug

2009-05-14T15:25:00.006-07:00

When I was very young, I sometimes wondered what it would be like to eat a bug, or a worm, or a caterpillar. But watching my baby brother put a worm on his tongue was enough. YUK. Leave it to him and the birds.

The eating habits of birds are fascinating if you take the time to watch.

When I was a little girl, I watched seagulls cracking things open by dropping them on rocks, and whacking them with their big beaks, and generally acting as if they owned the place. I thought that was terrific and decided I would like to be a seagull. Part of that thinking was that seagulls don't have any natural enemies---hey, they even mob crows and eagles.

But the more I watch the chickadees, the more interesting they become. Right now they are arriving at the entrance to the nesting box with beaks full of wiggling somethingorothers, every few minutes. I have to think it is good for the vegetation. All of those critters the chickadees and their babies and growing kids eat won’t be able to gnaw holes in the tree leaves, and the flowering shrubs and other things.

When I was looking around at the wildness of my ‘garden’ I realized that it is doing a lot of good even when I’ve been unable to keep up with tidying and trimming and repotting. For birds it provides sitting places; watering spots; bathing places, hiding places, and as I noticed earlier, even small, enclosed, safe, quiet places to die if you are a sick bird needing to do so. My garden also provides LOTS of opportunities for bees and beeflies, beetles and slugs, butterflies and moths, centipedes, and all kinds of other insect critters I haven’t yet really identified. So I bought a book on identification of insects and it has been a treat.

Now, when I think about swallowing a bug, it has a much more complex outcome.
I’m really grateful to the bug-swallowing capabilities of baby birds for tidying up the garden and keeping pests under control while I am unable to do as much as I’d like.

Squirrels 0 Rivka 10

2009-05-14T14:48:00.003-07:00

I call squirrels tree rats. Their teeth are like buzz saws, and they have been tearing strips out of my lead dive weights.

I took about 10 pounds of lead on the cage top, and 5 pounds in the seed tray to keep the squirrels off the seed supply. So, as the feeding frenzy has dropped off, and I'm starting to use the deck myself right now, and through the summer, another solution was essential.

Our local Wild Birds Unlimited shop has a cylindrical feeder with a sleeve that automatically drops down to cover the feeding holes when a weight is on the rests, such as a squirrel, or a crow or anything heavier than a robin. So even a starling is too heavy for this feeder.

Unfortunately, this keeps the flickers from the seeds, but at least they get lots of suet.

Bird Sickness

2009-05-13T23:13:00.018-07:00

Beak gaping, flapping and bouncing seem
to be ways of discouraging others from
sharing your food.
This has happened a lot with a sick bird
chasing others away.

Quite a few times this past winter/early spring, I've found a sick pine siskin on or about my deck. The folks at Wild Birds Unlimited tell me that it can be caused by salmonelosis, which is fairly common among pine siskins. I can't help wondering if they are just unusually argumentative, headstrong, and bashing their little brains out against my windows one too many times.

On the other hand, it may simply be aging and natural selection. But in any case, it is no fun to find a wee frightened bit of feathery fluff cowering in a sunny corner by my deck chair. I feel so helpless. There is literally nothing I can do to help, and I can only watch and hurt for a tiny sick soul. I have even been making sure my windows are scummy enough to not allow bird-bangs by accident, thinking they are flying through, instead of into...

I also notice, that a sick siskin will pretty well take over the seed tray, doing beak gaping, fluttering, and bouncing up and down at all comers. It may last a day or two, but then I don't see the wee trouble-maker any more. But as I was clearing up some of the winter detritus on the deck, and moving the chickadee nesting box out of the wind, I uncovered a tiny body. I had evidently made its way into shelter under the cover of the deck chair (which is folded flat) and had died there. Sadness in me, but I expect blessed relief in birdy.

Pink

2009-05-13T23:03:00.026-07:00

This wonderful time of year in Vancouver provides us with pink above, beside, below, and all around us---particularly if there is a breeze. Vancouver has a huge number of flowering cherry trees of many colours from white through pale pink, to passionate pink.

The two trees just beyond my deck provide me with pink 'snow' every year, and I look forward to, and revel in the few days it is here. This year, I've watched the birds enjoying it too, mostly by chowing down on pink buds and blooms. But they also seem to enjoy scuffling in the pink-fall of petals and raising small pink storms of 'snow'.

....
....

Every morning for a couple of days, more pink will have settled on and around the feeders. But then the wind always comes, and chases pinkness into the corners and crevices.

A sudden breeze will whirl everything into the air and for a few moments you are in a pink snowstorm which even the birds seem to enjoy, by flitting and swooping through the petals.

....
....

For those few days, all sorts of human visitors appear to take pictures, particularly with babies in the pinkness. LOVE these few days.

Techniques

2009-05-13T22:12:00.006-07:00

If I don't open the curtains to my deck right away in the morning, I get the most interesting shadows from the bounce of reflected light off the windows of the building next door, showing me silhouettes of all the activity at the chickadee hatchery.

I think the eggs have hatched, as the busy-ness has increased almost exponentially. Both mom and dad are back into converyorbird mode, and I sure hope that the local trees and shrubs are being royally cleaned out of grubs, caterpillars and other damaging insects and their larvae.

When I open the curtains, there is, of course, a cessation of all activity. But not for long. Even the occasional crow and starling are attempting to get at the suet and seed feeders. Oh, yeah, since installing the squirrel-proof seed cylinder, I've had 0 (that's a ZERO folks) squirrel irruptions. Heaven!

We've had enough rain to keep the birdbath and the other smaller containers pretty well up to the brim, and birds of all kinds seem to love the waterworks. I have purple (or house) finches, song sparrows, pine siskins, chickadees, white-crowned sparrows and the very occasional bush baby. The bush babies seem to have departed for nesting grounds unknown to me, so it is a real treat to find one or several occastionally at the feeders.

As I now keep the door about 6 inches open (locked) with screening in place, I can hear bird sounds, and their is off-and-on all day song-sparrow chamber music and solo cantatas. I've never been particularly fond of spring. A messy time with anonymous green things poking up through the brown and rotting leavings of last year. Slugs abound, and other trail-making critters. Yet winter is not banished completely. Occasional really cold days, and days of ferocious winds, even occasional snow flurries sometimes mixed with freezing rain.

But it is well into May now, and mostly spring has totally arrived, and we're heading for summer!!

The occasional FLASH of orange of a flicker arriving at the suet blocks is a treat. I've decided to build a flicker nesting box next year. Someone on the east coast of the USA has come up with a starling-proof flicker nesting box, where the entrance to the nest is a routed-out channel going from more than half-way down the front of the box, UP to the entrance into the nesting cavity. The top of this routed channel is covered with a clear-plastic shaped shield of some kind to allow the flicker room to get in, tail and all. The point of the whole shebang is that starlings are incapable (so far) of climbing up on anything. They can land and perch and walk around, but they can't climb up the way a woodpecker, flicker, nuthatch, chickadee, and all of the other rather shy and none-nest-robbing neighbours naturally do it.

So I'm looking around on the WWW, and amongst the books at Wild Birds Unlimited, and in my own library for ideas for nesting boxes, and I think I'll just go ahead and put 'em up and see what arrives. There are two cherry trees in view, and I can probably get away with a flicker box on one, and maybe another small-bird type on another. Or maybe a 'battery', as in bat house to encourage these furry friends. Might even get around to building my own Mason Bee housing.

In the meantime, the musical entertainment is in full throat. The vying for dominance has receded into a fairly infrequent background, with occasional squabbles at the seed feeder. But most of all, chickadees are raising their kids and all is well with the world.

Squirrels 2.5 Rivka 5

2009-04-23T18:46:00.003-07:00

I think I've finally figured it out. We'll see tomorrow when the squirrels come around for their daily foraging attempts. They've been much less successful since I put a 2.5 pound lead weight in the seed tray. But they're muscular little tree rats, and they've still, even with skid-proof matting under the dish, been able to haul it near enough to the grating to get a lot of noshes.

Tonight, I put a 5 pound (FIVE POUND--hear that squirrels?) lead weight in the seed tray. Will be interesting to see if they can haul THAT over. Also added the 2.5 pounder to the top of the wire cage so they can't go bouncing it off any more. That still leaves 20 pounds on the dive belt anchoring the suet-block pole.

And the Chickadees are hard at it with the nest. At least SHE is. HE just hangs out on the 'doorstep' until she turns up, then he flits off as she goes 'zoweeeee' straight in the hole to the nest. No pauses on the doorstep for mom. I'm going to watch tomorrow morning and see if he is yet bringing choice grubs and caterpillers to tempt her. That may be a week or so away yet, depending on eggs and hatching and any other family events.

Sun is out and the deck is nice and warm, but there is a real nip in the air and the folks at the Wild Bird Store tell me it is going to be a "hard frost" tonight. That's just nuts!! It's the end of April!!! Hasn't the Big Guy in charge of weather had enough of winter on the west coast yet? Maybe He's shoving some of the Manitoba mayhem with ice and snow and floods and things our way....at least that's what the jet stream images on the weather network seemed to be showing. A real dip down in the cold front to just cast a last huge lick on us in Vancouver. It'll remind us to not be so cheeky about our flowering trees and shrubs and gardens, and getting out the lawn mowers....

Wind and Fluff

2009-04-22T16:40:00.003-07:00

Things were banging and rattling and whooshing around so much last night during the big wind storm that I feared for the Chickadee nesting box, and whoever might be in it. This morning, I found the pole and box canted a bit to the fore, and bit of white fluff stuck at the bottom of the entrance. After carefully shifting the pole and box backward a bit, I very quietly opened the front of the box, to find NEST!! Lots of moss and white fluff pulled from the ball that's been hanging on my deck for over a year now, and even a few shreds of white paper...a creative nest-building Chickadee mom-to-be.

But all morning, the fluff stayed and the bird didn't appear.

Was so relieved this afternoon to come home, and quietly look at the front of the box, to find that the fluff has disappeared---so I am supposing on the vigorous evidence of the last 6 days, that only last-minute nest-finishing is going on now, and that maybe egg laying is starting or at least imminent. Yippee!!

Thought of taking a photo of the nest with the box front open, but I don't want to scare off the inhabitant(s) at this time. So I'll enjoy the quiet and inconspicuous comings and goings until the conveyorbird-with-lunch/grub/seed/caterpillar starts in full operation for nestlings. While it goes on for a few weeks, I can hopefully get some interesting pix, and then, when all have flown, can photograph the nest that remains.

Hoping to be able to accustom them to me in the deck chair during comings and goings, and eventually, feedings. We'll see which of the Chickadees or the job-front get my attention most and first.

Beaks Full of Fluff

2009-04-20T19:02:00.005-07:00

Well it's happening, and FAST. Regular arrivals of Chickadee with beakful of stuff. She goes almost straight in the hole sometimes, other times, she stops on the edge and looks around, giving me a good view of the beakful.

Seems that moving the nesting box out of the wind has worked and once more I have nesting neighbours. I'm so happy it's beyond expression really, as I feel so privileged to have such neighbours choose me and my surroundings.

Warm and breezy today, loads of sunshine, and perfume from all the flowering plants and bushes. The cheery trees are just about ready to burst into bloom.

Been remembering the 'pome' my dad taught me when I was very little. Done with a lot of expression:

I wish I was a witto egg
Way high up in a twee.
And den I wish dat witto egg
Was BAD as BAD could be.

And den I wish dat you would come
And sit beneath dat twee.
And den I'd BUST my witto self
And cover YOU with ME.

Seems somehow to express the general joy and havoc of nesting season all around me. The competition is in high gear for bugs, and caterpillars, and seeds, and moss and fluff, and for prime nesting sites.

The crows have all chosen new nesting sites this year. There don't seem to be any re-uses of last years' nests.

And I'm so glad that the squirrels are still not apparent.

CHEEP?? cheep-urrrrr....

2009-04-11T21:00:00.005-07:00

I thought I had Chickadees nesting again in the box on the pole at the right end of my deck. They are just adorable/hilarious/nutty/fun. When I stepped out onto the deck today, there was a VERY inquiring CHEEP coming out of the box, and a gentle, reassuring cheep-urrr coming from the cherry tree. I guess mom hadn't figured on a human coming so close, and pop was telling her there was no harm.
However, they haven't built and I'm really disappointed. When there was no movement toward or away from the box for about 3 hours, I vveeeeerrrrry carefully opened the front of the box, and found nothing inside, except a wisp of last year's moss.

Thinking it may be positioned to catch too much wind, I've shoved it toward the windows more, out of the wind, and will hope for a nesting pair.

Got Chickadees up the yingyang, and a White-crowned Sparrow is back, as is a Song Sparrow. Herds and flocks and riots of Pine Siskins moving through. The crow couple seem to be building somewhere to the southeast of me, and generally out of my sight. They are NOT re-using the nest in the other cherry tree--to my relief and gladness, as their very close swoops over my deck last spring were enormously distressing to small birdnesses.

I also seem to have gotten fairly well out of the squirrel wars business. At least they are seldom around now, and when they are they are easily scared off. The extra 5 pounds of weight on the top of the cage, and the weight inside the seed tray have combined to make it difficult enough to grab a paw-full that most of them have lost interest. Before I put the extra weight on top of the cage, there were at least 3 crashes every morning as a squirrel brought down the whole megilla, crashing the cage walls and the weights, probably somewhat onto itself, and I am sure scaring the bejeebers out of everyone, particularly the squirrel. At least, a few seconds later, when I'd look at the wreckage, there'd be no squirrels and no birds in sight, although the birds came back really fast.

So now I'm going to give the deck a swab-down to get rid of the winter accumulation of bird dung and seed hulls. I'm also going to collect and trash the winter accumulation of stuff fallen from balconies above me. I hope to get around to a fairly major tidying in the next couple of days, and before the last two days of Pesach. Will be fun to turn the chaise around to face the Chickadee nesting box and quietly ensconce moi with coffee and book to watch the comings and goings.

Squirrels 10 Moi 0

2009-03-04T17:12:00.008-08:00

I thought I had it solved. I put the seed tray back on the table, sprinkled cayenne into the seeds, and surrounded it with the wire cage, weighted with some of my diving weights.

HAH!

At first I thought the high wind had blown it over during the night. We had a very high wind, but it was a bit odd that wind would blow over something with wide-open mesh, and nothing much in wind resistance. Replaced all, with cayenne. Also sprinkled cayenne around the base of the table and the suet stand.

Second topple---okay, this is squirrels. Don't know how they do it, but it is definitely squirrels. Or, think again, maybe the skunk or a raccoon, or the coyote got at it. Replace all, including cayenne.

Third topple--proof positive it is squirrels. Green chips on the deck from their gnawing at the edge of the table...gnawed edge of table. Back to the cayenne solution. Paint the thick water + cayenne powder solution around the edge of the table, and sprinkle cayenne into the seed tray.

Lets see how the little monsters deal with this. In the meantime, get in touch with some of the "humane critter riddance" people on the internet and by phone and see what they've got to suggest. The supersonic noise maker I bought is for indoors, and doesn't work in the cold of March outdoors. It may work in summer, but I want something NOW!!

Oh dear, I've just found from the experts that the only benefit from the electronic pest deterrants is to the manufacturer when you buy one. They evidently have a broad band of sound that the critters quickly learn to avoid, and they even get used to the sound! (IISTGTBT or istagutbut or if it sounds too good to be true)

When I chatted with one of the fellas at the Wild Birds Unlimited store about my continuing battles with squirrels, and lamented that I have a huge brain, and I'm battling with one the size of a pea, he was at least faintly helpful. Even though the squirrel brain is less than 10 % the size of mine, and I may only be engaging 10% of my own brain, he suggested that the squirrels and their tiny brains are totally focused on food. That is all they are interested in, and they give it 110% of their attention. Meanwhile, I, with the big brain, am doing all sorts of things besides food and squirrel wars: washing dishes, driving, shopping, reading....Okay, I may feel a bit better about my perceptions of imbalance in this war, but I still want to WIN!!

Back to heavy cayenne painting and sprinkling. If YOU have a solution that bars squirrels, puhLEEZ share it with me.

Sad Happenings

2009-03-04T01:23:00.004-08:00

I think if must have been the tiny brain-damaged-from-flying-into-my-window Pine Siskin that returned today. When I opened the curtains, a fluffy bit of feathers was squatted in the seed tray, and paid no attention to me opening the curtains and then the door. I couldn't imagine a youngster at this time of year, so I went closer. It looked rather like a fluffy baby, and then it fluttered off to teeter on a planter, and fall into the shrubbery. Not a baby. Feathers fully formed, and behaviour erratic.

When I waited a bit, after filling up the seed tray, it fluttered back and hopped in an injured fashion around the edges of my deck near my door, pecking at bits of fallen seed. Then it fluttered into the seed tray again, and again paid no attention to my opening the door.

I thought about capturing it and bringing it in to warm it, and maybe feed it and give it to drink. I thought about all the fluffing and twitching maybe being a bad case of mites rather than a head injury. And finally, as the other birds came to the seed deck, and seemed to ignore the fluffy one, I retreated for the day.

I decided to not decide, and by afternoon, when I went to look again, a sad and tiny pile of feathers was in the crack between the wire grating and the seed tray.
As I had expected, the tiny bird had been close to death and it had come.

I felt so sad for the tiny, lonely bit of fluff. But I also felt a little warmth that it had come to my seed tray, and not felt uncomfortable about it, but had hunkered down in its last hours to occasionally nip a seed, and watch its friends.

My tiny cross-eyed neighbour, Eljay, the leuchistic Junco is no longer coming around. I hope so much that other food sources have proved more tempting, or Eljay has moved on, but I'm much afraid the moving on may be of a permanent nature. Will keep hoping, even into next winter, to see if I get my little cross-eyed neighbour back.

A Case for Scummy Windows

2009-02-22T15:32:00.003-08:00

A Pine Siskin just tried to bash its tiny brains out on my newly cleaned window.

I've noticed more thumps than usual since I washed the window on Friday. Evidently the 'dim' view of the rest of the property seems to be a 'distant' view to a birdbrain.

The little fellow circled woozily around and landed on the edge of my deck railing. I watched it to see if it was okay.

Not okay.

After a couple of VERY close passes overhead by Varied Thrushes and Juncos, when it didn't even duck or twitch, I quietly went out, murmuring at it all the time. Got close and even as I reached my hand for it, it did not move. I picked it up in a warm, firm grasp that left wiggle room. It barely wiggled, although it had been perched on the edge of the rail. Just stayed in my hand after an initial WIGGLE that produced the aftermath of a good seed feeder (soggy black and white mess on my other hand and fingers). It seemed quite content to just rest in my hand with its tiny head showing and beak waving around almost not at all.

I tried opening my hand and it fluttered onto my jacket and clung there. But the left leg was folded awkwardly against my jacket, not clinging as the other was. I took it back in my hand to keep it warm, considering what on earth I was to do with it. Opened my hand a bit again, and with a SCREECH, it flew over the railing and into the bushes.

As of half an hour later, haven't seen a Pine Siskin with any noticeable weaknesses or problems.

Now I have a dilemma. I just love being able to clearly see and photograph through a clean window. But I do NOT want to be the unwilling cooperator in bird bashing. To spray suds on the window or not....The little fellows get so excited and their aim isn't terrific when they take off from the seed tray in a high state of frenzy. Don't want any more tiny bodies hanging on the railings. Gotta figure this out.

In the meantime, I've been able to plug my electronic squirrel-and-other-small-mammal-discourager into an indoor socket and yet have the wire go past my closed deck door to put the business end outside. Aimed it at squirrel haunts I don't want haunted. Also, after watching a gray athlete clamber around on two of my big planters that have sat on the railing for years, I watched it launch itself from the edge of one, across about 7 or 8 feet of space on an UPward trajectory, successfully grab onto the edge of the seed tray, and pull itself aboard. So THAT's how they get there. Okay. Today it has been squirrels 3, Rivka 0. But the fix is in!!!

Moved the planters onto the deck. That left the railing clear for my tiny wounded PS to precariously land. We'll see come morning, when the squirrel population is most active, if the electronic discourager actually discourages, or is just another way to burn money.

Any suggestions about my windows clean/dirty challenge are MOST welcome.

Spring is Coming

2009-02-17T19:40:00.003-08:00

Birdies are continuing most entertaining. Eljay, the little junco with the white eyemask that looks cross-eyed at me is still dodging around the edges and seems to be just fine. The flickers come now and again in a wonderful blaze of orange underfeathers. The herds of tiny Pine Siskins are fighting with each other over space on the edge of the seed tray, even when it is full and there's lots of room. Must be getting toward spring. The feistiest one actually spreads its wings and flaps them frantically at everybody--and everybody goes away. Then he/she squats in the seeds to gorge, until the next arrivals and more frantic wing fluttering and feather fluffing.
Such tremendous energy from such a tiny puff of stuff.

A crow has been making swings past the deck, but not actually landing yet. I am certain it remembers my less-than-encouraging shoutings and clappings and heavings of water and brick-a-brack last year and is ultra cautious. I've decided to let it be, and whatever the crows want to do, if it isn't downright objectionable, I'll let 'em have at it.

There's a starling too, very black and sleek, and very occasional. Also very very nervous. So I don't expect to be inundated with starlings in the near future.

Inundations of chickadees, juncos, pine siskins and warblers are more than welcome, and often keep me in stitches. When I work at my dining-room table, there is at least one bang per 6 hours on the glass doors. But I've yet to find a body. They seem to suffer no worse than a lost feather or two and maybe a headache. The bangs seem to happen when they're already airborne and furiously fighting with each other. The amount of feathered friction that can be generated while airborne is truly amazing.

The squirrels seem to be outRivka'd for the moment. Almost never appear, and when they do, they look and sort of scratch their heads, then move on. No one has been landing on the seed tray for some time now--what with the distance I've moved it from all possible (to me, often impossible) launching points, and jumping up places. With the 30+ pounds of lead in my dive belt securing the feet of the stand, they're not able to knock it over anymore, so feasting is out.

I admit to feeling a bit silly finding myself in competition with something that has a brain the size of a pea...Maybe they use ALL of their brain, while we humans use so little of ours I understand....

Skidmarks continue in the seed tray as the flurries and fusses of feathered friends continue all day long.

The Flicker Came Back

2009-01-11T20:13:00.005-08:00

Well the flicker came back like a dark explosion, sweeping all chickadees, bushbabies, juncos and other smallfry before it. WHAM onto the suet block. There it stayed for about 20 minutes, hammering away at the peanut butter and other good stuff. But this time, the smallfry had worked either their appetites or their nerves to such a peak that many ventured to share the tray and even a suet block with the gigantic neighbour. NOT that anybody messed with the flicker, although a towhey sure wanted to. Kept eyeing the flicker, and nabbing bites from the tray--MOST unusual, as all of the towheys seem to generally be ground, not tray feeders. But something about that particular flicker must have been non-threatening, and possibly even genuinely neighbourly. So the smaller fry kept coming -- either looping around in figure 8s to check out all sides of feeder and big bird, or flappitting up to get a good look, then flopping down again either into the water dish or onto the deck. Lots and lots of fuss and feathers. I thoroughly enjoyed the visits.

I've got to add at least a 5-pound lead weight to the footings of the feeder pole. Either the squirrel launchings or the wind or both are knocking it over all too often. When I began this adventure, I didn't dream how complicated it could become, although it's pretty well all complicated-good, just really challenging sometimes to outwit a squirrel. And if THAT doesn't make me feel foolish, nothing will. They have a brain the size of what? A peanut? Less? And yet they can manipulate and fling themselves into the most surprising circumstances. I certainly have mixed feelings when I discover one actually squatted on the seedtray, because I know it is hungry, but I also know the pure joy I'm going to experience when I WHAP on the window and the squirrel does a double backflip into the ivy.

They're becoming a lot more nervous and a lot less aggressive the last week. Maybe I'm finally getting through to that pea-of-a-brain that they're NOT WELCOME!! And certainly in this neighbourhood, there is lots of food elsewhere. They just have to climb higher and farther out on the branches to get at it. I've checked, so I'm sure. There really are still acorns and chestnuts on the branches.

Eljay is still around, and evidently thriving. He cocks his head in several directions to eyeball the seedtray from below, but still hasn't attempted to get onto it, at least not so far as I've seen. He just scouts around the deck, in and out of the planters, and on and off them, finding grubs and seeds and worms and whatever. Certainly, the birds on the seedtray fling it around with gay abandon, and when landing with a swoosh, manage to lift a smorgasbord down to the deck patrollers.

I've got fox sparrows, juncos, up to 4 (FOUR!!!) towheys at a time, winter wrens, varied thrushes and the occasional chickadee scrounging on deck, while the house finches (or maybe also purple finches---no one seems to know for sure), goldfinches, bushbabies, downy woodpeckers, and flicker seem to only go for the tray and suet
blocks. It was only the first time they appeared that the 3 flickers came down to the deck. Never since.

Snow all gone, and a wet and sloppy mess of rotting leaves, cayenne and seeds is all around the foot of the feeding pole. There are holes developing in some of the boards of the deck, and I groan when thinking about having to move all those planters---a few quite huge, OFF the deck in order to get it rebuilt. Well, I just do a Scarlet O'Hara, and "I'll think about it tomorrow" or maybe a lot later than that.

In the meantime, it's standing at about squirrels 7 Rivka 9. HAH!

Knockover and Tree Rat Score-keeping

2009-01-04T21:40:00.003-08:00

So for the new year of 2009, it is standing presently at squirrels 5, Rivka 3.

They knocked over the whole seedtray, suet block, and pole arrangement this morning while I was out. This, of course, resulted in a jackpot for the birds, frustration for moi, and probably bruises for the squirrels--I can only hope. In any case, they did not appear for the rest of the day.

My frustration took me to a Home Depot to buy a sonic rodent repeller---which turned out to be only for indoors. I'd also forgotten that I do not have an electricity outlet on the deck---that was in a previous existence in another location. So I re-packaged the device, having been assured by Home Depot that I can return it if it is in the original packaging and I have the receipts.

THEN I got serious---put a whole lot of cayenne powder in a bowl, mixed it with water, and with a paintbrush, stomped onto the deck and liberally applied the potion to the top surface of the rat repelling cone on the feeder pole, to the surface of various things that the @)#(*$&# tree rats climb on to get launched, and then liberally painted it onto the screen door in the area from which they've been launching. The screen is now sporting a rather fetching set of orange-red streaks which I plan to renew from time to time. If I just pull the curtain across that side of the window enough to block the streaked screen, all is peaceful inside, and hopefully repellant of rodents outside.

It IS hilarious watching a tree rat clamber up the screen, position itself, and then launch for the feeder---more than 8 feet away, scrabble uselessly at the rat repeller and slide to the ground. The knock-over this morning seems to have been because I had the weights on the bottom three legs of the support for the pole facing the wrong way, so that leverage, a high wind, and squirrel power resulted in seed bonanza for the birdies.

And now it is snowing hard again, so I'm really glad I ventured to the Wild Birds store for another couple of jugs of mixed (shell-less) seeds. The staff at the store are very sympathetic about my wars with squirrels, even suggesting things such as the rodent zapper, but ultimately as baffled as I.

Planning on staying inside in the morning, as the high winds, snow and ice are truly unpleasant if not totally unsafe. Even part of the airport and some streets have been shut down tonight. However, as 2 feet of snow doesn't seem to discourage tree rats, nor send them into hibernation mode--at least not here on the west coast of Canada with our "mild" (Hah!) weather, I'll be waiting with brush and potion for noise from the deck. I suppose if we got a plunge to minus 30 Celsius with the snow and ice....don't even think about it. I live in Vancouver to avoid all that "Canadian winter" stuff.

Have to be up early for a conference call in the morning, so we'll see how repellant my fixings actually are against the @()#$& TRs.

NOBODY messes with a Flicker

2009-01-03T17:57:00.006-08:00

So today was a quiet Shabbat spent reading and thinking and watching the shenanigans on the deck from my huge comfy chair. I can literally curl up in it, pull the silk belly-dancing veils over my shoulders for warmth and the Jerusalem tapestry over the rest of me for ditto.

As usual, the deck seemed at times to be hopping up and down, there were so many small birds in motion, zipping after falling seeds, zipping at each other, or just zipping. And then something I can't hear or see scares the lot of them, on deck and on tray into the toolies---silence, stillness for a few minutes---then resumption of shenanigans.

But when a Great Norther Flicker lands, NOBODY messes with it. The varied thrushes are about 3/4 the size of a flicker, and get lots of mobbing by juncos, chickadees and nuthatches. But the flicker gets total control. Mind you, it only stays for a minute or two, never more, then heads out for an hour or more. But while it is on-tray, the respect and deference accorded the big bird, are outstanding.

Snow kept coming down in small bits like from a flour shaker, and then big wet sloppy pieces that pretty well blank out the view. When the big bits land on a bird, they must tickle, as there is a small explosion of head shakings and body quivers.

It was the squirrels, AGAIN, that got me out of bed this morning. The clank and clatter of them launching from my screen door gets me launched into the living room, and usually a shot of water at them from the big jug kept just inside the door. But this morning, one was already on the seed deck, so my bang on the glass launched it again with a double flip into the snow-covered ivy, then a scoot through one of the holes in the concrete wall. I found that the baffle had slipped down the pole, so I restored it's height, returned to bed, and in a few minutes was launched again by screen-door clatters. When I got within sight of the deck, the squirrel was just launching itself from the top of my screen at the feeder. It landed on the baffle, slid down and off, and zoomed out of sight through a hole in the wall.

I stayed there for a while, and watched TWO squirrels arrive through the wall, confer, and change their minds to go hopping off under the hedges in the direction of the willow tree. A little later I could see them coming down the tree trunk, squabbling with each other, and disappearing. They didn't reappear anywhere near me all day. Too much to hope they've learned to stay off. They'll be back for another try tomorrow. AAaaaarrrrrrrrggggghhhhhh. Gotta try some of the little twisties called "Catsoff" or "Dogsoff" or something like that to keep mammals away from your garbage cans. Maybe putting a few around the deck, and particularly on the screen door, will discourage the little demons. Tree rats they are---so destructive. So cute. So mind-bogglingly pervasive. So, squirrels 99, me 101, but who's counting?

Eljay, the masked junco was messing around with something in the crack below its feet when perched on a planter. Maybe sipping water drops, as the temperature all day was hovering just around the freezing point, and there was water to be had in some places of melt. The pan of water didn't seem to interest anyone, except as an annoyance when a falling seed hit the water instead of the deck.

A bit more birdsneeze today, but not a whole lot. Seems the human variety of strep and flu and colds is on the rise amongst my human friends. But birdsneeze is rarely visible. SOOooooooo nice to be on this side of the glass, with a cuppa and munchies, and good books, curled warmly just watching the show. Promise of a lot more snow tonight, so will fill the feeder later on in case I don't make it up before the morning rush. It was almost empty at sundown.

BirdSneeze

2008-12-30T14:54:00.010-08:00

Today I saw a bird sneeze. Honestly, that HAD to be what it did. It is one of the most colourful birds that visits my feeder---yes, squirrels, it is MY feeder and you are STILL not welcome. Today, as a varied thrush was busy on the deck keeping its siblings or children at bay, it sneezed. I couldn’t hear it, as the glass door was closed. But it made all the correct gestures for a genuine sneeze. It tipped its head back for an instant, then forcefully down, with the beak open a bit, and the eyes closing for an instant.

Now I wonder if it has a contagious somethingorother and if so, will the other varied thrushes get it? And now there are SIX of them anywhere around in the trees, on the railings, on the deck chasing each other, and on the feed tray.

In the continuing battles with squirrels, just tossed the last of the jug of water at a gray one, and refilled the jug for the next rounds.

About the birdsneeze, I’ve seen animals such as cats, dogs, even squirrels sneeze, but never a bird. I’ve been watching birdlife off and on since my earliest years and I cannot remember ever seeing a sneeze. If you have seen/heard a birdsneeze I’d very much like to know about it. Do email/comment me.

In the meantime, the tremendous wind, sleet, hailstorm yesterday afternoon blew over my feeder, so that I got home to find it knocked down. It was already way past sunset and I’m worried now that some of the more fragile birdies didn’t get enough nosh before bedtime and didn’t survive the night. Haven’t seen my little masked junco today. However, it seems to disappear for a while and then reappear quite happily, frisking around the deck and even chasing others to grab a seed. Maybe it’ll appear later. I hope so.

Beginning to recognize certain birds with identifiable traits such as the white mask. One finch has a dangling right foot that seems to be permanently crippled so that it cannot control the movement, nor put any weight on it. Has a hard time landing on the edge of the feed tray, needing two feet to get balance. So it flutters like mad at a 2-inch distance, then grabs on and rocks like a sailor in stormy seas.

Right now, I’ve set up my laptop at the big easy-chair at the windows onto the deck, and am watching over my shoulder as the circus continues. They’re just going to have to get used to my head and finger movements—as I’m sure they will. They have pretty well learned to ignore my bangings and water flingings with the squirrel-directed munitions. Even the varied thrushes are a lot less nervous or shy than at first, and come right back.

Oh fine. TWO grey furballs just now. One hunkered down while I flang water at the other, then I noticed the hunkerer and flung some more—--off went both with the usual reluctant hoppiting.

The large starling that had appeared for a few days, was very nervous and hasn’t appeared today at all. Hope it has gone elsewhere and taken its siblings and its parents and its cousins and its aunts along too. Although between squirrels and starlings, I’ll take the starlings—at least so far.

I’ve had to raise the seedtray high enough to get out of the reach of jumping squirrels, so that I can no longer see the birds on the far side of the tray when I’m sitting. Annoying, but I’m finding that I recognize tailfeathers and the particular rhythms of flitterings of many birds now, without actually seeing either heads or bodies. The beautiful flickers and the varied thrushes each have a lot of orange, and each have a heavy dark breastband, although the flickers are a good deal larger, and much shyer. But the flicker tail has two points in it that are not in the thrush tail…So when I sense a flash of orange and look up to find a tail protruding below the far side of the feeder, I know which neighbour has arrived.
While the thrushes only seem to chase each other, and occasionally a towhey, the smaller birds keep clear when a thrush is on the seedtray. Except for chickadees and nuthatches—they seem to have almost no fear. They’ll zoom in land with a splash, and nosh at high speed even when a thrush or a flicker is on the tray. The juncos, bushbabies and finches stay away until the larger bird leaves.

The chickadees have even become accustomed enough to me that they’ll often land with a squeak if I just stand quietly right beside the feeder. Although I think it is only the highest-ranking or the lowest that will do this. When the weather warms up, I’m going to try again to get chickadees landing on my fingers and taking seeds from my hand. That thrill of the prickly-footed tiny angel landings, I’ve only had at Reifel and Stanley Park. The chickadee neighbours here are still not comfortable enough with me to land on my hand.

Time for lunch.

Oh wow and hooray!!! The white-masked leuchistic junco is back and looking really healthy. I think I’ll call this bird Eljay in future.

Eljay also seems to be sneezing. I wonder if it is the \weather, or if I’ve just started to notice this amongst birds. Please, if you’ve seen this behaviour in birds, do tell me about it.

SNOW!!!

2008-12-24T15:52:00.008-08:00

Oh wow. We haven't had this much snow all at once since I was only tall enough to have it come to my eyebrows....

The birds are appreciating the feed-deck like crazy. And they are slightly crazy. The fluttering battles amongst tiny feathered warriors are often hilarious, and sometimes take them over the hedge and far away---HOW they keep in such perfect synchronization as they fly.....

Have had FIVE varied thrushes waiting for a chance at the seed tray. And the family of 3 northern flickers appears from time to time.

The 'cirque du squirrel' seems to be on hold right now---snow is probably too deep for even a hungry squirrel to attempt. We've had more than 2 feet of it in the last few days, and it continues blowing and arriving today.

The little leuchistic junco is still a regular visitor. The goldfinches happily scatter thistle seed far and wide as they gnosh, and the chickadees continue their conveyor-bird hustling to and from the seed tray. I think they're practising a combination of stash and gnosh. In any case, their quick flittings back and forth are often so funny as they almost bump into other birds, but never quite---making wonderfully fast and furious winged deviations.

Juncos galore, as well as fox sparrows, occasional wrens and more than 4 towheys. The house finches seem to like the feed tray, not the ground, and occasionally there is an explosion of feathers and fuss as the bushbabies arrive, seemingly by spontaneous combustion.

Finding that flinging a jug of water at the squirrel(s) is the best discouragement. They really do not at all like getting wet.

My upstairs neighbour just dropped off a lovely note to tell me how much he appreciates my feeding the feathered neighbours, as it is providing him with entertainment in his living room, just watching the circus in the trees outside.

It's such fun to watch the biggest birds--the flickers and thrushes go 'phlumpf' into the snow on a branch, wing off in a cloud of white, and 'phlumpf' again elsewhere. They land in the 2-foot drifts on my railings with surprised look as they sink up to the eyebrows, or eyefeathers or whatever. Perching feet don't do all that well as snowshoes, and the tiniest birds have a real time of it, as they try to unbury themselves after landings.

I count myself incredibly fortunate to have such neighbours---human and feathered, and yes, even the furred tree rats provide unintentional excitement with the backflips off the screen and seed deck. Watching the snow coming and coming and coming and still coming, I wonder how the street people and other out-of-doors animals are surviving in all this cold and white. I am so happy to just cuddle up under the quilt, pull up my hood, and breath in the coffee aroma as I sip and watch. Skidmarks are even better in the snow.

Cirque du Squirrel

2008-12-18T13:05:00.004-08:00

A huge varied thrush just appeared between visits of the resident flicker family---at least two of the flickers have learned to land on the seed tray to snorkel up grub...the thrush hasn't figured it out, yet. But the squirrels are a continuation of annoyance.

It is an ongoing war, with pauses between battles. I've tried all sorts of things to discourage but the "cirque du squirrel", as my friend Alison refers to it, continues. This morning I banged another one off the screen, and it backflipped into the butterfly bush.

Finding that not only does cayenne powder do little to discourage squirrels, but makes a real mess on the deck, and if I forget I've oiled the feeding pole with oiled cayenne, I'll pay for it hours later if my finger touches my eye or mouth. On this one--squirrels 1, me 0.

However, a well-aimed toss of cold water seems to be the most discouraging thing I can do, added to the careful distance I've got around the feeder, so that the squirrels can't launch themselves successfully. I occasionally hear the banging of the screen door and then a thump that means an unsuccessful launch. If I'm in the living room when it happens, I can even get close enough to water the squirrel.

If you have any tips---please submit them. The mess and destruction these tree rats cause is not fun.

But the continuing flutter onboard the feeder is worth everything. The bushbabies are returning many times a day, in force. One of them is so small I first thought it was a hummingbird. And they all seem to prefer the peanut-butter-and-jelly to the other types of suet block I've been putting out. And since the disappearance of the other feeding station in the neighbourhood--I guess the family moved away--my station has been busier than ever.

So far, the crows are giving it a miss--although they eye it from a distance, while two of them snuggle companionably in the willow tree. The occasional swoop over the deck keeps the tinier birdlife cautious about all shadows in the sky.

The Deck is Alive...

2008-12-16T15:22:00.003-08:00

The deck is alive with the joy of birdlife. All hopping around and about double their 'normal' sizes. They're all fluffed up to combat the cold. Juncos and towheys, three flickers, and even the little leuchistic junco is back again. It has been well below freezing for about 3 days now, with some snow, and at least 5 cm promised for tonight. Riotous challenges and arguments erupt frequently, even though there is plenty for all--great fluffings, beak gapings, furious combative flying fights and pouncings on each other. Maybe the cold weather brings out nastiness...

I've been keeping the feeding tray well-stocked with cracked sunflower seeds, and sometimes a mix of other things. The flock of more than 20 bushbabies seem to love the peanut-butter-and-jelly suet block, and only go to the other one if there's no room at the pb&j.

The three flickers arrived in mid-afternoon in a wonderul flapping of orange and brown. Very very cautious, even nervous, and not too well-coordinated for landing on a feeding tray. One of them managed it, twice--once squatting in the seeds and slurping them in, the second time, clinging to the edge, with tail propped against the bottom and head cocked over the edge to slurp seeds.

The little downies are coming and going, with chickadees, house finches, goldfinches, and nuthatches.

The squirrels seem to have pretty well given up, and the one that appeared today took off a high speed when I opened the door and hissed at it.

Every few hours I take a pan of hot water out to replace the iced-over dish, and provide drinkables in two or three places. Seems to be appreciated, particularly by the house finches and juncos. Trying to get up early enough to give them water first-thing each morning. They must be hungry and thirsty after the cold nights.

L'Junko Weirdness

2008-11-16T17:58:00.007-08:00

Well it sure is fall again. The feeder is doing a booming business. The area of my deck seems at times to be levitating, the birdlife is so frenetic.
Today a weird little fellow appeared. I couldn’t find it in any bird book, although it looked almost junko- like, except for the reverse-bandito mask of white over the eyes, and some funny blonde spots on the wings. So I took lots of photos and went off to consult my favourite bird people at the Wild Birds Unlimited shop. They were a bit busy at first, so I got a really good schmooze in with Tabitha the cat, including lots of ear scratches, chin rubs and streeeee e e e e e eeeeching.
The fellows behind the counter looked at my photos and assured me it is a “leuchistic junko”. That evidently means pigment-missing in places, but really a junko. I kind of think it’s a male as the bib on the chest is quite dark. Will be interesting to see if it hangs around all winter, or disappears, probably into the maw of some predator.
The house finches, junkos, chickadees, nuthatches and downy woodpeckers are all doing their best to bankrupt my birdfeeding budget. HAH, they don’t know I’ve got options. And that means they’re getting only the really good stuff to tuck into---seedless, cracked seeds and nuts that leave no husks behind, and fill their teeny tummies really fast.
Some days, as I mooch from the kitchen with a mug of whatever through the living room to the office, I get mesmerized by the antics on the deck. Nuthatches prefer to be upside down, and occasionally a crow just can’t resist doing a near-kamikaze over the deck to scare the &^!@#*^)(* out of all the wee ones.

Fluffed Like a Dandelion Seedhead

2008-09-29T17:04:00.005-07:00

Well, that's the fourth time I've seen it. A Black-capped Chickadee fluffed up like a dandelion seedhead. All four times on almost the same twig in the same tree. I think it's a dominance posture. It is so quick I'm collapsing with laughter and it's gone already. This tiny mite with an attitude suddenly EXPLODES its feathers into a puffy ball. And everyone else zips off.

Today I watched the fourth explosion, and then it came down to the seed tray and grabbed one, sat on the rim to pound it apart and keep all other BCCs away....

More when I get time.

Bushbabies

2008-07-15T20:41:00.007-07:00

They’re BACK!! The Bushbabies have had babies and now they’re fluttering around the suet blocks and swinging from the tree tips.

I refuse to call the little critters bushtits—just can’t quite handle the word—although it IS the formal name. So feh to scientific naming, and welcome back Bushbabies. Each one is about the size of a dandelion seed head, and probably about the same weight. They come in dozens and are generally unfrightened by me nearby. They also love to cruise through the spray from my garden hose.

Earlier today I noticed fluttery little shadows on the drawn curtains, and when I opened them and waited, sure enough, not only Black-capped Chickadees, but Bushbabies in flocks and herds, and flutters and dozens.

The youngest ones come whizzing in and at the last second ABORT ABORT and flutter frantically around to consider their options, just like the young chickadees and finches, only in greater numbers.

A chickadee was retreating at speed with a seed in beak when a young Bushbaby collided with it—as much cartoon as reality—chickadee zooming off at an angle and the young Bushbaby tumbling head over tail and back to the tree for another try.

The wee ones, the ones without the plumpness of the parents are hilarious. One wee one wound up swinging from tailfeathers of another in its frantic attempt to land.

The wonderful purply red of the House Finch males glows in the late afternoon light, and the crows seem to have gone off somewhere---thankfully, as they’ve been a real nuisance, shrieking from the trees and kamikaze diving at people, particularly me when I venture outside. I’ve become 99% certain it is my very brightly white hair that attracts them. People with hats and darker hair don’t seem to become targets nearly so readily.

The shyer birds are back too, without the pestiferous crows dive-bombing everything. Northern Flickers and Song Sparrows.

I remember about this time of year, in the dry and mossy woods of the Gulf Islands, finding brilliant orange flicker feathers and occasional eagle feathers on the ground, or wafting in through the foliage. As it is the right time of year for all feathers to be exchanged for new ones, think I’ll go for a walk around the area and see if any flicker feathers have fallen my way.

Kids!!!

2008-07-06T01:21:00.004-07:00

Wonderful groups and individual of babies and youngsters this last week or so.
The Black-capped Chickadees and their kids move so very fast, it is hard to see what is going on. The movements of finches, sparrows and flickers are slower and bigger, and often closer. For some reason, the chickadee youngsters stay in the trees, and do not yet approach the feeder.

Love watching a young finch squatting in a pile of sunflower seeds, howling and fluttering to be fed. The patient parent feeds and feeds the chick, then goes back to gnoshing on its own, and the chick gets the idea for a few minutes, grabs a few bites. Then more shrieking and yelling to be fed, and much fluttering and wing batting. Parent sometimes flies off with chick in full cry and pursuit. Sometimes the chick remains while parent goes.

A young finch with a rakish bit of down still clinging to the side of its head, entertained me for quite a while this afternoon. Squatting in the seeds and yelping and fluttering, then trying a sample bite on its own, then yelping and flapping some more, until the parent seemed to lose interest and flew away.

Then the chick experimented: squatting in the pile, hopping sloppily and clinging precariously to the rim of the feeder, then ducking for seeds, fluttering up and landing again in a different position and taking a last gnosh before zooming off after the parent.

The Downy Woodpecker family are frequent visitors. Mom and dad take turns stuffing themselves at the suet, then moving to the tree to stuff the youngsters in turns. Dad seems to appear more frequently than mom, particularly with his daughter. I guess mom may be off with sonny-boy somewhere teaching other things. The young male has finally caught on and is able to land on the suet, but the young female is still doing nervous circles before retreating to the cherry tree.

Had FOUR Great Northern Flickers the other day. Mom, dad, and two youngsters. The beautiful orange insides of the parent wings are not yet developed in the youngsters. The red flashes on the sides of the head of the male are lovely. Both male and female have the black crescent bib. I was close enough today to see that the bill is long and slightly curved down. I could also see the looooooooong tongue flicking out and in, to dip and taste and lick at the suet.

Mom and dad, although rather shy, and a bit nervous, check thoroughly all round the neighbourhood, then swoop in to a WHUMP landing on the feeder or on the suet. It can be spectacular if I’ve recently replenished seeds----an explosion of bird, wings, feathers and seeds.

Youngsters will watch and watch and waaaatch from the cherry tree, then try to zoom in like the old folks for a landing. But at the last minute, get nervous and zoom around in a fluttering, flapping torrent and back to the cherry tree.

The young finches have roughly the same behaviours---zooming in and at the last minute – ABORT ABORT – and frantically grabbing air as they flutter/flap and return to the cherry tree. Or if they’ve made it as far as a precarious landing in the wallflowers, will try a takeoff to the feeder, then again, ABORT ABORT and go for the landing field of the deck chair, or the twigs I’ve secured around the birdbath.

One young Flicker grabbed the edge of the pad at the foot of the deck chair and hung out there for quite a few minutes, bobbing up and down to try to see what parents were doing above on the suet block. Then, sort of in embarrassment, pecking away at the padding and bobbing up and down. Finally took off for a floppy landing on the wide concrete railing around the deck, beside one of the wallflower-filled planters but facing out, not in. As if to say, “I really meant to do this” pecks and picks at a wallflower stem, then FLUmphs around to face parents at feeder. By this time, the other, sibling, has arrived, and a squabble develops over air supremacy.

Finch, White-crowned Sparrow, and Flicker youngsters all squabble a lot over air space and feeding priority. But the disputes are short, if intense, and usually end in the same order of feeding as if they’d not squabbled. Kids!!

SkidMARKS

2008-07-02T15:23:00.005-07:00

Y’know, I’ve been wondering about the gigantic skidmarks in the sunflower seeds these last couple of weeks. They are really BIG, and sometimes there’s a scatter of seeds on the deck around the feed tray, so that I just know something major happened.

Well, this morning, as I was doing something in the dining room I heard a “flUTTTER whOMPPHH” outside, and being busy didn’t immediately go to look. Then I thought maybe one of the downy woodpeckers was in trouble, so I went to open the curtain more than the 18 inches it was opened since last night. I stopped. I looked. That looked like woodpecker tailfeathers below the suet block, but what in the world was that sticking out on the top of …..FLICKER!! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! The Flicker is back and perched on the suet block.

I froze and watched. The flicker poked its bill into the air, and sort of eyed around, then put its head down again, and pushed its loooooong tongue down into the suet holder and licked the suet block.

I watched for a good five minutes, and it kept doing it, and looking up and around. Finally the banging upstairs and a flutter of neighbourbird and the Flicker was off with an audible flUTTTTTer and a whoosh.

That bird is really really big! It is also very very shy and sneaky. I’m going to mount a second suet block so it has a better feeding arrangement to grab onto and into. And maybe, if I am sneaky too, I can get a better photo of it.

Crowchild

2008-06-26T19:37:00.004-07:00

The place is a flutter and a twitter and a great caw-cawing of birdlife. Sitting on the lawn chair and watching for an hour or so, within about 4 feet of the feeder, I am visited by male and female Downy Woodpeckers, Chickadees, House Finches, White-crowned Sparrows, and all of this overseen by two crowchildren. For over an hour, the two crowchildren simply sit on their branches, up in the cherry tree. Once in a while one or the other or both will streeeeetch a wing, or fluff out a bit. Occasionally take a slight movement around or up or down the branch.

Finally both started moving around a bit, hopping clumsily around, and a parent arrived, with food! Fed the crowchild that could make it closest fastest---if very clumsily, and then parent took off. Unfed child fell out of the tree while moving around, landing on the grass below. It appeared to be rather foolishly pleased with itself and surprised at and interested in everything. Probably was. However, instant parental hysteria…as a human (moi) was on the deck, and the child now in danger on the grass…gigantic and hysterical cawings and flappings and fly-bys.

I went out to see if I could herd the child into the bushes, but it wanted to hop around on the grass, and then off the grass onto the paved area. Hysteria building in parents, who do strafing runs over the human herder. Waving a hand over my head to keep from being decapitated, I moved under the trees and further along the grass until I could see the crowchild on the pavement huddled near the curbing. As I moved out to herd it back to the bushes, it hopped sloppily off to the entrance of the neighbouring apartment building. Parents continued hysterical strafing runs at full pitch.

When I got to the building, I talked to the crowchild, assuring it I meant no harm and that it should go back where it came from. Getting so close to it, I could see that its wing feathers were quite short, that it was kind of skinny and not fully fledged, and definitely clumsy in movement. But it hopped away, and off across the lawn, with me herding a bit, and overstrafing of parents, until the crowchild disappeared under the bushes around the swimming pool.

To continued strafing accompaniment and hysterical cawings, I retreated to ‘my’ deck. Well, I DO pay the rent, whatever the birdlife considers ownership to be.
Sitting on deck to continued shoutings and screamings of parents from cherry tree in front and above me, I decided to cool things if I could. Went in and got my iris purple 10-foot silk veil and covered myself crosslegged on the lawn chair in what I hoped was a fairly anonymous lump. Realising that my almost totally-white hair is now a beacon to crow strafing, the coverup was mandatory to peace in our time.

Sure enough, the riot began to quell, and I found that despite the parental frenzy, the other crowchild had retreated up a branch to near the tree trunk, and that the Downy Woodpeckers and the Chickadees, Finches and Sparrows were continuing unabated their own runs on the feeder, despite crow panic and general fury.

Sitting for another twenty minutes or so, under the iris veil, the neighbourhood became quite quiet again, with only occasional loud shouts from crow parents. Chickadees and others seemed much more interested in the feeder with me under colourful cover. Even had a young finch try to land on my head.

Time to get cleaned up, dressed up, and go to the Rabbi’s class.

Flicker!!!

2008-06-24T00:10:00.008-07:00

With the misty, cloudy, chilly and damp weather so far this summer, my deck has become a flower-loaded, perfumy wonder, with birdlife all over the place. As I sat in the living room today, a Flicker swooped in to the cherry tree, and then plumped onto the suet block. I was so enchanted---I am sure a huge and silly grin was all over my whole body for a half hour.

I've just recently taken away the 'cagework' I'd built to eliminate squirrels, as it did nothing to eliminate rodents--which are a problem if you don't keep a sharp lookout and lots of bait in bird-proof boxes. So now, the suet and seed are freely available to any size of bird, with a squirrel/rodent barrier below the seed tray, and with the whole shebang freestanding far enough from any possible jumping-across surface to keep it pretty safe. I am sure that is why the Flicker turned up---access!!! It was just gorgeous. A wonderful dark bib, and ORANGE flashing on the inside of the wings, when it flew in to a landing.

There is also a young family of Chickadees (unfortunately, not the ones that nested in my box) chasing through the cherry trees and the shrubbery with youngsters begging and fluttering and parents madly providing.

A very young and energetic woodpecker, which I am pretty sure is a Hairy, not a Downy, as it is really big--much longer than the female and males I've seen before, and with a very long bill--has been happily banging away at the suet block. Today, when I had the hose out with a hard spray of water aimed at various planters, this bird flew straight through the water and onto the suet block, paying no attention to me at all, and hammered away while I watered things around him.
It is definitely a him---with a lovely red flash on the top and back of the head. The brilliant, almost glowing red of the head and chest on the male house finches is a treat when they turn up--although the monotonous peeping call is a bit of a drag after 5 minutes or so. But then it goes away, and is usually followed by, or chased away by either the song and flight of White-crowned Sparrow, or a Song Sparrow.

Youngsters in these species are also learning the joys of feeder fillups. In the cherry tree to the left of my deck, there seem to be at least 3 young crows, almost fledged. They are very quiet---even when mom and dad arrive with food, they just have a soft call and lots of wing-flapping. When mom and dad leave, they are busy trying out their wings, and hopping/staggering from branch to twig to branch and back to nest. I expect they'll leave the nest tomorrow...and maybe I'll be having young crows on the deck---hoooha not for long---they'll get chase by moi with a ready shot of cold water. The long stakes I've stuck upright in the planters on the railings seem to be doing a pretty good job of discouraging low-flying crow parents from dive bombing the deck, or low-level buzz-flights just to annoy me. I guess it is a territorial thing, but as I'm not bothering them any more, they seem to be not bothering me---we'll see what happens when youngsters are fledged.

So, what with a Flicker and free and enthusiastic landings the skidmarks in the sunflower seeds are awesome!

Gone

2008-06-15T13:47:00.004-07:00

Well, they've gone. While I was away from the house last Friday, the youngsters left the nest. And now, today, Sunday, I have two adult Black-capped Chickadees checking out the nesting box.

Both of them hung out on nearby twigs and took turns poking their noses into the entrance.

When I was sure they'd left, I opened the box and found that new soft fluff has been added to the bottom of the nest, so hmmmmmmmm?????

Asking at the Wild Birds Unlimited store, the birders on staff told me this is not a good sign for the fledglings---if this is the same pair of adults, the fledglings have not survived, as it takes around 3 weeks for parents to train the kids and then wave bye bye...

However, I don't know if it is the same parents, or another couple taking advantage. Their behaviours were identical to mom and pop from the first go-around, so ... but who knows?

Now I'm thinking of getting a teeny tiny camera into the box that will take pix and sound in low light, to find out what is going on in there.
Al, at the Wild Birds Unlimited store suggested I go to the Spy Store for a tiny camera...

Will wait for Monday, and see.

In the meantime, after turning around in my big easy chair to check on the feeder yesterday afternoon, and finding a young grey squirrel upside down and doing its best to claw its way into the seed, I rapped on the window. MAN that squirrel was fast. Just GONE, ZAP, DONE, out-of-there.

So today, I've got a new cast iron system with squirrel baffle and suet hooks to try. Will wait until it is a little cooler, as we finally have mildly roasting weather.

Messages

2008-06-11T15:55:00.006-07:00

Well, this morning, I watched until both mom and pop had left the nest and quietly opened the front of the nesting box. As I can't see anything anyway, I carefully inserted my weakest finger to feel for nestlings----AHA, a feathered something, but seemingly only one in the bottom of the nest---then, higher, nestlings around the edges, feathered, and getting ready for flight!!

As I carefully closed the box, I became aware of mom or pop watching me, silently, from one of the stakes I've put up to interrupt flight-paths of crows flying near-misses across my deck. I looked parent in the eye, quietly apologized for any disruption, and stated that I was going into the house now, and hoped they don't mind me checking on the progress of their family. I was silently watched all the way into the house, and closing of screen and sliding door.

Then parent flitted to a nearer stake, looking really carefully all around. Then to the top of the nesting box, looking really carefully all around. The to cling outside the entrance to the nest, and even more carefully look all around and poke head inside a couple of times. Then flit off.

About 10 seconds later--ZOOOOM straight into the box, and conveyorbird re-commenced.

I've noticed in the last few days that the parent birds will perch outside the nest and call softly---dee dee dee, or dee dee dee, dee dee dee. Then they'll enter the nest with food. I think they're encouraging the youngsters to hear the call and maybe poke their noses out. So it was a powerful message from parent bird to me, watching me with total silence and not a sound before entering the box after my own visit.

This afternoon, all is well, and youngsters still being fed inside the nest, with parental calls of encouragement before delivery of fat grubs and caterpillars. However, I'm expecting that they may fledge while I'm out of the house tomorrow morning.

Flitterings

2008-05-29T12:07:00.006-07:00

The ENERGY put into all of this raising of babies is totally amazing. I’ve known that for most of my life about humans, but I’m just discovering things about birds, through these chickadee neighbours. They have their own schedule, but it goes something along the lines of converyorbird food to young for large part of an hour, then take less a while away from the nest, probably to feed themselves, although mom may be sitting in the nest during that time. I understand it is to keep the babies warm. Then back to deliveries.

The energy I’ve been noticing most is the way they leave the nest---zoom out of the entrance, and then fliTTtttter, fliTTtttter, fliTTtttter, fliTTtttter, flit flit, flitter away into the trees or bushes. They are not distance flyers, but the sprints are awesome.

I sometimes see them in the canopy hunting for the next bug delivery. Sometimes they go further away. But they’re back again in less than 2 minutes with another delivery. And if both land at the same time, mom always shoves in first. Then pop delivers to her inside and off again……

I’ve sort of worked out who is mom and who is pop, through behaviour, although mom is possibly a tad fluffier. Pop is pretty tiny, but no wonder—he must be slimmed right down with all that exercise. Mom has been on the nest a whole lot, and although pop seems to go in to the nest every so often he never stays much more than a minute. He delivers yummy bugnesses through the entrance when mom is inside.

Everything happens incredibly fast---so you have to watch pretty carefully to notice what is going on.

Next year, I’m going to try to mount a camera inside the box, through the slot at the top back, to see what goes on in there. They’ve done it for eagles and others, so I’m sure it is possible for chickadees.

Conveyorbirds

2008-05-27T20:46:00.005-07:00

Chickadees seem to have a schedule---feeding kids by conveyorbird for about an hour, then mom and pop disappear for a while---I assume to feed themselves. Then the conveyorbird starts up again. They are truly amazingly inconspicuous as they go back and forth. The soft twitterings I heard the other day must have been the adults to each other inside the box. Babies too small yet to make any noises.

The soft calls from the cherry tree twigs to whoever is in the box are much quieter than the display calls during their mating rituals and competitions. Just barely audible.

Got the camera out for a few neat shots of arriving mom or pop, but haven’t got a good angle to get the beakful---just the rear end disappearing into the box.

Later:

Now THAT was a new experience. Lying back in the deck chair, with sunhat tipped over my eyes, sitting to the left of the birdfeeding arrangement and about 5 feet from it, a birdy swoOOOOped under my nose, wingtips brushing my nostrils, and landed in the sunflower seeds. What a lovely way to wake up. I didn’t want to scare it off, so I just lay there and listened. Much stomping around in the seeds and cracking things and whacking something on something. Went on for a good ten minutes.

Later another---I think a pine siskin---swooped the other way, brushing wingtips on my knees…WOWOWOWOW.

I’ve been doing a little math. Have no idea how many babies are in the nest, but at the rate the chickadee parents are feeding the kids, if they supply a minimum of 6 grubs per hour, for the 12 + hours of daylight, and that is a real minimum----they’re providing between 60 and 80 highly nutritious stuffings per day. Just think how that depletes the leaf eaters. Just think how fast the babies will fatten up. Then add to it about 2 or 3 grubs per hour for the adults, with the occasional nosh at the suet block or sunflower seeds. HUGE intakes all round.

Now if I had any idea how much a caterpillar/grub weighs on average---well, let’s say that they’re putting at least a quarter pound per day of grub into the kids…more WOWOWOW. And they’re not the only ones nesting and feeding the kids and themselves. The finches and siskins and crows are all busy as can be. I can hear the robins all over the place. What a gigantic load of critters is living in the ground and in the canopies. I never thought about it before.

Ankle Deep

2008-05-26T15:04:00.008-07:00

Amazing how young finches will stand ankle-deep in the cracked sunflower seeds yelling to be fed, as their parents ignore them, dipping for and eating a seed, and another, and another. Then the parents fly away with clamouring kids in train behind...I suppose the kids will 'get it' pretty soon and start feeding on their own.

In the meantime, the chickadee hatchlings are definitely there, as mom and pop are on non-stop food delivery. All sorts of different grubs, caterpillars and insects from what I can see in the beaks as they land on the entrance and look around before going in. Haven't witnessed removal of fecal sacs yet, but the wee ones may be too tiny.

Put up the kitchen stool with step, climbed up, and quietly opened the front of the box to see what's going on. Nothing but a deep nest. Put a finger in (thank you for teaching me Vancouver Aquarium---my smallest/weakest finger) and felt just tiny lumps. So they are very new.

Closed it up and left the stool out for further investigations in a day or so.

My upstairs neighbour was out talking with building management and they were both pointing at the cherry tree. He seemed to be trying to convince her of something, and she made the universal hand sign for 'gelt needed' rubbing her fingers together. So I'll ask him when he's 'on deck' again later how it went. I sure hope they'll trim not chop.

Crows are now doing shifts in nest sitting. Not sure if anybody's hatched yet, but maybe---some odd squeaking and chuckling noises from the nest area---but they may just have been a satisfied mom.

Finches don't come when I'm on my deck, no matter how quiet and still I am. They'll come to the cherry tree, twitter around a lot and then flock off. Hoping to get them accustomed enough to me that they'll land while I'm sitting out.

Mrs. Black-capped Chickadee has her time on the nest, then her time for grooming, then for food ferrying, and repeat.

Grooming never seems to take place at the birdbath. In fact, I’ve never seen a chickadee use a birdbath. She sits on a twig, up high, and scratches like mad at head, neck, breast, with one foot. Then does the ‘shuuuu u u d d ddder, twitch’ to settle everything in its proper place. Repeat other side. This can go on for a minute or more, while pop is ferrying food. Usually she goes off somewhere after the grooming, and pop continues food fetching. Sometimes she’ll zoom straight into the nest after a grooming session---and I mean STRAIGHT—like an arrow into the hole in the door. she doesn’t even touch the edges—just straight in. WOW.

Guess it can be pretty hot and sweaty sitting on growing youngsters all day---and a good scratch and fluff must feel terrific.

The cat, Tabitha, at the Wild Bird store on Oak Street, also loves a good scratch and fluff—particularly if I combine ear scratching with under the chin, rub down along spine and up to head and ears again. She also loves my using the multi-pronged carding utensil (for cats), to draw along her back and flanks. She’s the only cat I’ve ever met---in a life FULL of cat acquaintances, who quite enjoys having her paws petted. We’ve also learned about each other that she likes to be picked up and placed against a shoulder so she can see around. The other day, she climbed right up on the shoulder, and a staff member told me she was lolling her head and front paws down my back, thoroughly enjoying herself. Me too. Another WOW moment. I’ve had kittens do that, but not a grown-up, self-sufficient, minding-her-own-business, responsible store cat!! And she is a MOST successful guardian mouser---that is her job, on patrol all night. Get’s sleeping in during the day in her basket on the shelf, under the heat lamp, with fresh water and toys nearby. I’m told she is extremely nervous and uninterested in people when she’s outside----so I feel wonderfully privileged to have her company when I visit the shop.

She also enjoys the trick my dad developed with all of our cats as I grew up. You reach down and grasp the tail right near the body, and lll i i fff t the cat's hindquarters slowly and put down again. All of our cats loved it and would come by where you were seated, waving a tail in your magazine /face/armpit and demanding tail pickup. I've never met a cat who doesn't like it---although much to the consternation of the uninitiated human. Tabitha is definitely a tail-pickup cat---although only gentle hindquarters lifts so far. Our house cats all loved to be lifted right off the floor and into arms/lap/wagon/doll buggy.

Back to the chickadees---I notice that the leaves nearest the trunk on the cherry tree are getting a bit lacy looking, so wondering if my being ‘on deck’ is keeping the grub finding limited. I’ll stay inside this afternoon and see if anybody hunts the little monster grubs in comparative privacy.

Youngsters Apparent

2008-05-25T20:07:00.003-07:00

'My' chickadees are feeding youngsters now---hard at work arriving with various forms of grubs and caterpillars. Both of them. A soft twitter out of the box when mom or pop arrives. And they're going on about it as I sit quietly in the deck chair just a few feet from the box.

The crows nesting in the cherry tree above and to the left---and MUCH against my will, but not theirs---are setting on eggs I guess. There is a constant back and forth of mom or pop, and loud discussions and gurglings at the nest.

Where the chickadees are very inconspicuous in their nesting, feeding and back and forth, the crows are anything but. I've planted a 6-foot stake in the planter on the railing, to keep the male crow from soaring across my deck on his way to who knows what. It has been quite distressing to have a great whacking black thing roar across my space, and possibly annoy 'my' chickadees.

I initially tried to discourage the crows with loud clappings and mouth noises, but it seems they simply got quiet and waited until I tired, then went on about building and laying. They too can be pretty inconspicuous when threatened---but not anymore. Will be interesting to see what happens when their young hatch and fledge.

A huge plus with all the bird activity---small bird that is---is the absence of leaf eaters in the cherry trees. The leaves are pretty well intact, even this last into spring, with just a few holes here and there, where in years past they've been lacework supreme. Hopefully the tree surgeons will arrive to carve away the deadwood and encourage the new growth. My upstairs neighbour and I are MOST satisfied and delighted with this new non-occurrence of leaf eaters.

The finches are very nervous when I'm on the deck, and only land and twitter in the cherry trees, then fly off. They almost never come to the feeder or the baths and watering places. Hoping that my presence will become a quietly accepted one and they'll return as they find I'm harmless.

In the meantime, both chickadee parents are super busy back and forth, and the small twitterings that greet them promise future youngster delights in fledging.

On Wood Ducks

2008-05-21T16:24:00.001-07:00

I was quietly feeding chickadees and other critters at Beaver Lake in Stanley Park. A different kind of experience. On a weekday it is fairly quiet except for the joggers---they go steaming past, with no attention to what is going on all around them. But the birds seem to have acquired a rhythm that both ignores and includes them. Run. Fly. Freeze. Return.

Ducks of all sorts come for seed from all over the pond. The wonderful, almost cartoon-like wood duck males and their much more conservatively-dressed females are a real treat. If things are quiet I can encourage otherwise very shy ducks to come right up to me.

I actually got a male wood duck to eat seeds from my hand. Now THAT was something new---a male wood duck!! Even the Wild Bird Store staff were impressed.

On Other Birds

2008-05-21T16:23:00.005-07:00

Have had house finches, bush tits, fox sparrows, white-crowned sparrows, pine siskins and others all coming regularly to my feeding arrangement. It is regularly attacked by squirrels, but I've got it pretty well proofed. Got if loaded with suet blocks of several kinds, and chopped sunflower seeds on the bottom. This way there is no mess of shells to be cleaned up.

I just hate the name “bush tits”, so have unilaterally decided to call them “bush babies” instead.

The activity is often hilarious, and sometimes hysterical--chickadees, junkos, a towhey, bush babies, woodpeckers, fox sparrow, and even a Cooper's hawk landed once to see what all the fuss was about--boy did THAT quiet things down for a while.

The junkos and fox sparrow have figured out how to cling and bite, if not as acrobatically as chickadees and woodpeckers, with just as much entertainment value.

My blocks of suet over my deck are getting well-eaten, one, with bug bites (dried insects), the other with nuts and things. Hordes of tiny bush babies flutter around. Young chickadees try to learn how to eat upside down.White-crowned sparrows behave like hummingbirds, trying to get a nibble. Love it.

Birdlife is MUCH better than TV or radio. I’m learning so much about behaviours---the beak gaping, wing flaps and flutters, squawks, hisses and yodels are fascinating. And the strict pecking order of the chickadees and finches cracks me up, particularly when somebody tries to jump the line.

I've got the feeders within inches of my sliding glass doors, with a big armchair pulled up to the glass. So long as I move slowly, the birds don't seem to mind me watching. If I'm late putting out food they come banging on the window. Sometimes the entire deck surface seems to be hopping up and down.

One junko is either braindamaged or majorly deficient in the brain department. It keeps fluttering at the 1.5 inch holes in the screen around the seed and suet blocks, and giving up---then fluttering again. About once in five or six tries, it gets it figured out, or just happens to hop through the hole and get into the birdseed---then it forgets how it did it and more fluttering--cracks me up.

There's also the downy woodpecker that's learned to squat in the seeds and eat them instead of ramming its beak into the suet block. And either the same one or another has learned to lie on its side and pluck things out of the suet block with its beak---sort of like 'feed me a grape' by a reclining roman.....amazing.

The holes in the squirrel-proofing are just big enough to let the downy woodpeckers in, but too small for a towhey. So the towhey leans and cranes as far as it can and grabs for a mouthful---if I'm around, I'll take pity and chuck a handful on the deck....

On Chickadees

2008-05-21T15:21:00.009-07:00

The chickadees are in such a rush to get at the cracked sunflower seeds I put out that they leave skid marks in the pile of seeds.

A pair of chickadees are nesting in the box on my deck. She built an amazing construction over about 4 days, while he flew around watching it all. Now they are both in and out of the nest---I think she may have laid all her eggs and is brooding them. She will stay in the box for 20 minutes or half an hour and then go out for a few minutes.

He will arrive close by on a twig and call to her softly. She zooms out the box and goes to him. He quickly feeds her a fat caterpillar or grub, and then they both go off foraging for a few minutes.

One morning, I stepped quietly out to pull a long strand of grass from the entrance to the nesting box, and an outraged nose poked out followed by chickadee verbal abuse.....BOY did she have a lot to say about my interference.....and then it took her a while to go back inside. She stomped around on top of the box, hung around in various parts of 360 degrees off the door, stomped around some more on top---flew up into the tree and out of sight. Then ZOWIE--zoomed right into the nest through the tiny door.

This morning, I wasn’t sure if she was home, and hoped to open the box to count the eggs, so I twiddled a grass blade into the entrance to the nesting box. WHAM! She attacked it, and I jumped back. Furious birdface in the doorway---stayed there for about five minutes. I apologized all over the place, backed off, and decided to just leave things alone. Obviously it is none of my business what is going on in there, and she’s telling me every way she can.

I keep a huge jug of black sunflower seeds in the back of the truck, and have been feeding chickadees by hand in a couple of places. It is a huge thrill.

I pour a plastic bag full from the jug and pocket it, then go wandering at the Reifel Bird Sanctuary. All sorts of small birds all over the place. I had chickadees landing on my fingertips to grab and run. They are like tiny angels with prickly feet. Almost-weightless fluttery critters landing, in strict order, grabbing a seed, and flitting off, while the next one comes in to land. Sometimes they’ll chuck it away and grab another --- something not quite right I guess. They even sometimes just sit on my fingertips and check me out with tiny gleaming black eyes.....pure joy. Dozens of chickadees, lining up in a strict order to get onto my hand, and fluttering off to stash in a leaf bud....WOW.

One chickadee had a crippled leg that it kept near the body, using only one leg to stand and hop on. This birdie was a major stasher. The buds of leaves on the willow, birch, alder and maples trees were getting fat and full, and this wee one kept grabbing a seed and stashing it, then hurrying back for another. When all the local clusters were full, longer flights became necessary. We kept at it for almost an hour. Heaven.