Just Don't Do It!

I've posted about this strange situation before.

This is a man-made mini lake.  This hole in the ice exists because there is an underwater current maintained by the administrators of this park to keep the water from stagnating.

These ducks SHOULD have migrated.

It is not natural nor healthy for them to be here.

And here is the source of the problem.

These ducks only stay here because they are being fed.

Even though signs around the park

ask/tell/explain to people why they should

NOT

feed the ducks,

they continue to feed them.

Bags of food.

Yesterday I heard a woman explaining to some passersby that "these poor ducks would die if it weren't for her daily feedings."

The number of ducks have increased from about 25 in the fall to almost 150 now.

Every time they hear footsteps coming, they jump from the ice and dive into the water, rushing to be fed.

What a shame.

Just One

No Murmuration here.

No starling swarm,

Sweeping across the sky like a ribbon wrapping around on itself.

Just one starling,

Fluffing its star-studded feathers to keep out the cold.

Happy to have the feeder to itself.

Wondering, perhaps, if it has come here too early,

When Spring is nowhere in sight.

I've added a link to a video of a real Murmuration of Starlings

(a flock flying together.)

What I like most about this video, aside from the spectacular sight of the cloud of birds in flight is the expression of wonder on the girl's face at the end of the video.  I know I'd feel exactly the same way she does.
I'm not a huge fan of the addition of music tracks over the sounds of nature, but, then again, it's not my video and you can always mute it out :)

Let Them Eat... Snow!

What's a bird to eat in the middle of winter but snow.

At least, that's what it must look like to our backyard birds.

This Common Redpoll is chatting up the bronze rooster atop the feeder,

asking him how to get at the seeds,

(probably wondering why he's not getting any answers.)

Hmmm, no luck with this feeder either.

Oh well, might as well eat...   Snow!

That's what the other birds are eating.

The Dark-eyed Junko (bottom right) has a beak full :)

Finally, a feeder with a little more nuts than snow :)

Waiting for Spring

Looking through the window on a cold winter day.

Waiting for a sun-kiss to warm my cheek.

Simplicity

Life is about finding balance.

Keeping a cool head when times are rough.

Extending a hand to those in need.

Having a full heart.

And keeping a light on to find the way.

Brrrrrr!

"We are like the branches that quiver during a storm,

doubting our strength

and forgetting we are the tree -

deeply rooted to withstand all of life's upheavals."

~ Dodinsky ~

Brrrrrr!
This is the temperature outside my front door this morning.
I love the sharpness of the air,
the crunch of each step,
the way the cold lays its hands on my face.

Each breath in,
I am aware of the cold
and my body's rush to heat it.
Each breath out
is decorated in a cloud of steam.

Not a moment is taken for granted.

Winter Games

You know when you think you see something, but then look and nothing is there?

So you take a few steps and then, woops, you think you see it again.

I saw a small dark object drop from the sky and disappear into the snow.

Turns out I wasn't losing my mind (whew!)

I realized it was a bird.

A very silly bird.

I couldn't help laughing out loud.

See it peeking its little head out of the snow?

Was there something underneath the snow that I didn't know about?

Was it playing?  Or hiding?

While I'm waiting to see what it will do, a Common Redpoll lands beside the hole with a sunflower seed in its mouth.

It stays a moment and then leaves.

Two seconds later, another bird lands (I'm not sure it is a Redpoll.)

I start to wonder:

#1 What is so attractive about this hole?

#2 What is that little bird doing under the snow all this time?

This second bird also stays a moment and leaves.

Finally Mr. Mysterious re-emerges from his hiding place.

He takes a look around,

Springs out from the hole and flies away!

You can see his tail-feathers on the right side of the photo below.

Maybe I've just witnessed an elaborate bird version of "winter hide-and-seek."

I have a feeling Mr. Mysterious is going to win :)

Who Knew?

What do you do with hazelnuts that have gone stale?

Put them out for the squirrels...

But, it wasn't the squirrels who came to eat them.

Who knew that Bluejays love hazelnuts?

They looked so happy!

They grabbed them.

They called their friends.

They tried to take as many as they could hold!

When I saw them swallowing the nuts whole,

I became a little worried.

Gulp!

I hoped I wasn't going to be inadvertently responsible for killing them :(

Not to worry.

I watched them fly up to a nearby tree where they regurgitated the nuts and pecked them into smaller pieces.

Before long, they'd eaten every single nut.

All that remained were their footprints in the snow.

Bold Strokes

I love to draw,

but I'm terrified of making mistakes.

This lack of confidence

results in timid, pale, sketchy lines.

Nature has no such fear.

She draws with bold strokes,

with confidence,

creating works of art that stand the test of time

and are an inspiration.

Summer Daydream

Am I getting tired of winter?

Not really.  I don't mind the whiteness, the quiet, the cold.

 In the fall, plants fade into a calming palette of soft earth tones.

Before long there is no colour at all.

Plants are hollowed, crumbled, gone altogether.

Winter arrives just in time, sprinkling us with fairy dust,

sweeping us into a land of enchantment.

We are so dazzled, the colours of summer fade from our memories.

Didn't the land always look like this?

But then, out on a walk I hear a burst of foreign sounds:

Quaaaaaaack, quack, quack, quack

Splaaaaaash, splash

Flap and flutter

Bobbing in the the water, I see greens, yellow, whites and honey-browns,

and the memory of summer rushes back.

There is sound, movement and colour, all competing for my attention.

What's going on?
Has summer melted the winter away?

Don't be silly, it is only January

and winter hasn't even begun to bite :)

The pictures above don't show that the water these ducks are in is surrounded by ice and snow.  They chose not to migrate and spend their day huddled in or around the rather small hole in the ice.

Maybe next year they'll make a different choice.