When I returned to the yellow warbler nest two days later, on June 25th, it was empty. But the next day, Mrs. Yellow was sitting on her nest! I found a new “viewing tunnel” to take this photo, from an intersecting trail. When I visited on June 28th, Mrs. Yellow was doing some more nest sitting. Photo 1 is from the June 23rd … Continue reading A Yellow Warbler Nest: Part 2
Yay! The two week super chill has left the city! I celebrated by going for a walk through the forest in a balmy -6 ℃. Though I visit the north end of Mill Creek Ravine Park regularly and often hear nuthatches (Red-breasted or White-breasted… I can’t always differentiate their calls), I don’t usually get a good look at them and I rarely get … Continue reading Warmer weather and a Red-breasted Nuthatch
Happy Draw-a-Bird-Day!!! I photographed this Black-capped Chickadee on December 8th, 2018, in Mill Creek Ravine Park. My first attempt at drawing this little fella looked pretty good up close, but when I took a step back, he kind of looked off balance, like he was going to fall backwards off his perch. Poop! Sigh. Luckily, a December post by Jean Mackay gave me a … Continue reading Chick-a-dee-dee-dee
June 23 2018, 10:38 AM. A trail through a ribbon of urban forest on the south of shore of the North Saskatchewan River, in the Edmonton River Valley. I spotted some movement in the forest shrubs. A female Yellow Warbler. She was building a nest! She moved about in the nest for a while, then sat in it as if incubating eggs, testing its fit. … Continue reading A Yellow Warbler Nest: Part 1
Flying in a bit late for Draw-a-Bird-Day, this immature or female Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator) was eating tiny crabapples in Mill Creek Ravine Park, in late November 2017. Pine Grosbeaks bite through the skin of crabapples, eat the seeds and discard the pulp. They do the same with mountain ash berries. Realistically, the feathers of immature and female birds are grey and orange, but I … Continue reading Winter bird
Today was my final exam for principles of ecology. The snowshoe hare came up in a few of the exam questions, so I thought this would be a good day to publish a post I started earlier this year and finished a few weeks ago. A little after sunset, on December 9th 2017, the white rabbit appeared, well a hare actually, or more precisely a … Continue reading Last December…
Happy Draw-A-Bird-Day! I didn’t plan on spending 12 hours with this raven but I did. I mostly used a mechanical pencil with a fat HB lead. The fat lead can be sharpened with the little steel head of the pencil but I found it easier to use my 3-sided pencil sharpener on the side with the half-length blade. Even right after sharpening, the tip of … Continue reading The raven
