Tag Archives: Dyson the Squirrel

The Joy of the Birds and Squirrels

The National Post recently ran an article about birds making people as happy as money. Personally, I think they make me happier!

https://nationalpost.com/news/world/birds-make-you-as-happy-as-money-study-finds?fbclid=IwAR0ZNxXT4gK7XqoPkB8j75KVj0VZmd-48N4zu-yQFtZbxng-rzEE13ECdwI

When the article made its way to FB, one person commented that birds make her “happier than most people do”. I giggled. Yes, that can certainly be the case! I know from the comments sent to me by each of you – either as a formal comment or a private e-mail – that since the pandemic began, the birds have really been the life line for many of you. I know a dear woman who has been quite ill who kept her focus and her fantastic disposition by watching the White-Bellied Sea Eagles. Many of you might remember, if you followed the FB of the Royal Cam Albatross, that a woman who was in hospice found solace in watching Pippa being raised by OGK and YRK. It removed her from herself and her imminent death. The birds brought her both joy and comfort. She loved that little fluff ball.

I am lucky. Every day I wake up and feel blessed. I taught my last face-to-face university class on 11 December 2019. Two days later, in celebration of my retirement, I went to Quebec City and spent a glorious time exploring the most European of all Canada’s large cities. It was only a few weeks after my return that my son alerted me to ‘something happening’ and I needed to stay home. It was not a hardship. My daughter was the one carrying the burden and my granddaughter. My daughter juggled teaching full time with alternating between virtual classes and face to face ones while trying to raise a family. My granddaughter worked with the homeless addicts in our downtown core in the depths of winter. I had it easy. I fed and watched my garden birds and animals as I had done for years. I began a blog to share that joy with others. At the same time, I hoped, now and again, to raise awareness of the challenges that the birds and other wildlife face on our planet. They have given me so much and hopefully, in a small way, I can give something to them.

There are three grey Squirrels that live in my garden. Some of you know their antics. There is Dyson who is always thinking about food. There is Scraggles whose tail is forever being torn off by one thing or another. Scraggles appeared emaciated on the deck several years ago. He sat right by a huge pile of black oil seed and water and ate til I didn’t think he could eat another seed. Every day he would come and sit in the same place. It took about 3 weeks to a month and he was back to something that resembled a healthy squirrel. There is a third, much larger grey squirrel who is always somewhere in the garden. Dyson and Scraggles seem to ignore it and like to be with one another. I think they are siblings. They live in a hole in the big Maple Tree in front of my house. Thankfully, it was not one cut down by my City because Mr and Mrs Woodpecker live in that tree, too!

Yesterday, I took the very bottom slice of the compressed seed cylinder and stuck it on a very short twig. I knew one of the squirrels would find it.

Scraggles has it! But Dyson is hot on his trail.

Scraggles has the lead. In the image below it is hard to tell who has the seed. Dyson has little fur tufts sticking up from his longer ears along with a longer tail with more silver in it.

It was only minutes later and I spotted Scraggles sitting on a tree branch. The piece of compressed seed no where to be seen. Did he drop it trying to get it up the big Maple Tree? or did Dyson catch up with him and grab it? Dyson was no where in sight.

There is lots of food for all the squirrels. Dyson is a ‘pro’ at sitting on top of the compressed suet cylinders chomping away.

In fact, I have an image of Dyson, two days ago, eating from that very piece of compressed seed that Scraggles grabbed today. I am certain that they will both be working on those two new cylinders when dawn breaks tomorrow.

Indeed, our warm weather has brought them out running freely in the garden and at the park where I go for my daily walks. When I left for my walk, there were tiny flakes of snow. By the time I finished, it was raining and +3. Just last week we were -35. It must really be hard on the animals with the temperatures flopping back and forth. There is more snow scheduled for tomorrow.

My images of the little Red Squirrel at the park are not very good. He was a distance away. A lady with her dog were approaching the squirrel on the snow. It got frightened and moved like a squeaky toy over to a hole in the snow where it disappeared.

There seemed to be squirrels everywhere today – Red ones and Grey ones.

The fur on the Grey Squirrel in the images below is very, very thick. The colours offer perfect camouflage.

I noticed that someone had left some peanuts at various spots in the snow around the flower garden where I spend my time walking. I think he had one of those. It must taste yummy on a damp day.

The Red Squirrels at the park have the most beautiful fur. They are different than Little Red who lives in my garden. These have grey underneath, a stunning coppery red on their back with a black tipped tail and ears.

The planters are all empty waiting for spring to arrive.

It is so quiet. A great place to go for a daily walk.

Scattered about are sculptures by Leonid Molodozhanyn (shortened to Leo Mol). Mol was born in the Ukraine. He studied art at the Leningrad Academy of Arts, the Berlin Kunst Academy, and the Academy of Arts in the Hague. He immigrated to Canada in 1948. He died in 2009 donating all of his bronze sculptures to the park. The intent was to create a place of quiet solitude. The trail winding through the gardens and sculptures is 1.0 km long – a perfect length for a nice brisk walk or a quiet stroll.

It is wonderful to be able to go out in a safe place and breathe in the fresh air and listen to all the chattering of the squirrels. The Cooper’s Hawks will arrive in April building their nest in the Spruce Tree along the walking paths. Eventually the juveniles will be jumping around all under these trees and around the bear sculpture looking for bugs. It is a delightful place. I hope that each of you has a place that is peaceful and serene where you can go and walk or sit or even read a book and sip some tea.

Thank you for joining me today. The news is so often full of the negative and sometimes we just need to stop and be grateful for what we have. Every day I thank the garden animals, the ones at the park, and those I see on the screen for the joy that they bring!

Take care everyone. See you soon.

Dad delivers two fish to his Ervie

I have to admit that I have been feeling rather sad for Ervie. He was so excited – and proud -to bring his catch to the nest. Then for it to turn out to be a toadfish, something that he cannot eat (or did not eat – he did eat the puffer fish!), had to be a real disappointment.

That fish remains on the nest and every once in awhile Ervie takes a look at it. You can see the fish to the right of Ervie. It also sticks to Ervie’s feet when he jumps around the nest trying to get a delivery from dad. I wonder why he doesn’t just shove it into the side of the nest?

Yesterday Dad brought in two fish meals for Ervie. Those times were 12:55:43 and 17:56:51.

Here is Dad delivering the first lunch for his lad.

Ervie is really lucky that Dad continues to feed him! Ervie reminds me of Izzi, the cutest peregrine falcon, at the scrape in Orange. Izzi did eventually leave the area but not until it was nearly time for his mother, Diamond, to lay her eggs for 2021. Some thought Izzi would have to stay and help take care for his siblings! It has happened in the UK.

It appears as long as there is a chick crying in the nest, no matter how big and old, Dad will continue to provide some food.

Ervie is really mantling his precious fish. He gives Dad a bit of a nudge to get him off the nest!

Dad is amazing. Ervie is really going to enjoy that fish.

Ervie slept in the nest last evening. I wish the camera could give us a view of the nest and Dad’s shed area. Is Dad not there? Is that why Ervie is sleeping on the nest? I have more questions than I will ever get answers.

In other Bird World News: Thunder has now laid her third egg at the West End Bald Eagle on Catalina nest with Akecheta. Bald Eagles Connie and Clive, realizing that their egg was not fertile, each helped bury it in the nest at Captiva. Today they are bringing in new soft materials covering the egg and the nest area. Does this mean they are going to attempt a second season?

There is a storm raging at the NEFlorida nest of Gabby and Samson. Gabby and the nest are almost at the point of being so deluged that she might not be able to keep the chicks dry. The other issue is that the temperature at the nest is 9 degrees C (49 F) and there is a wind advisory. Gusts up to 40 mph will ravage the area until Monday afternoon. The rain should stop by early evening. My heart goes out to Gabby.

Pa Berry has the nest stocked and while it is a little breezy, all seems well at the nest with Missy and little B15 at Mt Berry, Georgia.

Kincaid is growing and doing well. Louis doesn’t have quite the pile of fish he had on the nest. Thinking about those 10 fish and Coots reminds me. There was a question the other day and I am certain we have all thought about this. How well can Bald Eagles smell? That nest of Anna and Louis’s in the Kisatchie National Forest had to just reek.

Eagles have high temporal resolution – keen eyesight – and they rely more on their vision than smell. Turkey Vultures and others who rely on Carrion as a food source do have a developed sense of smell that helps them find their food. Eagles have functional olfactory glands meaning that they can smell but the numbers of those glands is relatively small in comparison to mammals. I will post a link to an article on Olfaction in Raptors at the end of this blog if you want to access it.

Kincaid is sitting up nice and straight. He is not yet walking around the nest but he sure manages to move relatively quickly, regardless. Anna keeps him full to the brim, normally!

There is an interesting story coming out of Alexandria, West Virginia Audubon Society about an Osprey that caught a crow. Have a read:

https://www.audubonva.org/news/osprey-killing-a-crow-in-alexandria-va?fbclid=IwAR143JSPR4PsbBCq5J-umVH_aML7MF-JpL_EAUcGTnFVbevRsK8zucOx8RU

Here is the article published by Oxford University’s Zoological Journal on Olfactory Glands in Raptors:

https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article/189/3/713/5601241

It is -18 with a bright sky on the Canadian Prairies. I am hoping to go out and check on some birds this afternoon for awhile. February is always the month for ‘cabin fever’ and this year is no exception! I do have some images of our dear Dyson yesterday in the garden. He is sure enjoying that hard suet cylinder!

He managed to share it with the European Starlings yesterday. Sometimes I see him chasing them about the Lilac Bushes hoping that he will get them to move so he can have some seed.

For some reason Dyson likes to eat this hard seed cylinder or sit in the open square feeder and eat just Black Oil Seed. I cannot get him interested in anything else.

Dyson becomes a bit like an acrobat hanging on to that small branch of the tree and the wires of the suet holder.

He sure does bring me a lot of joy!

Little Red was out yesterday, too. When the temperatures dropped from -32 to -15, the squirrels became much more active. It was nice to see them all! Reassuring.

Thank you so much for joining me. I hope that you are all well. Stay safe! See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Berry College Bald Eagles, KNF Bald Eagles, and NEFlorida Bald Eagles and the AEF.

Happiest of Holidays to each of you

We live in what is defined as ‘downtown’ and yet, my garden is full of life. Four households have created a bit of a corridor for all the birds and animals so that they can wander from garden to garden. As a result, we support more than 350 birds daily along with the various squirrels that live on each of our individual lots. There is the occasional racoon that wanders over from the river and once a peacock fleeing from the zoo found its way to the top of my neighbour’s roof. I am grateful every day to have these fabulous creatures in my life and I feel privileged to be able to care for them in some small way. I am also grateful to each one of you for the love and joy you have shared with all of the birds this year, for the nights when we should have been asleep but were up watching a nest with anticipation or worry, or for the times when we all collectively grieved.

There was soft gentle snow dancing around Little Red. He is anxiously awaiting his Christmas Eve bowl of mixed nuts. This tradition began many years ago when my dear neighbours brought over a container of non-salted cashews for him. I don’t imagine Little Red has any idea that those nuts are a small reward for all the joy and laughter he has brought us through the year.

Dyson & Co have been out finding seeds buried under 10 cm (4 inches) of snow. We can always count on Dyson to clean up everything. No worry about seed sitting too long with our squirrel-vacuum.

Sharpie came to visit early. It is always a relief to see him.

Junior was also here early but we have not seen Mr and Mrs Blue Jay for some weeks and we are imagining that they migrated and Junior decided to stay and keep their home safe.

From all of us on the Canadian Prairies we wish you all of the blessings of this holiday season – good health, friendship, family, and the joy of the birds.

We are on pip watch for Harriet and M15. I am hoping for a Christmas hatch! Take care and thank you for joining me.

Mary Ann & the Gang

Ervie gets the breakfast fish!

The fish arrived on the nest at Port Lincoln at 6:35:01 and immediately Ervie was mantling it.

Needless to say, Ervie really is the boss of this nest and for good reason. He has fabulous survival instincts.

As you know, my interest is in third hatches and how well they do on nest and off. It will be very informative on how well Ervie does when he leaves the area of the nest seeking out his own fishing spots.

Bazza and Falky might wish that Ervie would fly off and not return.

I only commented once but watchers were calling Falky ‘Mellow Yellow’. It is time that Falky was not so laid back. Yesterday, Bazza took the second fish while Falky had the fish tail from Ervie’s earlier breakfast. If I missed Falky getting a fish, I apologize. It would be good if each had one fish per day. They are all well-feathered and Bazza and Falky will fledge when they are good and ready. e

Oh, wouldn’t it be wonderful to watch Ervie learn how to fish?

At 7:43, Ervie is still eating but his two siblings are hanging close hoping to get some leftovers.

Ah, and Falky got it. Well done, Falky.

If you missed Ervie’s fledge, here it is again. It is quite beautiful on the take off and fly by but the landing was not impressive! Still, I applaud our third hatch lad. Ervie, you are amazing. You are definitely the leader of the pack, so to speak.

If you missed Victor Hurley’s Q & A discussion, it was really really super. I posted that link in my blog, Ervie Flies! early this morning. Very informative and you can start and stop it as you like. If you are interested in falcons or Australian birds of prey – it really is a talk not to miss.

Since the shut down of the 367 Collins Street camera, I hope that many of you are filling that gap with Yurruga in the water tower scrape of Charles Sturt University at Orange. As a former academic, we do not like to comment on others’ research. There were a couple of questions to Victor Hurley about the scrape at Orange and he answered in general terms. Someone asked about the low hatch rate and the eggs. VH said that if the eggs are too large (and he does not know that is the case at Orange) it is hard for the chick to kick them to create a crack all around the egg. He also noted that sometimes eggs get turned when a beak is protruding and the chick cannot right itself if the egg is turned around. Of course, VH said that those are general statements and not specific to Orange. He did comment that Yurruga gets all the food while the four at Collins Street had less bites per chick. He also noted that the Collins Street Four developed quite fast this year and that Yurruga appears to be developing normally. So, she is 8 days younger and the amount of floof she has is normal for this stage.

One of the things that I took away from VH’s discussion was how adaptable Peregrine Falcons are. If there is a drop in numbers of a prey item, they will move to something else. For example, some Alaskan Peregrines have been known to eat trout. The image below was shown as an example.

This year I noted a drop in the amount of pigeon delivered to the scrape at Collins Street. This could, according to VH, be a result of the several lockdowns they have had due to the pandemic. Less people eating their lunch and feeding the pigeons. He did note that the male did bring in Quail and Rail. The falcons normally have a 5 km hunting range but are known to go farther. The are for Collins Street is prey rich. The red dot indicates the site of the nest box.

The falcons do not spend a lot of time on the ledge after the eyases fledge. There is a good reason for this – parasites.

As we learned with Grinnell, the male at the University of California – Berkeley Campanile scrape, birds can become loaded with parasites and they might not be able to protect themselves as well as if they were healthy. Grinnell was taking anti-parasite medication to overcome this. We know he is improving and will be released shortly.

One of the most interesting things to come out of this talk had to do with how the females are attracted to a mate. VH said that there are ‘stunning’ Peregrine males. You and I have seen them. They have an almost orange cere and legs. Dark black, really black, hoods with cream chests and very fine pinstripe chests. Those are the extremely healthy males and the females want healthy. Pale yellow indicates unhealthy. So now when you look at a falcon you can tell healthier vs not so much.

Also falcons divorce. If the female hooks up with a male and he does not share incubation duties or bring in prey, she will move on the next year. The male stays with the nest but it could be in a prey deficit area. At any rate, it was a real good discussion! It is nice to listen to the expert in the area – even talk about rodenticide.

Little Yurruga is doing well. She was working on her breakfast the last I checked.

My daughter went to the Assiniboine River for a walk and discovered about thirty-five ducks still on the river. She sent some photos for us. She noted that there was at least one other group this size down the river.

There are a lot of signs on our park ponds not to feed the ducks and geese or they will not migrate. My daughter ran into a neighbour that says the ducks stay at that part of the river year round and people feed them. They added that parts of the river in that location have been open – not frozen over. I sure hope that is the case this year! There is also an American Bittern hanging around one of the creeks. Maybe they know that this big snow is just to scare us into thinking it is going to be a horrible winter and it will be mild. We wait to see.

The garden birds have found the seed left on the deck and Dyson has, of course, been helping himself. I missed getting him hanging upside down on a suet cylinder. The migrating birds are all gone from this area. Thankfully.

Dyson always knows when the food comes out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The feeders – and there are many different kinds – are all full. It was interesting to me that the sparrows did not mind standing on the snow. According to my daughter, the ducks really like being in the water and not having their paddles on the cold ice.

It is a good day to be inside!

Thank you for joining me today. There could be another fledge at Port Lincoln and we know there will be lots of prey for Yurruga. Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Port Lincoln Osprey Project and Charles Sturt Falcon Cam and Cilla Kinross. I also want to thank the 367 Collins Street FB group for posting the link for Victor Hurley’s talk and my daughter for those great duck images.