Backyard oasis

What's up Peeps!!

After yesterday's post, I was pretty worded out and I was just planning to take a chill day today and had no plans on posting or taking photos of anything...Well that changed by the end of the afternoon! With work hopefully starting soon, I'm absorbing the end of my lazy days. I don't know when yet, the season has been delayed but with one of my injured fingers still healing, I see the delay as a blessing at this point. I woke up, took a shower, didn't even bother to do my hair or get dressed and just stayed in my pj's...Nice! I like those nothing days.

Put on some tunes for dramatic effect and enjoy my post about nothing.

I was hearing the backyard birdies chirp and I figured I would put out some peanuts for easy pickings on the fence posts and join my fatty in the fresh air. I have a chair set up but he steals it and looks too comfy and happy for me to move him...I guess that's his chair now. I have been trying to get the family of Blue Jays on photo but they are elusive and fly away the minute I show up outside and just go eat next door. I did get a few but maybe once they get used to my presence a bit more, maybe I need to set up more peanuts on the fence, they seem to enjoy it quite a bit, one could even say it might be their favorite snack.

It all started a few years back with one feeder but now it expanded to 5 and a bird bath to avoid fights since it attracted multiple species to the yard. I live in the city, at first we were one of the rarer yards with feeders in my neighborhood but after seeing how many birds we were attracting, half of the neighborhood followed suite and now I have competition, turns out everyone enjoys the urban wildlife! A few years back, we had a neighbor with a couple of young children, one was so crafty it was funny once we caught him doing something really funny.

He would get up early in the morning before everyone was awake including his mother and would remove the ladder from his bunk bed, drag it all the way down the stairs, outside to then lean it on the fence so he could eat the sunflower seeds set up for the birds from his makeshift perch. Once we noticed, we never ruined his fun and just let him while secretly watching him. It took a few weeks for his mother to catch him and she felt so embarrassed but we didn't really care, it was cute as hell. I guess the feeders attract all sorts of things.

Earlier this year, some mini rose bushes were added to the garden, they did well and bloomed a second time, although it's late in the season and the nights are falling into single digits, the days are still beautiful in the early 20's (Celsius) 2 of them are in full bloom and it seems like one more is trying, maybe soon? We'll see. The temperatures can turn quite drastically given how north we are, being the most northern metropolis center in North-America, this time of year we have to prepare for anything, even snow isn't out of the norm but not yet so far, only in the mountains. To be honest tho, since I have moved here in 2006, there has been a snowfall every month of the year, obviously not all in the same year. A few years back, full on winter started in late august...WTF!

When I first moved out here, some relatives of mine came to visit me in late june, they had to drive thru a blizzard to get to me meanwhile it was almost 30 degrees here. They showed up dressed in sweaters and winter coats meanwhile we were sweating in sorts and and a t-shirt here in Edmonton. They live about one hour and a half drive from here, talk about weird but it is the norm here...our climate is moodier than a teenage girl's hormones. I think it's funny as hell except when I'm working. Having to dress for 4 seasons in one day. Yikes!

Back to my day in the backyard tho, I was planning to catch up on some reading, I have been writing a lot so I haven't taken the time to finish my Cleopatra book yet. I like to sit in MY chair with my earphones and music but it was obviously taken all day. I decided to ditch the earphones too and just enjoy the sounds of nature instead, I could hear the resident squirrel squeaking and he seemed to have a lot to say this morning. Maybe he was yelling for some peanuts. FEED ME! Ok dude, it's comming, give me a minute. I obliged without hesitation parts of me wonders if it's still the same one we rescued from the drains along the house a few years back. It probably is too.

The weird board he's standing on is to hold the fence together at the corner, it makes a nice crossing for him where I can leave a trail of peanuts all the way to the jackpot to coax him down from the tree. It's a giant tree and provides a lot of shade for me in the yard, when they came to redo the fence, it was in the way and they wanted to cut it down. HELL NO, AIN'T NOBODY TOUCHING MY BIG ASS TREE! That's where all my backyard critters live and congregate to have a safe access to the feeders and luckily they agreed to build the fence around it leaving a gap.

He was a little reluctant to come out with me sitting on the ground somewhat near-by but I stayed quiet and still and he eventually came down from the tree and claimed his peanuts. With winter fast approaching, they are on a mission to get super fat and eat more than usual. Over the winter, food isn't as abundant except for our backyard, there is always food for them here. They generally look pretty slim by the time spring comes.

Perhaps he doesn't want to come out of his nesting area because it's probably too cold for him most days so they tend to bring some back to their nest. He doesn't have a name yet for some reason, I should probably name him something better than M. Squirrel #2. I had to watch M. Squirrel I get murdered by a crow. Such is life I guess nature can be a little gruesome, shouldn't steal bird eggs dude. Hopefully this one behaves a little better.

You would think a cat and tiny wildlife in the same yard would be a bad idea but I think he understands the concept that we feed them so they are friends, outdoor family members I suppose. He actually likes to sit there everyday and watch them, he only goes after the mice. Parts of me thinks they are what keeps him in the yard rather than jumping the fence. He seems to do a good job at chasing other neighborhood cats away from the bird feeders. Too cute, protecting his avian buddies. Maybe it's Cat TV. whatever it is, he actually enjoys it and that's all that matters. He can be sitting next to the bird bath and they will still come down from the tree and he leaves them alone.

The Blue Jays are generally pretty active in the morning especially after the peanuts come out, not today tho. Maybe I woke up too late for breakfast and they fed else where. It started off with one a few years back, not there is 3. One of them looked like a juvenile earlier this year so I left them their space during feeding and mostly admired them from indoors, probably why they are a little reluctant to come feed in my presence. the original male is pretty big now tho! I think it's the same one that originally started feeding here.

They weren't really in the neighborhood before. You can tell when they are near-by, they are pretty loud. Cool feature about them besides their colorful blue plumage, they can imitate the calls of other birds. Every time I went in the house and got busy he would come and I could hear him, of course. He was making fun of me for some reason. I put the snack down and got a few shots since he decided to finally stay. Took a few tries tho. Maybe tomorrow I can get better ones. I did manage to get some pretty neat ones a few years back, this guy it takes a little patience.

A few years back, there was quite a few finches, house sparrows and chickadees but I don't know where they moved to this year, I didn't see or hear them much. I don't know what kind of bird this guy is yet, I didn't look but there was a couple of these first thing in the morning and sporadically throughout the day. He's the new bird in town, this is the first year I see them here. Very tiny and skittish tho. They seem to like the sunflower seeds that other messy birdies leave on the ground. Well the messy one is the Blue Jays, they come in pretty hot and that poor feeder almost swings off it's hinges as they hop from feeder to feeder like it's some buffet, all 3 do that. Well they are having fun I guess.

The most abundant is now the Red Breasted Nuthatch, the first year there was a White Breasted and a Red Breasted Nuthatch, I haven't seen the white one this year but an over abundance of the Red Breasted, I lost track of how many. I like these ones quite a bit, their behavior is rather silly. They come hopping down from the tree sideways face first one at a time than quickly hop to one of the feeders, grab their seed and fly back into the tree then the next one does the same. They even come grab the seeds from the feeder upside down, rather curious behavior, entertaining to watch tho. Sometimes they come for a drink of water. These guys are very tiny compared to other birds. I still can't believe how many there is this year.

Since they are super fast, it's hard to get pictures of them but I caught on to their behavior fast enough and just kept my camera zoomed in the same spot, unlike other birds, they seem to follow the same trajectory every time and others in the group follow in each others flight path, hive mind...birdie see birdie do. They seem to like both the peanuts and sunflower seeds equally. We have suet as well but seem to leave that alone. The Jays are fond of the suet, the only ones I have seen eating it thus far...At least someone is eating it. Doesn't seem as popular as I thought it would be.

their chirp is rather soft but they are vocal all day as they call their buddies once one establishes the safety of the area, thankfully not as loud as the Jay's, it would get annoying. Most birds of all species seem to have one that first comes to check the yard out and then call everyone over. When the original feeder was installed years ago, the finches kept bullying them off. No birds in sight, he would come down and try to feed and a band of finches would come out of nowhere and push him off, poor thing. Glad to see they are thriving now. the reason why we added so many feeders, so everyone had a meal even tho we never let it run out of food, there really wasn't any need to fight over anything.

The last one on the list of today's visitors Was a Downey wood Pecker, although I don't have a chance to see them much, I know there is a pair, I often hear their chirps along with them pecking at the tree. A few years back it was only a male but now there seems to be a female too. They also have a mild call compared to other birds. The male generally have a big red dot on their heads and the female doesn't so the genders are generally easy to identify. They are rather shy in nature and prefer feeding when the yard is free from humans and cats.

This one eventually got over it and came out of hiding. She's very tiny, maybe she was just born this year. she stayed longer than I expected, came down for a peanut and stayed a few minutes on the feeder then went back into the tree where she pecked at it in her hole keeping a watchful eye on me. Cute to watch, she was was in there face deep! I left her alone and went back in the house so she could feed in peace after getting a few good pictures. I don't want to disturb them too much so they come back.

What I thought would be a boring chillax day turned out eventful enough for photos! Right now is a good time since they are more concerned with fattening up for winter than they are about my presence. I don't think any of them migrate for the winter so we do see all of them from time to time but they don't come out as much and tend to roost in the colder months along with staying closer to their nest in the spring when they have their babies. Considering the turnover of species from year to year, I should start keeping better track of who and what visits, good thing I have Hive for that! I obviously wont do backyard posts every day since backyard birds are probably boring but it's nice to have one per year to compare. Keep notes on their habits and what they like to eat.

All images taken with Nikon Z6 paired with Nikkor 300mm lens for wildlife, 40mm macro for the mini roses and 18-55mm sunflowers. Some photos may be cropped since I want to give them space and many of the birds are pretty tiny as you can see from the fence.

Alright, thanks for all your support and peace out all! xox