Birds in our Backyard and in Cuba

My last post was a tribute to my friend Sharon, and Sharon was a nature lover extraordinaire!  I love nature too, but she loved to be IN it, not just look at it!  I am more of an admirer from the warmth of a cozy room with a fire in the fireplace in the winter months, and enjoying the summer from an airconditioned room or with a cold drink under a shady umbrella.  I do enjoy the renewing aspect of spring and seeing the first green buds on the trees and delicate green shoots of new growth pushing through the earth. And I do enjoy gardening.

But I digress, already.  In our last house, my adventures with birds involved robins repeatedly building nests on the cross beams of our raised deck, and even a family who decided that my hanging plant would be a lovely place to raise their young.  But in our new house, which is on property that stretches right back to Four Mile Creek with lovely mature trees, there has been much more activity of the avian kind.

Shortly after we moved in and I started noticing the variety of birds, I kept thinking of the day when Sharon would come for a visit and be able to identify all the birds without blinking an eye.  And far too soon, we lost Sharon.  I am sure she would have enjoyed our back yard - certainly nothing compared to her beloved Fire Towers, but I think she would have liked it here. 

So, I was left to my own devices to identify these birds.  I can hear Sharon chuckling about that!  I went to Chapters to buy a bird book and I stopped at a Birder's store and bought a poster.   (I think I can hear my Mother chuckling from above too). 

Now some of them were easy - Blue Jays and Cardinals and Mourning Doves. 

Although the male cardinal is stunningly beautiful, I found the muted tones of the female to be equally beautiful. 

And then I was able to identify two kinds of woodpeckers, Juncos, and black-capped chicadees. 

The smaller of two woodpeckers that look very similar - this is the Downy Woodpecker, the larger version is the Hairy Woodpecker. 

But then there are all those small birds that to me look pretty much the same to me. Finches, swallows, sparrows, nuthatches.....which is which?  (Sharon - your chuckling is getting louder!)

These are some of those UFBs (Unidentified Flying Birds) feeding at the kitchen window feeder.

We have placed several bird feeders in the trees close to the house and some out by the creek.  The feeder on the kitchen window  was initially a huge source of entertainment for Picabo, our cat.  He has since gotten bored with the whole deal and rarely pays any attention to the action at the feeder.

I love it when a Bluejay or Cardinal comes up to the feeder and as long as I am still, I can observe their beauty closeup.

Picabo is ready to pounce at the birds at the feeder on the outside of the window.  He reminds me of Arte Johnson on Laugh-In peeking from behind the Palm Plant saying " Verrrry Interesting".

One day a hawk visited and I actually managed to snap a picture of him sitting in our Manitoba Maple.  He didn't stay long, but there were no other birds to be seen for quite some time after his visit.  Squirrels either!

And I shouldn't forget the Canada Geese.  I don't have any pictures but it was so peaceful to watch them gliding by on the creek in the early mornings, and as the weather got colder, they would fly in formation over the creek, honking all the way!  

A peaceful autumn morning picture of the creek.



The creek had been completely frozen over for some time and the mild weather recently has caused it to thaw.  I saw geese back swimming for the first time since very early December.

 

We went to Cuba for a week in February and I found a number of interesting birds there as well.  I have been able to identify most of them, and I have a guess at one of them.....

 

This beautiful brown fellow is another UFB.  I did see a picture of a similar bird that was a Louisiana Heron.  Now if that's the case, he's a little far from home but provides a connection to my beloved New Orleans.  He stood as still as a statue for many minutes at a time.  If anyone knows what kind of bird it really is, please let me know!



I identified these birds as Greater Antillean Grackles.  They were always around the pool and quite entertaining.



You need to look closely in the centre of the picture and you will see an Emerald Hummingbird.  There were probably a dozen of them that were feeding in the tree right beside our balcony, but it was very difficult to snap a picture.  I tried taking a video but they move way too fast!  And I never realized how noisy a hummingbiurd is......chitter chitter chitter!





This was a Blue Heron that spent an afternoon lounging at the pool.



This fellow is my favorite.  He is at the same place on the beach every day.  He was there last year and I checked for him the first morning of our vacation and there he was!  Again, there is my connection to New Orleans, the Brown Pelican being the state bird of Louisiana.



What a handsome fellow!

Well, I am hoping that the next bird I see will bring the word that spring is here....come on Robin!

My thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by the tsunami in Japan today.