I finally updated the photo page.
I got a new pair of binoculars from my Opa, who, is amazingly visiting us from Ontario right now. The last ones he gave me broke when I was walking and tripped. The binoculars are a pair of Bushnell Legacy WP FOV 430. They show a big crisp image, they are water and fogproof. One eye-cap is missing because it was bought at a garage sale, but it doesn't bother me. The only thing is the focusing wheel is sometimes a little hard to turn and focus quickly, but over all I am very happy with them.
I made a huge batch of suet, which should last us a while. Check out my previous post for the recipe, http://birdsinyourbackyard.
blogspot.ca/2013/11/how-to-make-suet
-step-by-step-with.html
We have a friend who is a farmer so he gave us a garbage bin full of bird seed, so we're all stocked up for the winter.
 |
| White-breasted Nuthatch |
We had a special visitor at our feeders here a couple days ago. A Northern Shrike! I couldn't see it very well at first so it looked like a Blue Jay. When I got a better look I scrambled to get the camera. I quickly attached the lens and ran to the window. A second before I took the picture it flew away, chasing a White-breasted Nuthatch. I haven't seen it since but am always on the lookout. Like Christian Artuso said: "There's exciting birds to see even in the winter"
I think the sparrows and goldfinches just left a couple days ago. We had many Harris' Sparrows and White-throated Sparrows.
 |
| Harris' Sparrow a couple weeks ago |
We have seen a couple redpolls already, I hope the Pine Grosbeaks show up soon. I love their colors.
 |
| American Goldfinches and Common Redpoll at finch feeder |
There was a strange goldfinch hanging around our feeder for a couple weeks. It had a bright yellow crown.
 |
| American Goldfinch with bright yellow crown |
 |
| American Goldfinch in snow |
 |
| The moon was out so I decided to test out the new camera on it. |
Your Opa obviously understands you - what a great gift! Clear, crisp images make an enormous difference to both enjoying and identifying the birds (and other creatures) you're looking at.
ReplyDeleteHow fortunate to see a N. Shrike at your feeder - and to our eyes, even more fortunate to see Harris's Sparrows. It's amusing how differently people across this country think of some birds - for us, Mountain Chickadees are about our most common bird, a daily visitor, but others visit this area just to see them.
Keep those bino's busy, even in winter!
Thank you! I'll make good use of the binoculars I'm sure.
Delete