Thunderstorms and Heat

There was another northern flicker on our lawn today. On the way to shopping saw several pigeons that seem to have made their home in or around a couple of metal granaries just at the highway intersection outside of the village.

As usual there are American goldfinches frequenting the feeder as well as chipping sparrows and some chickadees. I am still awaiting the first hummingbird at the feeder. I also saw a house sparrow pair at the feeder today.

Another pine grosbeak

Quite a few American goldfinches have visited today. I include a photo. There was also a pine grosbeak and a house sparrow as well as a few chickadees. There are still chipping sparrows visiting. A crow has taken to visiting the feeder even though it has great difficulty balancing on the feeder and reaching the seeds. Maybe it is hungry or it is just a diversion. My wife wants to shoo it away but I tell her to let it be! It goes away after a short visit.

Red Winged Blackbird Babies!

I went for a walk in Shoal Lake in a park where the Oak River joins the lake. There are tall grasses at the side of the river. The river itself is little more than a creek but is a bit wider where it joins the lake. I disturbed a nest of red-wing blackbirds. The young were old enough to fly and managed to make it as far as the lower branches of nearby trees. The parents made a huge racket and flew over my head calling down curses upon me. The birds must mate as soon as they arrive to have young already on the wing. Maybe they are intending to leave early this year or perhaps they can manage two broods a year.

There are still plenty of chipping sparrows and goldfinches at the feeder as well as an occasional chickadeed. I fed the crows some chicken bones. They cleaned them up in less than half an hour.

A few magpies about!

Magpies like crows are not too popular around here. I like both. I even feed crows leftovers at times. Magpies are not plentiful this year but I saw a couple on our way shopping at the next town. There are many more red-winged blackbirds.

The feeder is mostly frequented by chipping sparrows and goldfinches with a few house sparrows every few days and chickadees more frequently. Yesterday I saw a pine grosbeak. They are not very common this time of year. I see them more often in the winter.

A bit more variety!

There was a Harris sparrow clearly visible in the grass by the feeder. I haven't seen one for quite a few days. I saw a house sparrow as well. It is strange that what used to be such a common bird is not all that common around the feeder this winter and spring. I also saw a couple of chickadees. As well there were the usual goldfinches and chipping sparrows.

No Hummingbirds yet

We drove to Winnipeg and back yesterday. There were many ducks on sloughs including mallards as in the photograph. Red-Winged blackbirds are very common as are crows. I saw Canada geese on some sloughs, usually just a couple.

At the feeder goldfinches continue to visit as do chipping sparrows. A northern flicker visited our lawn. It was busy finding something probably grubs.

So far we have not seen any hummingbirds visit the feeder. Of course we have not been here all the time. Certainly many small flies have visited and ended up in the reservoir of liquid somehow!

My hummingbird feeder is up!

I had to buy a new hummingbird feeder. I hope the one I bought is meant to attract humming birds and not just human buyers!

We went to the dump yesterday and out in the country today. There are plenty of red-wing black birds and a few crows here and there. At the dump there was a magpie as well as a few starlings but not gulls or crows.

The feeder is being visited by many goldfinches as well as chipping sparrows and white crowned sparrows but that is about all these days. I have seen a few chickadees but there havent even been house sparrows lately.