SOME BIRDS STOPPING BY MY GARDEN

Yesterday I had a pleasant surprise. A WOOD THRUSH found its way into my garden. He was alone. It was impossible to mistake his rust brown head and back, with a white breast strewn with black and brown slash marks like lightning strikes. He sat only. He could not be mistaken for a Thrasher.

I remember hearing a WOOD THRUSH once before I saw it. I was out walking in the woods, not yet far from the houses. When I heard the glorious song, I stood still, and looked around. He sat atop a small tree singing his heart out. It was a most profound experience.

Another visitor was a WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. I love the blobs of yellow on each side of his head, with the white and dark stripes. The body is a bland sparrow brown.

Today, a TUFTED TITMOUSE sat on a tree by my window, looking in. I believe he spotted me behind the geraniums. How charming his plump little gray body was, with a few slashes of rust on the lower sides.

Birds bring birds. Although there is little food left in the feeders, they come along anyway. I am thankful the BLACKBIRDS come seldom now. Families of JUNCOS are here often. One can see the striking white tail feathers when they fly. The DOVES visit from time to time. One male was most interested in a smaller female, but after all, it is Spring. Most of their families I see when the snow covers the ground.

The BLUE JAYS come for a peek to see if I have put any nuts out. Without these, they don't stay long. I Have been waiting for a rainless day to toss the nuts up to their stand.

Several of these birds are only passing through. I would love to have them stay. Sigh!

UNPLEASANT SIGNS OF SPRING

I have been remiss in posting to my blog, but must get this one off. The Blackbirds are back.

They came back massing on my trees. At the time they perhaps had just arrived, for they glared at my busy feeders and took themselves off.

After settling in, one by one they came, increasing in number, until there are now too many. They come by the half-dozen or more daily. Most of the food is gone.

My other birds have to scramble for food. There is almost nothing left for them. A Dove was here, a Cardinal family, Juncos and Sparrows. Unfortunately, that means I cannot feed these birds. I will miss seeing them, and hope they find food locally. The snow is gone, and with frequent rains the trees and bushes are budding, the grass growing. Soon natural food will be abailable for my birds. Or, others using feeders on the lower road, do not have the same problem with Blackbirds. I wish my birds the best. I hope to see them again in the fall when the Blackbirds have left the area.

I am too close to the woods where the Blackbirds mass by the hundreds when they come and go in Spring and Fall.

I refuse to feed Blackbirds.

SIGNS OF SPRING ARE ALL AROUND US

Spring is coming. I was told by a friend in Southern Ontario that the Robins are there now. I have yet to see one here in Quebec. We have a lot of snow still, but it is melting. I see the odd bird at my feeder I do not recognize. No doubt they are passing through. One type looked like smaller versions of Cedar Waxwings, with crests, but mostly gray in color. I could not find them in a Bird Book, but someone may recognize the description.

Now that a lot of snow has melted and the ground more visible, the birds come less often to the feeders. They find food elsewhere. Well, soon the blackbirds will be back and feeding will officially end by me. It is my cue. I continue to put out peanuts for the Jays from time to time. They come looking, but circumstances like busyness or cool winds intervene. If it was a case of needing the nuts...I see it more as a treat because they do have other sources of food.

Spring notwithstanding, the winds are cool, and much snow, uncovering the detritus--and hopefully grass--must melt away to encourage warmth. How odd to hear that because of the intensity of the Chile earthquake, the Earth day is a fraction of a second shorter. It is difficult to get one`s head around that if it is so. The days are getting longer, however. There is little doubt of that, and we will soon be able to say Spring has come.

SOME BEAUTIES OF THE ANIMAL WORLD

In the course of writing my novel, I needed to "speak" about horses, among which was The Arab Horse. While surfing the net I came across a number of articles on The Arab Horse. I admire the breed because they are so beautiful, a triumph of breeding by the Arabian Bedouins of Europe and Asia so many thousands of years ago. Today they are bred all around the world.

You can recognize The Arab Horse readily. Their beauty lies in their wedge-shaped head, giving it a dished look. They have small, wide flaring nostrils, with lovely large eyes, small ears, and beautifully arched necks. Their stamina and intelligence are legendary. You may find many articles about them, some at: ezinearticles.com/ for example, under the name, The Arabian Horse-Beauty and Versatility....

As I look out my window I often see several families of Cardinals come to my feeders. The males are truly beautiful in their red coats. One is more brilliant than the others, so I call him "Fatso," a rather shabby name for such a beauty. The other males have more gray on their wings and backs. I love the females as well--who are never far from their males--a lesson for us? Their bits of red and soft browns make them charming.

John Keats, in 1884, wrote in his poem, Endymion, Part I:
"A THING of Beauty is a Joy forever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness;...."

This certainly applies to the Cardinals and to The Arab Horses of the World.

SNOW, AN INEVITABLE PART OF OUR NORTHERN WINTER CLIMATE FOR OUR WILDLIFE

Several days ago a morning fall of large snowflakes sent my birds into a flurry of feeding. They flitted about from feeder to feeder. Four Cardinal families were most present, shored up by Chickadees and the odd Sparrow. The Jays had gone, and the Juncos, obviously sated for the time. The Mourning Doves were nowhere to be seen. It was fun to watch the Cardinals fly about. They appeared to enjoy the snowflakes. I am at times on a late schedule, so no doubt there will be another round of feeding after the snow has ceased to fall.

I am opened in my Canadian Wildlife calendar to January and a napping Arctic Hare. He, or she is beautiful, and if he stays still he will be safe. He is adorably white with black tips to his ears. I am not fond of watching films about Wildlife in Africa because of its ``dog eat dog`` nature (unfortunate analogy because I like dogs). No doubt the Arctic Hare is caught up in similar circumstances, trying to outwit the Arctic Fox, also white, also camouflaged on the white snow. Just as the Polar Bear must catch and kill the Seal to live and feed their young. Nature, however, works itself out without our help--well, with some help from the Wildlife people trying to keep things on an even keel.

Oddly, without it snowing, the backyard birdfeeders are not so busy. The birds come from time to time, but it is not the hilarity of a ``snowing`` day. The day is dull, the snow promised--about four centimeters. I will take it, even if I must shovel, only to see my birds happy.

Do you have a similar experience with your birds?

THE FEEDING FRENZY IN MY GARDEN

With the first major snow storm here, a feeding frenzy began. The birds obviously could not find food, so came to my feeder. A number put out feeders in the area, but I was pleased to see so many birds. The Blue Jays who come are around six, and scatter seed as they feed. I thought it wasteful, but a friend offered the suggestion that they select the seeds they want and dispense with those they do not. They 'rule the roost,' so to speak.

Next, come the Mourning Doves. I have counted twelve roosting in the trees. They are pairs, and stay somewhat together. There is one pair, a soft pinkish-brown--beautiful. The rest are varying shades of gray. They are patient birds, waiting upon others, mostly ground feeding, although they use the standing feeder as well. I love their gentle sounds, but now with windows shut tight, I cannot hear them. I shall in the early spring.

Ah, the Cardinals. What would we do without them in the dullness of winter? They are indeed bright spots--well, four bright spots usually come with their gentler-colored females. They skirt the Jays, the males less nervous than the females. In a crowed feeding situation, the females bully each other, but never the males. They appear to feed first, and the females fit in, usually ground feeding, whilst the males prefer the large feeder.

The smaller, hanging feeder, is the province of the smaller birds--sometimes Juncos, although they are mostly ground feeders--the Chickadees, the Nuthatches, and the Sparrows. The larger birds flit there to eat from time to time. There is a Cardinal ring for perching, but the male Cardinals prefer the larger feeder, the females the ground.

Then there are the Squirrels. They are grays in this area, and tend to stay where they have been born. I don't see the old one so often. Occasionally he comes for feeding, sits in a tree and glares at me. We have a history. I tried in vain to keep him off the feeders until I got a 'Squirrel Buster,' my hanging feeder, and got smart enough to trim the branches he used as a launch pad. Always there was a baffle, but he sometimes managed to leap to it. The two younger ones ground feed and gambol about chasing one another, and appear content.

Once the storm settled, so did the birds. They come leisurely now, as they need during the day. They no doubt come first when I am abed, but there is a flurry of feeding before their bedtime.

Such drama! I love the frenzy; it is most enjoyable.

THE POLAR BEAR AND CLIMATE CHANGE

I heard on the news some days ago that Polar Bears, unable to get out onto ice floes to get to the seals, are eating their young. I opened my Canadian Wildlife Calendar December first to a picture of a mother Polar Bear resting on the ice, with her young pup sleeping up on her back, and I thought, how sad, if the above account is true. Governments hem and haw over Global Warming when so many signs show it to be self evident. The mother neither eats nor drinks while in the den bearing and rearing her young, which makes it extremely important that she gets to the seals for her nourshment, and those of her young. How can she maintain herself and her young if the ice flows are melting? Seals are the main source of her food.

Since the mother Polar Bear had only a single pup in the picture, and they usually have two, one must speculate why one pup? The other was eaten my a hungry male? the mother was unable to nourish two, therefore only the stronger survived? Perhaps only the photographer knew. Perhaps not. Is there a more sinister reason? She looked rather lean.

The Polar Bear is a member of a class of endangered species. They are protected in the Northern countries of their habitat: (US) Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Norway, Denmark, and Russia, by an International Agreement on Conservation and Managememt of Polar Bears. Not only climate change, but pollution, industrial activities, and poaching, can harm them.
http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/

Let us hope that something good comes out of the Copenhagen Conference on Climate
Change--especially sea ice loss--to help the Polar Bear.