In the summer of 2018, I had the good fortune of watching a female Yellow Warbler build a nest, incubate her eggs and feed her nestlings. I’ve posted photos of her nest-building and nest-sitting, and now it’s time for photos of her itty-bitty hatchlings! After June 30th, I visited the nest two more times without […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
On July 15th, 2017, around 3 PM, I walked along the trail leading to the Cooper’s Hawk nest. The first fledgling I saw was the youngest looking. Another fledgling, of seemingly intermediate maturity (less remaining white down than one sibling but more than the other), was calling its parents repeatedly, because it was hungry, or […]
According to eBird data, Common Redpolls are not seen in the Edmonton area between June and September, except for the sighting of a single bird on July 5th, 2014. Their breeding grounds are north of Alberta, in Alaska, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. The Atlas of Breeding Birds of Alberta (Semenchuk 1992) does […]
Winter started early in Edmonton this year. We had a few snow days in mid-September and a few more in early October. The last two weeks though, have been relatively warm, with sunny afternoons in the low to mid-10s (Celcius). Early afternoons aren’t the birdiest in the Mill Creek Ravine woods, but I usually bring […]
Two male Mallards on North Saskatchewan River. October 14, 2018. Henrietta Muir Edwards Park, Edmonton, Alberta.
I was pretty excited about seeing white fluff in the nest on June 27th, so I visited again two days later with hopes of glimpsing wee beaks and eyes. My photo adventure started at 12:41 PM and my first photo was not promising. White fluff??? I watched for two minutes, but no wee hawks appeared. […]
A little recap… Gwyndolyn and her goslings left the nest on May 6th 2016. For a while, George and them were the only goose family at the pond, but soon another family joined them. Part 3 ended on the morning of May 23rd, with cold rain and both mother geese brooding their goslings under their […]
Last night, a bit before 7, J and I had just sat down for dinner when J got a work phone-call. I continued twirling my spaghetti, took a mouthful and gazed dreamily out the window. Our fourth floor, kitchen/dining room window faces north toward a narrow strip of mixed-deciduous-coniferous forest, followed by a strip of […]
I saw my first young black-billed magpies (Pica hudsonia) on May 24 2016 in a Tatarian honeysuckle bush near Parking Lot 10 of the University of Calgary. One sibling was on his own and the three others were together. A few days later, on June 4th, I saw youngsters from another family, a couple of […]
