This one is MIA this winter. Too much forest cut away to have any nearby anymore, I guess.
The Varied Thrush has a unique reedy voice.



And here's a crow doing what it is supposed to do on the coast in picking thru seaweed on the beach looking for a snack.
Looks like it was a winter day. bleak, lightless, murky.
I left some peanuts in the shell out for crows where I know they hang out today. It's hard for us all when it's so cold out.

Got to go see some Trumpeter Swans in a farmer's field today. They winter over here on the island then go. ( I know not where!)
It was neat hearing them talk quietly to each other as I watched.

This one watched me and never took it's eyes off me while I took pictures.
On guard duty?




Youngsters



They have an 8 foot wing span.




Scattered here and there across the field, more than a few. Snow in the background in this direction where tall trees cast shade.
The snow is gone wherever the sun shines.

I fed the robins rice during the cold snap.

Ibis at the usual bird gathering spot.

A very handsome mallard duck at my usual bird watching location.

There is a heron nesting place along the walk to see the sealions I can't get close to it due to the too deep ditch. It is a mixed stand of young alders and maples near a small body of water larger than a pond not far from the ocean. I lust after a digiscope camera but am not able to carry anything that heavy anymore for as long as is necessary to get to the good spots.

I can't tell if the nests are in the maples or the alders. I see maple buds and alder 'cones'. I think it was maples.
There were about 20 of them. Hard to get good shots.





A power line runs across the photos as the nesting site is next to the industrial road that goes to the work site. Almost surprising that they'd nest so close to such activity. Apparently the ground under their nests gets fouled by the large fowl and they move on after awhile. The ground recovers but takes time.
Vancouver has a large park with tall fir trees where herons nest creating huge platforms.

Here's the Heron Cam live - Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC

https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-c ... aspx#watch

The happy couple taking a break from nest building. This is their spot year after year. Yellow Crowned night herons, the bane of the crawfish.

Today I saw a big hawk or eagle in the distance, seagulls, a pair of ravens, but all I got pics of was this GROUSE. Again.
I think Mrs. Grouse is planning to nest near the garden again this spring. Lots of good things to nip!

Do your grouse make a loud drumming sound? Hearing that noise up on a mountain near Vancouver made me think there was someone in the bush pounding on something until I realized it had to be a grouse.


One morning this week I noticed a different looking group of birds at the fountain and saw that they were Crossbills. I haven't spotted any for years. It's a good year for pinecones in the firs which is what those bills are for in getting the seeds out of the cones. I remember that the 1st time I saw them I was drawn by all the seed shafts that were raining down. Once the seed is gone the rest is chaff.
I thought that their chatter n the trees was more like that of budgies than anything else I know.

The red ones are male and not too sure about the rest, whether females or youngsters or both.





Drinking.
That's why I pile rocks on top, so birds can't bathe and dirty the water.




It is hard to believe that there are any seeds left as this has been a year with many Pine Siskins. Poison to cats and eaters of pinecone seeds. There have been reports of many Siskins dying due to Salmonella this year and we are asked not to put out feeders so it doesn't spread to other birds. I only feed in the coldest weather so not an issue for me.
Not sure this one is looking particularly well as it sits uncharacteristically quiet and alone.

Great pics of the crossbills! I've seen them here too, but only once - there were great numbers of them at that time.
The grouse makes a fabulous thrumming sound when they fly up in the woods. The real drummer is the flicker though. Up on the chimney pot the other morning, it echoes down the chimney and is very loud of an early morning, followed by the yip-yip-yip...yipping and then back to the drum.
The other woodpecker whose name I've forgotten, sounds more like an eerie carpenter out tapping in nails invisibly in the woods.

caught this eagle just hanging out in a very large tree during one of my recent neighbourhood walks ......

Is that a cottonwood tree it's in? There's a nest in a big cottonwood in our neighbourhood. While talking to a neighbour on the street recently I counted 15 eagles circling overhead. That's a record. Here for the herring season, no doubt. We don't usually have so many.

Bower wrote: ↑Fri Apr 09, 2021 6:35 pm Great pics of the crossbills! I've seen them here too, but only once - there were great numbers of them at that time.
The grouse makes a fabulous thrumming sound when they fly up in the woods. The real drummer is the flicker though. Up on the chimney pot the other morning, it echoes down the chimney and is very loud of an early morning, followed by the yip-yip-yip...yipping and then back to the drum.
The other woodpecker whose name I've forgotten, sounds more like an eerie carpenter out tapping in nails invisibly in the woods.

Our grouse are different. The Sooty Grouse makes a call from its throat that reverberates through the woods. I find articles that say this but the videos don't demonstrate it well.
This short video shows how they do it.



This one is gorgeous but I hear nothing!

Growing Coastal - not sure about tree type - should have taken pic of entire tree - then I could ID from my "Trees of Vancouver" book

not my usual walking root - my first thought was Beech - but likely not

Vanier Park, here in Vancouver, was home to a huge eagle nest right near the coast guard station - they have now moved closer to the bridge - but I believe both nests are/were in Cottonwoods

Wow the Sooty Grouse sure is different... nice!
Here's some weather lore: when seagulls are seen inland, it's foul weather at sea. The intense rain, fog and freezing rain has brought them here today. I heard someone say that the seagulls were walking out at Pouch Cove yesterday (furthest east). Not fit to fly.

Glad to see that seagulls are good for something!

Aerial view of a Cardinal nest. This nest is about 10 -15 feet from the garden in a Yaupon Holly thicket.

Junco ventured out... the rain stopped but winds are gusting 80 kph. Scampering from one shelter to another.

Mamma Cardinal sitting on her eggs. She’s pretty well hidden. I’ll try to protect her from any rat snakes I see and keep the cats away, she’s so close to garden we can’t help but be neighborly. Maybe in turn she can forage up some hornworms or other destructive garden critters for her upcoming brood.