A purple finch again

While the feeder is mobbed by house sparrows much of the time, here is a photo of a lone purple finch that has the feeder all to itself. Geese are flying south the last few weeks in large flocks. On the way to the next town today we saw a large flock of Canada Geese in a field and also sever flocks overhead as well.

Returned Squirrel RIP

Our squirrel met a tragic death a couple of days ago. We have two large plastic garbage pails in which we collect rainwater. One is mostly covered. I noticed the suqirrel sitting on the cover and drinking the other day. However the other pail was half full of water and the cover was not on.

My wife the other day was going to dump out the water when she saw our poor drowned squirrel inside. She placed the body in the middle of the lawn. The next day it was gone. Something had a squirrel dinner.

A Squirrel is back..

For the last week or so a squirrel has been back at the feeder. One was around throughout most of the winter but then disappeared in mid-summer for some reason. But now there is a squirrel back and living in one of our sheds it seems. The squirrel thinks it owns the feeder and chases flocks of sparrows at times when he comes upon them.

Canada Geese flocks flying south..

This is not a photo of the flocks but it is cute photo of goslings from National Geographic.
For the last several days I have heard and seen many flocks of honkers on their way south. They also can be heard as they gather in fields near the edge of town. It should not be too long until the juncos start to appear also on their way to the south.

Red Breasted Nuthatch..

This is not my photo of the red-breasted nuthatch. They seldom come right to the feeder but I saw one today. I did not have time to snap a photo though. I have not seen one for quite some time. There are few birds these days but house sparrows and a few black-capped chickadees.

Several flocks of Canada Geese..

We drove to Brandon and back today. On the way I saw one group of Canada geese in a large slough together with many ducks. However I also saw three large flocks in fields that had been newly harvested No doubt there is quite a bit of spilled grain.

I thought that all the redwing blackbirds had already gone south but in several places I saw flocks gathering. Perhaps they come from further north. So far we are still frost free.

Last Hummingbird photo of the season?

I took this photo a few days ago. The female looks to have a rosy breast a reflection from the plastic flower I assume. This is the last hummingbird I have seen. Perhaps they have all gone south already even though there has been no frost as yet. Maybe they think there should be frost. Harvest is just getting underway at present so it is rather late this year.

UPDATE: Sept. 10. I saw at least one more hummingbird visit the feeder several times today so I guess a few are still around.

Tree Swallows gathering for trip south..

Large groups of tree swallows are beginning to congregate usually on telephone or hydro wires around town. I saw them also at a farm we visited yesterday. I noticed on the way that all the red-winged blackbirds are already gone from the sloughs(ponds) but that there are plenty of ducks on them now.