February 16, 2012

Backyard Friends

There were so many birds in the backyard this morning.  We almost had a full house.  I saw a cardinal, chickadees, a goldfinch, a house finch, sparrows and a junco all at once.  I don't often see them all together. The only regular visitors missing were the mourning doves and maybe a blue jay or two. Looking at our busy tree made me think of Diana Sudyka's beautiful watercolour called 'Winter Birds'.

Not all of the birds cooperated for photos but most did.

There's a spring feeling in the air today. I even saw a robin a couple of days ago. As much as I am looking forward to spring, I wouldn't mind the cold weather lasting a little bit longer. (Did I hear someone groan?) The girls want to skate on the rink in the park across the street. We have to buy both of them new skates. And I would like to keep walking on the little forest path with Meeko. It's such a special part of my day. Once everything thaws, the path becomes impassable and we'll have to stick to city sidewalks.



And yet I do look forward to my garden flowers.

11 comments:

  1. I know what you mean about winter, even though we don't have any snow or ice here. I would like it to last longer, even though I also do enjoy when spring is in the air.
    I'm so happy that you have so many & different backyard friends ! Not that much diversity in town here. Well, it depends on the season too, I guess.
    I've been very saddened to read in the news that lots of pink flamingoes (which stay here in the south even in winter) died out of the cold (the recent cold wave we've had the last weeks), or got frozen in the ponds where they were standing in, breaking their legs, which lead fatally to their death. :(
    oxox

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    1. That's incredibly sad about the flamingos. It's scary how the environment and weather patterns are changing. We've definitely had winter weather here but not as severe as in the past. I even wondered if the robin I saw the other day had gone south at all.

      I just found this link on robin migration. It's very interesting and according to it, I need to wait for the first 'singing' robin as a sign of spring. http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/robin/ConfusingMigration.html

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  2. Lovely birdies Kathleen,I like the cardinal, we don't have too many bright birds over here. I wonder if you are in for some cold weather and they are coming in to feed? Sometimes it works that way, then sometimes they are out because of the mild weather? Either way, I like lots of them, all the time.:) In the last 2 very bad winters we had I thought many birds would have died, but my bird count the other week says not?? Although the nationwide count is still to come in, Dianas site is lovely.

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  3. What's happening with the word identification as you leave a comment? I can't read them????

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    1. Hi Julie--I love the birds too. Our brightest ones (colour-wise!) are the cardinals, goldfinches and blue jays. It's very mild today, so maybe that's why I have a crowd.

      I reported the captcha problem in the Blogger Help Forum and others have too. Apparently Google Engineering are working on it.

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  4. When nothing is in bloom, Birdies are the feathered flowers of the garden. Your fluffed-up friends are just gorgeous!

    Right now there's a turf war going on in my backyard for the nectar. Funny, as the protagonists are about 3.5" tall, but fight dirty!

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    1. I like that: 'feathered flowers of the garden'. :)

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  5. the birds are returning early this year
    and i dare say some of them never left
    i guess they knew this was going to be a
    crazy mild winter in ontario

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    1. I think the robin I saw this week never left (especially after reading the article I cited in the comments above). Even though we don't have the depth of snow we've had other years, we've certainly had some very cold days and I wonder how the non-migrators deal with that. (As Sonia's comment points out: sometimes not very well.)

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  6. I love seeing the birds in the skeleton trees, such a beautiful site.

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    1. I love how the bare winter landscape allows you to notice things more. Thanks for dropping by.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to visit my blog and to leave me a comment. I love reading them. -- Kathleen

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