It is hard to believe that Winter has started only a couple of weeks ago. It has been mild so far, most winters here, in the West Kootenay region, are. What we lack in freezing temperatures we rack up in white, fluffy snow. Were I an avid skier I would post amazing images of white mountain ridges and dry powdery snow being carved in gracious curves by skis, snowboards and snowmobiles.
I shall leave this to those more adept - my winters are spent by observing furred and feathered creatures, their stamina as they deal with cold and hunger while waiting for the Sun to warm up the Earth.
It is already higher up in the sky - more with each day but it will take some time before it warms up the air and stirs the insects. Meanwhile everyone has to keep on scrambling - many appreciating the feeders of various kinds.
We like to leave our seed-bearing plants uncut and berries unpicked for the winter to ensure that those who share the winters with us have a variety of foods.
There is Mountain Ash , Oregon Grape, Hawthorn just to name a few, and many kinds of cone-bearing conifers. Yet, each winter is a bit different - while last year's berries lasted until February, this year they have been picked clean in December. That's where the bird feeders come in.
Our visitors can differ too. There are those who are happy to stay with us all year.
American Goldfinches - Carduelis tristis - for one. They are quite a social bunch - even more so in the dead of winter. The males will turn bright yellow when their mating season comes but as of now that is still several months away.
And there are special guests.
Last year, for the first time since we've lived at this location, the American Goldfinches were joined by a flock of Common Redpolls - Carduelis flammea. he name "redpoll" refers to their red hats. These cute, lively, happily chattering birds arrived from north - why, the last year and not this, I am not sure. They stayed with us until February and then disappeared. I was hoping to see them this year again but it seems that, this year, we are out of luck. According to "Birds of Interior BC and the Rockies" by Richard Cannings, "they often vary on a two-year cycle" which means that we can keep our hopes for the next year.
Redpoll males have pink-reddish breast while females are more modestly coloured. Which means that the one below must be a female. I had a lot of fun sneaking up on these guys who, unlike goldfinches, did not seem to mind being photographed.
American Goldfinches and the Redpolls, cousins as they are in the classification system, lived happily side by side feeding and chirping, even sleeping together, keeping an eye out for an enemy during the day and warming each other at night.
And the enemy showed up as well. Northern Shrike - Lanius excubitor arrived, as it often does, in November, then it disappeared for a while. Now, in January, it took residence here, near the feeding grounds. it seems to have a schedule - it appears every second day at about 10 am. Even though we do not see it arrive, we can often tell by the sudden disappearance of the little birds. Gone! Surely enough, Northern Shrike perches on a tree, surveying the world below.
Yet, that's the way of Nature and I, the meat-eating omnivore, have only one right: to observe.
Shrike (the bad guy), also catches mice and insects in the summer months so from my point of view it is also a good guy. Awwwh humans!
Perhaps we should simply remove the feeder!
(And get rid of the cat - no cat in this household!....and keep the raccoons at bay .... and .... lets keep this for another blog.)
Redpolls and goldfinches share the feeders with another cousin: it is Pine Siskin - Carduelis pinus (previously known as Spinus pinus). Although seemingly smaller than goldfinches and redpolls, pine siskins prove to be much more aggressive. Their beaks are thin, pointed and sharp and they constantly vie for a position by the feeder. They chase away redpolls and finches as well - and they are not gentle about it. They are mostly brown but the greatest machistas sport yellow bars on the wings - they show the best in flight - what a better way to announce who is the best fed and bravest of them all!
This year and the year before last (a two year cycle as well?), we were graced by the presence of another colourful species - they too visit irregularly - at least at our location by Kootenay River.
They are Evening Grosbeaks - Coccothraustes vespertinus.
When they arrive - often in very large flocks, the feeders become empty in no time. Their powerful beaks break the sunflower shells with ease, bits of starchy sunflower flesh flying in all directions. The little guys love them, for they can pick bits and pieces left by the messy grosbeaks.
Male, as in most avian cases, is more colourful than the female, but in grosbeak's case, I was surprised by the beauty of the female's feathers - although not boasting the golden-yellows, the pattern on her wings and tail is stunning. Perhaps it is a good nesting pattern that helps her disappeared in lights and shadows of the woods.
For as soon as there are enough insects and buds these birds will return to higher elevations to roam British Columbia's forests.
And, of course, there are woodpeckers. Not all woodpecker species visit our place - our trees are not old enough. We might see a hairy woodpecker once in a while, but the others don't think that this place is worth making a stop-over.
Fortunately "the others" do not include Northern Flicker - Colaptes auratus - our, often noisy, year-round companion. The flickers love our semi-open, semi-treed place. In summertime they can find kadzillions of their most favourite ants as these little creatures occupied the entire underground of the many acres of the sandy river banks. In summer the flickers often walk in the grass looking for the ants.
Although Pileated Woodpecker, Dryocopus pileatus, also loves to eat ants, Northern Flicker is the only woodpecker making its living by probing the ground. They also love to eat stinkbugs - THANK you flickers!
The above creature is a male - sporting his red moustache and a bit of red under the wings (red-shafted) and tail. He is a westerner, that's why. The eastern species have do not have a red moustche but a bit of red on the nape. They have yellow wing lining and yellow under the tail. Books told me so.
I have yet to see the yellow shafted flicker in nature but you can check it here.
The female is less adorned (as my Dad would always tell me when he caught me at the mirror applying make-up.). It is the male who must stand out! ALWAYS!
Beautiful nonetheless.
Part II.of the Bird Feeder Series.
Meanwhile, I am going to leave you with a MALE photo that shows all the colours of this January day.
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