Feathers on Friday

Here is My F.o.F. post. A new bird that is now living in my yard are Mourning Doves. Just recently they came to the feeders. Here are some shots.

Strutting about

Pecking at a seed

Other F.o.F. posts:
Birds in Your Backyard
Bird Boy
The Cats and the Birds
Prairie Birder

Weekly What Bird Wednesday

It has been a busy summer and I have been quite preoccupied from the blog so I will try to get back into it. Here is my very late W.W.B.W. post. By the way, the last one was a Black-Billed Magpie.

Other W.W.B.W. posts*:
Birds In Your Backyard
Bird Boy
The Cats and the Birds

*Posts may not be up yet.

Closeup Monday

Here is a late C.U.M post. A few most recent pictures include exciting goldfinches at my feeder for the first time due to new trees in the area! A few pictures from the past week as well as a few from The Forks. See all the Forks pictures here.

Western Meadowlark

Brown-Headed Cowbirds showing off

Brown-Headed Cowbird

American Goldfinches and Cowbird

Cowbird

Weekly What Bird Wednesday

Here is my post. Sorry I missed last last few. We had one guess though, and it was wrong. The correct bird was a Lark Sparrow. Here is this week's:

Other W.W.B.W. posts*:
Birds In Your Backyard
Bird Boy
The Cats and the Birds

*Posts may not be up yet.

The Forks (again)

Last night, my family and I took a little outing the The Forks - a place in Winnipeg where the Red and Assiniboine Rivers meet - for a little time with our family. It is good habitat for many species of river duck as well as cavity nesting duck as the banks of the rivers are lined with trees. We saw Wood Duck (sadly, no males) with ducklings, Mallard ducklings, and goose goslings. :-) Here are some pictures.

The Royal Canadian Mint

The Provencher Bridge

St. Boniface Cathedral

Richardson's Ground Squirrel

Female Wood Duck and Duckling

Wood Duckling

Female Mallards

Straggle of Canada Geese

Recently fledged geese

A pair of Mallard.

Female Mallard and hiding duckling

Handsome male Mallard

Young male Mallard

Male Mallard

My sisters insisted I take a picture of the "one footed goose."

Some young birds feeding.

Chillin' it.

Sitting on the buoy.

Female House Sparrow attending nest.

Gray Catbird.

Museum of Human Rights

Summer!

It is now summer and time for a new look! With the bright sun and blooming flowers, as well as nesting birds, it is time for a brighter and warmer look! By the way, the colours will change according to the season.

Feathers on Friday

Here is my FoF post: Last week, we had a rather large participant at our feeder, eating the bugs out of the tall unmown grass around. It is a Common Raven, one of many in our area, that are regularly seen in swales or ditches.

Other F.o.F. posts:
Birds in Your Backyard
Bird Boy
The Cats and the Birds
Prairie Birder

Weekly What Bird Wednesday

Here is (finally) my Weekly What Bird post, from several weeks ago, it was actually a purple martin! Here is this week's:

Other W.W.B.W. posts*:
Birds In Your Backyard
Bird Boy
The Cats and the Birds

*Posts may not be up yet.

Prairie Birding Part 1 (Where to look)

Here is my first series post. I hope to do a few of these on different habitats or families of birds. I thought appropriate to start with my own home habitat. I live in an open prairie surrounded by grazing and agricultural fields. Nearby we have cow, horse, and bison farms. In these grazing pastures have I seen Pipit, Horned Lark, and I hope to find Bobolink. Anyway, where do you look for these birds? The prairie is very open so to spot perching birds is easy, but many of these species are clad in brown, and blend right in with the grasses. Where to look? What will you find? All these and more hope to answer in these posts.

Protruding Bars are good perches for this Western Meadowlark and House Sparrow

Scan telephone poles or wires

Again, a playhouse makes a good lookout point and shell cracking refuge.

A rooftop it suitable as well. American Robin

Tall poles attract birds who are seeking attention, like singing males.

Anywhere with perches and food, like one of my homemade feeders of scrap wood.

Even a low stake will suffice for this Eastern Kingbird

Open sky, shelter, grass and perches is the perfect habitat for grassland birds.