Canadian Geese

** photos taken in June 2013

Lulu and I spent the week after my parents' 60th anniversary visiting in Saskatchewan.  The following weekend, Lulu and I travelled to Regina with my parents to a reunion on my maternal grandmother's side and to meet relatives visiting from England.

While we were there, we visited the Legislative grounds and saw the Canadian Geese.

There are geese that stay in Regina all year long and no longer migrate.  There is a warm inlet on Wascana Lake that doesn't freeze all winter.

Lulu had to stay in the car while I was taking photos of the geese because there were a number of very large dogs around and I didn't want to take any chances.

The geese seemed to have set up babysitters (gosling-sitters?) because most of the adults were on the lake-side on the road and the young ones were on the tree-side of the road.

Oops!  These guys stopped traffic while they crossed to be with the others.

The goslings were all the same size except for one.  Can you see him in the crowd?

There he is bringing up the rear.

Here are a couple adults near the lake.

For some reason, none of them were in the water.  Everyone was on dry land.

Killdeer

Barry brought the trailer up to Saskatoon for my parents 60th anniversary, so we stayed out at my sister's acreage near Martensville.  We parked it behind the house out by the shop.

 

Every time we stepped out of the trailer, the killdeer went crazy.  

 

They must have had a nest or two close by because there was always a bird or two pretending to be injured.

They would come right up to us and flop around dragging their wing hoping we'd follow them away from the nest.

They must have thought that they were always successful because they led us in the direction of the house (where we were headed anyway).

I heard on the radio while in Saskatoon that a number of killdeer and plover nests near Lake Diefenbaker had to be moved because of the heavy rains and flooding.  These birds at my sister's place were in no danger.

The killdeer have a high-pitched shrill call (I wouldn't really call it a song).  It was interesting to watch them perform.

The Chickadee

When I was visiting my sister-in-law, Barb at her acreage outside Edmonton, AB we were able to hand feed the chickadees.  Here are some pictures and a poem about the sweet little birds.

 

 

 

 

THE CHICKADEE

 

Just out of doors, beyond the pane,

He flits from twig to twig, his air

A jaunty grace, yet, apt to deign

A visit of the morning fair,

He calls to me,

Chick-a-dee-dee-dee !
 

And blithe all wintry days is he.


 

His garb is plain, his sable cap

Fits to his skull, and all his mien

Bespeaks his mind that scorns the lap

Of plenty, while full oft, I ween,

He laughs at me,

Chick-a-dee-dee-dee !

He loves life's care to spurn and flee.



 

Light little vagrant of the sky,

He fears not want nor heeds the cold,

Yet through his pranks he casts an eye

Within betimes — so slight yet bold —

And chirps to me,

Chick-a-dee- dee- dee !

Please, sir, a crumb! and wins his plea.

 

 

by C. C. Lord


 

Robins in the Winter

This year we noticed many of the robins did not fly south for the winter.  Up until a week ago that was fine because we didn't have any snow yet.  Now we have snow and ice covering everything as we had rain after a light snowfall that made the driveway into a skating rink.

The robins have been eating grapes left on the vine and have cleaned off the mountain ash berries.  I am concerned that they will have trouble finding food until the snow is gone.  They have been on the ground, digging the berries out of the ice and snow that they dropped off the tree.



I did some research on the internet and they are mostly fruit and insect eaters.  We put out a tray with some of Lulu's hen scratch and topped it off with chopped apples.  Since it has been really windy, we put a big rock in the tray so it wouldn't blow away.

Now we wait to see if they come to eat.  If so, we have lots of fruit in the coldroom and the freezer that we can share with them for the winter. 

 

We've had some lookers, but no one has ventured onto the tray to eat the apples and scratch.  Hopefully, soon one brave robin will try it and spread the word that we have food for them.  I would have for them to starve until the snow is gone.

 

 

 

 

 

 



Baby Robins

One day during mid August I was working in the garden and noticed a young robin hopping around on the ground in the chicken run.  He didn't seem able to fly so I moved him into the garden so the chickens wouldn't hurt him.

He ran around cheeping loudly and soon there was a full grown robin flying about checking him out. 

He was so cute but seemed to young for the time of year.  I didn't think he'd mature enough to make the long flight south for the winter.

I had to leave to pick up chicken food and didn't want the neighbour's cat to get the little fellow so I set him up in a tree.

He seemed content there and his parent came and checked on him and even brought him some worms.

Doesn't he have the cutest face?  He seemed to have a swelling near his mouth on the other side of his beak.  I thought maybe he hit face first when he fell in his flight attempt.

After I came home I set him down in the garden not knowing what else I could do.  He looked so small and forlorn.

Nearby in the corn patch I noticed another baby robin.  Look at those cute tufts on its head.  I could just hug that sweetie and wanted to keep him.

This one was even smaller and had less grown up feathers that its brother.  Mom or pop was staying nearby bringing food.

I hope they are survivors and are able to make the flight south.  I also hope they get strong enough to get off the ground and keep away from cats.  They disappeared into the corn patch so I hope they are fine.

Update:  Just last week I found one poor dead baby bird in the backyard.  I fear it is one of those little cuties but can never be sure.  All I can do is hope and pray they survived. :{

Birds on the Wire

I heard a racket out the front window and looked out to see what it was.

I snapped the pics from my front step not wanting to move too much and scare the birds away.

They were stretched along the wire chattering away.

 

I couldn't tell what kind of birds they were as they were not close enough for me to see them clearly.

One would hop off and another would take their place.

A bunch of birds were also in the tree under the wire.

Here is a close-up of the tree with the birds gathered.

From what I could see, some of the birds had lighter coloured heads while others had dark heads.  They were in different shades of brown.

Seeing all those birds reminded me of a short cartoon by Pixar called For the Birds.  I hope you get a chuckle out of it like I did.  Enjoy!    ;)