Winter is over and many birds are on the move.
Common Redpolls, Carduelis flammea already took off - they will be tweeting their summer away somewhere in the Arctic tundra.
With many insects coming out from their winter hiding spots, the chickadees moved to more wooded areas.
Black-capped Chickadee,
Poecilla atricapilla
While the Black-capped will come and go, the Mountain Chickadees, Poecilla gambeli will stay in higher areas.
Gone for the summer!
Steller's Jays and Northern Flickers are gone as well, all looking for nesting sites.
American Goldfinches, Carduelis tristis have disappeared for now. They are hiding in the bush, while the male's plumage changes from its ordinary winter colours to twenty-four-karat gold.
Soon the male goldfinches will look like this:
Their golden plumage will help to convey the usual message of great condition and the best of the best. Ah, the Quest!
But, beautifully visible could bear its price.
Common Redpolls, Carduelis flammea already took off - they will be tweeting their summer away somewhere in the Arctic tundra.
With many insects coming out from their winter hiding spots, the chickadees moved to more wooded areas.Black-capped Chickadee,
Poecilla atricapilla
While the Black-capped will come and go, the Mountain Chickadees, Poecilla gambeli will stay in higher areas.Gone for the summer!
Steller's Jays and Northern Flickers are gone as well, all looking for nesting sites.
American Goldfinches, Carduelis tristis have disappeared for now. They are hiding in the bush, while the male's plumage changes from its ordinary winter colours to twenty-four-karat gold.
Soon the male goldfinches will look like this:
Their golden plumage will help to convey the usual message of great condition and the best of the best. Ah, the Quest!
But, beautifully visible could bear its price.
New songbird species are arriving every week - and all are busy courting and establishing their nesting sites.
American Robin, Turdus migratorius and Tree Swallow, Tachycineta bicolor; the much-welcome messengers of spring in southern British Columbia.
Someone else arrived, someone extremely agile, someone equipped with powerful rounded wings and a long tail that serves as a rudder giving an ability to manoeuvre amongst the densest branches of the forest. One of the Accipiters, the small but powerful birds of prey, has returned to our community.
It is a "she" Sharp-shinned Hawk, Accipiter striatus, I had been told (thank you raptor expert Michael McMann for helping me to identify this bird). Compared to other hawks she is quite small - only about 30 - 35 cm long but still a bit larger than her mate (as it is a usual trait for the birds of prey).
Her squarish tail is barred, her reddish eyes sharp and her plumage is elegant.
It could be a mouse that she is watching although more often it is a songbird ends up in her long talons.
Late afternoon seems to be her hunting time and it looks like she prefers.patience and a sudden attack to an air chase though a year ago I have watched her pursue a small bird in flight.
What an aerial battle it was! The little bird was quite fast and capable of quick and desperate turns. She, so much larger but equipped with wings and tail that account for her amazing movement ability, followed every curve of the little bird's path, always missing by a hair. Finally, she figured out that she would have to look for someone less fit and abandoned the chase.
Last year she stayed around our small community and probably built a nest nearby.
She would appear on alternate days usually just before dusk, often hiding in the bushes, well camouflaged and motionless, for in Nature it is mainly the movement that gives everything away. When an opportunity came several quick wing beats would propel her forward and then a low, quiet glide would follow before descending onto her unwary prey.
She would hunt relentlessly during the nesting time.
Last spring a pair of Mountain Bluebirds, Sialia currucoides took up a residence in a nesting box by the river and the entire human neighbourhood was excited about the event. The box is on a flat with almost no trees around so the bluebirds would be able to detect a predator. Still, after sometime we noticed the absence of the blue-sapphire birds ....
It was our neighbor Mike, who told us later what happened to the nesting bluebirds. The hawk, having nowhere to hide, would perch on the top of the nesting box, waiting for the bluebird female to fly out and ... wham .... not a chance for the bird!
Last time I saw her she was on another lookout for a meal.
Totally focused, she ignored me completely, allowing me to sneak closer and closer. She watched something on the ground - not wanting to scare her away I did not dare to turn around to check it out. But my fingers were loosening the knobs on the tripod, cranking the ISO and lowering the F stop ... all of that in the anticipation of her next move.
Just when she lifted her powerful talon I heard some cheerful voices coming from behind!
To my disbelief two men, their arms flailing in all directions, came around the corner, loudly and happily discussing some kind of a construction project!
No-one, ever, walks about here at dusk. Ever!
I swung my head in their direction making the ugliest "Go Away!" face I could muster. I waved my hand from my hip. Shooosh!
You cannot scare two guys discussing a construction of ... something. They did not even notice that I was there. Five foot ten and the whole twenty meters away? Com'on!
And a bird?
What bird?
The hawk too lost its focus, looked their way, thought exactly the same thoughts as I did, and .... shooosh .... , disappeared into the sunset.
What an aerial battle it was! The little bird was quite fast and capable of quick and desperate turns. She, so much larger but equipped with wings and tail that account for her amazing movement ability, followed every curve of the little bird's path, always missing by a hair. Finally, she figured out that she would have to look for someone less fit and abandoned the chase.
Last year she stayed around our small community and probably built a nest nearby.
She would appear on alternate days usually just before dusk, often hiding in the bushes, well camouflaged and motionless, for in Nature it is mainly the movement that gives everything away. When an opportunity came several quick wing beats would propel her forward and then a low, quiet glide would follow before descending onto her unwary prey.
She would hunt relentlessly during the nesting time.
Last spring a pair of Mountain Bluebirds, Sialia currucoides took up a residence in a nesting box by the river and the entire human neighbourhood was excited about the event. The box is on a flat with almost no trees around so the bluebirds would be able to detect a predator. Still, after sometime we noticed the absence of the blue-sapphire birds ....
It was our neighbor Mike, who told us later what happened to the nesting bluebirds. The hawk, having nowhere to hide, would perch on the top of the nesting box, waiting for the bluebird female to fly out and ... wham .... not a chance for the bird!
Last time I saw her she was on another lookout for a meal.
Totally focused, she ignored me completely, allowing me to sneak closer and closer. She watched something on the ground - not wanting to scare her away I did not dare to turn around to check it out. But my fingers were loosening the knobs on the tripod, cranking the ISO and lowering the F stop ... all of that in the anticipation of her next move.
Just when she lifted her powerful talon I heard some cheerful voices coming from behind!
To my disbelief two men, their arms flailing in all directions, came around the corner, loudly and happily discussing some kind of a construction project!
No-one, ever, walks about here at dusk. Ever!
I swung my head in their direction making the ugliest "Go Away!" face I could muster. I waved my hand from my hip. Shooosh!
You cannot scare two guys discussing a construction of ... something. They did not even notice that I was there. Five foot ten and the whole twenty meters away? Com'on!
And a bird?
What bird?
The hawk too lost its focus, looked their way, thought exactly the same thoughts as I did, and .... shooosh .... , disappeared into the sunset.
I have not seen two people in this area since.
But then, I have not seen another Sharp-shinned Hawk either - that's because we removed the bird feeder and the beautiful hawk seems to have moved on.
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