Hey, can I temporarily change the title of this thread to 'Today Without The Feeders'??
We got exhausted from working here so !#$%^ hard while my husband was on vacation (now there's a contradiction in terms!) so we took off to the
cottage for a couple of days before he returns to work on Tuesday. We left
on Thursday and just returned today.
I got some fascinating photos on the way there but sorry, I haven't had
time to download them yet. They're not of any live creatures (oh yeah,
except a duck). They are photo proof of the drought conditions we've had
this summer. They show a large swampy pond that is virtually empty of
water. You can see where the water SHOULD be ... and you can see a couple of ducks swimming around in the little ponds that are left. I'll post them this week so you can see what I mean. I don't remember seeing conditions like this before, not to this extent. It's really bad!
Luckily, today we've been getting downpours (which aren't the best since
heavy rain will just run off) but it's better than nothing so I won't
complain.
I did have a wonderful sighting at the cottage that just made my whole
weekend..... a whole FLOCK of golden-crowned kinglets!! At least a dozen of them!
I've never seen these little cuties before and have been waiting for years to see them. What a treat! They are easily one of THE cutest little birds I've ever seen. And active!! Jeez, it's tiring just watching
them. Impossible to get a photo of them without a scope and I could barely
keep them in the viewing field of the binoculars. And they are also very
chatty little birds. What a great sighting! I know according to my guide
book, we also have ruby-crowns around here but I don't know how in the world you'd tell the two apart without them raising their crowns, especially if
the ruby crowns are as active as the goldens!
I saw another bird in the garden there that I'm not too sure of. Blame my
husband for the lack of a photo... just as I was about to focus on it, he
closed the door of the gazebo scaring them away!
Anyway, it was the
size of a junco (that's what I thought it was at first, until I saw it
through the bins). It was dark brown on the back and wings, light tan on
the breast. It had very dark eyes and I couldn't make out any ring around
the eyes or anything. I thought it might be a hermit thrush but I've got my
doubts about that. Any suggestions?
And speaking of juncos, they've returned along with the grackles. I'm not
sure if I'm happy to see them or not..... they mean summer is over! But
since they are one of my favourite birds to see, I can't help but be happy
to have them back.
Oh yeah! I also had two flickers in the yard there. And that was a real
treat too as we've hardly seen any flickers this year at all. And of
course, I saw my buddies... the whisky jacks (gray jays). I had them coming
to the yard again but I never saw any babies this year. How I miss them
here!! But I AM hearing bluejays here more and more so I'm hopeful that
they'll return for the winter.
I hope everyone else had as good a weekend as we did. It was great to get
away for a few days but it's still nice to be home too.
:bounce:
