Tag Archives: sparrows

broadcasting…

10 Sunday Oct 2021

Posted by in food, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

I’ve been feeling a bit bad for the birds since I took down the bird feeder and haven’t added any seeds to the one that is still hanging, in an effort to dissuade the raccoons from coming into the garden…

so, for the last few days I’ve been broadcasting seeds in the grass and on the decks…

I think the birds are liking it as they can all get something to eat and no lineups are required…

been enjoying the Harris Sparrows, the White-Throated Sparrows, and the Juncos…

and the bonus is that I am able to stand at the patio door and watch them…

flutter…

06 Monday Sep 2021

Posted by in garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

the critters have been active in the garden…

birds and squirrels are always flitting about… today I captured a flutter of sparrows lined up waiting for their turn at one of the feeders…

and lately the tiniest winged critters have been visiting quite a bit…

this cute bumblebee was enjoying a rest in the sunshine on the datura… and the wasps have been spending time on the lily pads, getting drinks I think…

there have also been a number of grasshoppers in the front yard…

so happy that retirement has given me more opportunities to enjoy the nature around me…

closer…

17 Saturday Jul 2021

Posted by in business, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

another great day in the garden…

it always looks particularly nice after Hilda the Gardener has been;-)… she spent a few hours in the morning weeding and trimming…

she also helped me move one of the bird feeders to a new spot closer to the pond where, just possibly, the squirrels won’t be able to get to it…

I am hoping that it isn’t so close that sunflower shells find their way into the water…

once she left, I watched sparrows having a garden party, testing out the feeders and enjoying drinks from the pond…

after a short nap, through the hottest part of the afternoon, I finished my book on the deck…

irises…

29 Monday Jun 2020

Posted by in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

a few days ago a great friend came by for a garden visit…

she brought me some gorgeous dark purple Japanese irises and a branch of lovely mock orange blossoms…

we had a nice time as we checked out everything growing in the garden and then watched the birds for ages… she knows lots about birds so I even learned a little, lol…

the house finch couple came by to visit and the house sparrows had a feeding frenzy as the parents and babies flew around and parents fed some babies and encouraged others to find their own seeds…

it was such fun to watch the way the youngsters fluttered their wings… and tried to land in various places… a few times I thought they were going to land right on us…

the sound was amazing as everyone was chatting and calling their family members, clearly wanting to be recognized, lol…

great fun to spend time with someone else who can happily listen to the water and bird watch for hours at a time;-)…

toppled…

14 Sunday Jun 2020

Posted by in garden, life, moments, nature, Uncategorized, weather

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

the wind has been blowing a lot in the last few days…

today, it was so strong that it toppled the elephant ear plant in the pond… I had thought it was secure, but all of a sudden it blew over… dug out my water shoes, found some very large rocks, and climbed in and stood it back up, circled it with the rocks as well as adding a few on top of it…

the rocks were so big, it raised the water level and a few of the lily pads went back under the water, lol…

I didn’t spot the frog, but a number of house sparrows and a few chipping sparrows stopped by to drink and have a bath…

the chickadees have returned and two of them were really looking around… I was wondering if they were searching for a spot to nest as I hadn’t seen this particular behaviour previously…

patiently…

04 Sunday Aug 2019

Posted by in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

had a fun time in the garden this morning…

when I walked out I frightened the baby bunny, but it came back a bit later for a snack…

and then the squirrels started running around… one was digging in the hibiscus pot… not sure what was going on, but went over and encouraged it to leave, lol…

a gray squirrel and a little red squirrel chased one another all around the garden to decide who got to be at the feeder… the red squirrel won that particular round…

the sparrows were in and out of the pond as they had drinks and baths…

and I spent the longest time waiting patiently for a black swallowtail butterfly, that was flitting around the garden, to land so that I could take a photo… eventually I got a few good shots…

two or three cabbage butterflies fly through the garden on a regular basis, but I’ve yet to catch one sitting still long enough to get a picture…

birds…

19 Friday Jul 2019

Posted by in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

spent the morning in the garden enjoying the show…

there were sparrows – clay coloured, house, chipping, maybe others as they can be hard to identify sometimes… along with purple finches…

they don’t really play that well together but eventually the finches seemed to accept the sparrows being at the feeder at the same time as them…

I took a great video, but haven’t quite figured out how I can post one here, lol…

dozens of the sparrows flitted about the garden… on the furniture, various decks, garage roof, at the feeder and drinking at the pond…

what a lovely time I had enjoying the activity…

and just now the teeniest bunny ran by about five feet from me… wasn’t fast enough to catch a photo, but what a cutie…

time in the garden is rejuvenating…

finches…

12 Sunday May 2019

Posted by in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

spent some time in the garden reading this afternoon…

I’ve also been watching the birds…

yesterday I spotted a couple of finches and have been hoping to get a photo of them so I can identify them… I even took my camera upstairs and left it on the landing hoping I might spot them again when going up or down the stairs…

no luck so far, but there are at least four different types of sparrows out there;-)…

and the creeping Charlie is starting to bloom…

physical…

05 Wednesday Aug 2015

Posted by in health, life, nature, technology

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

first thing this morning I had a physical with my new doctor… I still go to CancerCare regularly so the process was quite simple…

he is very nice and down-to-earth… discovered that there is lots of diabetes in his family… bad for him, but good for me…

the great news is that I don’t have to poke myself unless I am not feeling well… he was pleased with my blood sugar numbers and very impressed with the printed summary I brought from my UltraMini, lol… he hadn’t seen one before… he was also very impressed with the fact that I had brought my A1C number down from 8.7 in November to 6.2 in March through diet and exercise… hoping today’s blood tests will show it even lower…

he’s into technology and we talked about how great the MyFitnessPal app is… he uses it as well…

  
the not-so-good news is that he wants me to lose more weight… going to start with fifteen pounds, although he would like twenty-five…

talked about taking drugs, but we will discuss it again when I see him in 3 months…

took myself out for breakfast once I was done… had an egg Benedict at Perkins…

  
didn’t even feel that uncomfortable being there on my own…

once home, spent some time in the garden before the rain started…


must have been fifty sparrows in the garden at once… think they were filling up on food and water before the weather changed…

identified a wood frog as the guest in the bathtub pond…  put a board in to act as a bridge in case it wanted to get out… previously we’d only had Leopard frogs…

happily there were four morning glory blooms today…

  

changing colours…

21 Saturday Sep 2013

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

what a lovely day…

spent some time at the front window this morning watching all the critters outside…

purple finches and sparrows...

purple finches and sparrows…

there were flickers, robins, sparrows, chickadees, purple finches, nuthatches and this very cute bird that at first I thought was a goldfinch, but I don’t think it was… one of the neighbourhood squirrels was out as well…

cute bird on the feeder, not sure what it is...

cute bird on the feeder, not sure what it is…

took a walk around the creek and got a few shots of the leaves which are beginning to change en masse… on Thursday as I was driving to work I noticed a small tree at the end of the street and thought I should get a picture of it…

tree at the end of the street which was my first glimpse of the leaves changing colours...

tree at the end of the street which was my first glimpse of the leaves changing colours…

forgot on Friday, so decided to get a few pictures today… in the process realized more than one little tree was putting on its fall coat…

virginia creeper filled with berries and gone from green to red...

virginia creeper filled with berries and gone from green to red…

wasn’t out for too long as my battery was low and as I got home my camera lens cover stopped opening… will have to take it in on Monday… sure hope they can fix it as I do love that particular camera…