Feeding
02/09/13 Filed in: Fall
Feeding Squirrel: ISO 800, 200mm, f/6.3, 1/160
Feeding Squirrel II: ISO 800, 149mm, f/6.3 1/125
Peering Squirrel: ISO 800, 159mm, f/6.3, 1/160
I filled our bird feeder earlier this week. The neighbourhood squirrels are feasting on the sunflower seeds and peanuts. There is a Blue Jay flying around the backyard waiting his turn and squeaking is displeasure that he has to wait.
06/07/13 Filed in: Summer
Breakfast Time: ISO 200, 200mm, f/6.3, 1/1600
I set up a bunch of bird houses in our backyard a few years ago. Every year but the last a wren pair had used one of them to start a new family. This year I was losing hope that they would again not use a house . It seemed they were busy building a nest in the neighbours’ trees.
Last week the wrens were getting agitated whenever someone or something invaded our backyard. Watching the wrens revealed that they had set up a nest in the birdhouse I set up in our garage side garden.
I got this image by sitting down on the lawn waiting for the wren to take its usual path from the back fence to the bird house. As you can see by the picture the bug is almost as big as this small bird. I also took the shot mid morning so that the low sun would illuminate the garden and bird.
27/10/12 Filed in: Fall
Chickadee Feeding: ISO 640, 140mm, f/5.6, 1/750
This is another shot from my previous post. Waiting for the Blue Jays to come to the feeder and tis small guy kept fluttering from the trees to the feeder.
That is a sunflower seed in his bill.
Mine, All Mine: ISO 400, 163mm, f/4, 1/1000
We bought a new type of seed that supposedly attracts more types of birds to the feeder. The only problem is it that it is attracting Crows and Magpies which in turn scare away the smaller more colourful birds that I want to attract.
I was sitting on our deck and noticed a pair of Blue Jays (Not from Toronto) flying to the feeder to find some food. They are not so scared of the Magpies and Crows.
The Jays are kind of like dogs with their bones. They tend to hide their food for consumption later on. In the spring when cleaning out the eaves trough or replanting our planter boxes it is common to find peanuts hidden amongst the dirt/compost. Not sure how they remember where they hid it.
Pine Siskin: ISO 800, 200mm, f/5.6, 1/125
I have placed Nyger seed feeder sacs in our crab apple tree in hopes of luring goldfinches. When I noticed these birds enjoying the seed I thought I finally attracted female goldfinches.
Turns out this is a Pine Siskin. They seem to be getting used to me as I was able to get quite close to them without scaring them off.
Pushing my Luck
05/07/10 Filed in: Summer
Open Wide: ISO 400, 100mm, f/5.6, 1/30 (Same Settings for Both Pics)
Well the baby wren's are getting bigger. Parents are flying around looking for bugs to feed them every 5-10 minutes it seems.
The parents are very agitated when I peer into the apple tree to snap shots. I don't want to push my luck too much. I noticed my settings weren't the greatest on my camera. I didn't check them before I peered in. I should have set my aperture to around 8 or 11 but then I might have had to push up my ISO to get the faster shutter speed.
I bought a Kodak Playsport Video Recorder and have set it up to record the feedings. Video will follow shortly. From what I seen yesterday there is 3 baby birds in the house.
Update: Here is the Video Link. I adjust the camera at the beginning and the babies hear the rustle of the leaves and pop their beaks out real quick then Mom comes and makes her warning call. At the end of the clip she comes back and feeds the kids.
Goldfinch Spotted
When I travelled back home to Lakefield in June my Dad taught me some tricks to lure Goldfinch to the backyard. This is one that frequents our feeder and birdbath during the day. I hid the feeder in our crabapple tree and the birdbath is almost directly below it.
It took a few weeks before I actually seen Goldfinch come to our backyard after placing the feeder.
Great Holiday
12/06/09 Filed in: Bird
Just got back from visiting my family back in Ontario. This is another picture not from my Red Deer backyard but about a decade and a half ago it was my Ontario backyard.
Mom and Dad have a hummingbird feeder set up on their dining room bay window. I sat and watched for hours the steady stream of what I think was four hummingbirds come in for refueling.