Tag Archives: sparrows

irises…

29 Monday Jun 2020

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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…

 

digging…

30 Tuesday Jul 2013

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slept out under the stars and enjoyed watching the moon move through the sky as the night progressed…

bed for the night under the stars...

bed for the night under the stars…

then spent Sunday planting, reading and watching all the visitors who came by…

before I started planting...

before I started planting…

took a few shots of the landscape before making all the changes…

decided I liked where the plants were sitting and started to get them into the ground…

after planting...

after planting…

worked on one or two and then took a break, to read and watch the various flying friends who stopped by…

behind the waterfall...

behind the waterfall…

there were goldfinches and purple finches and lots of sparrows of various sorts… there were bees and wasps and a couple of butterflies and dragonflies…

once the planting was done I tidied up the bench which had been covered with pots during the construction…

then I took it easy… lots of work, but was very happy with the results… looks much better now…

sparrows…

28 Sunday Jul 2013

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this afternoon the sparrows took over the garden…

they were everywhere… a number came to the feeder… and if you watched you could see them taking their turn… some would sit in among the Virginia creeper while others took spaces on the garage roof and top of the hook that holds the feeder… eventually everyone had their turn…

sparrows taking turns at the feeder...

sparrows taking turns at the feeder…

they are also enjoying the pond… I still haven’t seen any having a bath like they used to with the old waterfall but they certainly stop by for a drink…

sparrows checking out the new view...

sparrows checking out the new view…

they were all over the waterfall stone and the bridge having little conversations as they had their drinks…

walking along the bridge...

walking along the bridge…

then they sat at the edge of the cedars… haven’t seen them do that for quite some time, but it also might have been where I was sitting as I could see the cedars very well from my spot beside the hot tub… when I am in the garden, I have to move from spot to spot as I follow the shade around…

sparrows sitting in the cedars...

sparrows sitting in the cedars…

it was lovely to spend time watching them as I was reading my book…

leaning in for a drink...

leaning in for a drink…

not sure if this little guy was drinking or wondering what the fish were doing, lol…