Pine grosbeaks, pine siskins

One of my delights this winter is having a small flock of pine grosbeaks and a flock of pine siskins hanging around. The novelty hasn't worn off yet, and it's great fun having birds to photograph who are fairly tolerant of humans and who have been very cooperative in posing.

I stood quietly under the crabapple tree, and this siskin came over to check me out. While I took a few shots, about 5 more of them came over to where I stood and hopped about the branches right above me, they seem to be curious little birds. (That, or their chattering translates to "put the camera down lady and re-fill the feeder!")

It's entertaining to see the antics of the grosbeaks as they reach for the crabapples. All photos taken Tuesday afternoon, February 24, 2009.

Two good sightings today

It's been a while since I've been out and about looking for interesting things in nature. This morning I didn't have to go far, just walking the dog in the backyard, when I spied a bird up in the neighbour's tree that I thought to be a shrike. I went back inside for the binoculars, and saw that it was a pine grosbeak, so I ran back inside for the camera. It turned out there were 6 of them, and they let me creep near enough for some pictures while they picked at buds on a spruce tree. It's been a few years since I've seen these, 'twas a nice birding treat for the winter.







Later in the day Dad and I took a walk out to our summer property. The conditions are very good right now for hiking around, there was some rain last week and now it is clear and sunny and just below freezing, an adult human can easily walk on top of the crust. Along our laneway I kept an eye out for snowfleas (springtails), there were some, widely scattered. I spotted a larger creature moving on the snow, and when I stooped to examine it, saw that it was a snow scorpion. I tried to photograph it, got this lousy picture. I picked up a piece of grass and tried to "tickle" it into another position so that I could get a shot from the side, but the end of the grass touched on the snow, skipped and flicked my scorpion down into a crack. I probably could have dug it back out, but was afraid I might harm it in the process, so just let it be.