UVIC's Treasure....Hawk's Nesting in Strobe Lights 1 of 5

Bonus post today....yesterday I noticed that our Hawk nest from last year was active again. So with the morning light I headed out and set up the tripod to see if I could get some shots that were ok. I knew in advance though that with my camera they would not be top notch but I'm happy with the result. Here we have the Hawk sitting on the eggs and as the pictures progress there is the trade off, the stretch and the take off.... The Hawk family is especially important for us here in Victoria we have a very severe Rabbit infestation and they help with controlling of these Rodents...although cute they cause alot of damage in large numbers. UVIC is known for the rabbits that live everywhere on campus. Good maybe but damaging yes.

UVIC's Treasure....Hawk's Nesting in Strobe Lights 2 of 5

UVIC's Treasure....Hawk's Nesting in Strobe Lights 3 of 5

UVIC's Treasure....Hawk's Nesting in Strobe Lights 4 of 5

UVIC's Treasure....Hawk's Nesting in Strobe Lights 5 of 5

Three dops

While out yesterday I took advantage of the morning light...went into UVIC's gardens and got some great pond reflections and some lovely dew and drop shots on foliage....I just love the feel of freshness in these shots....bright, soothing and refreshing all at the same time....Love what water can do for an image.

Water Reflections

Water Refections

Sleepy....Truffles at rest

Well I'm just getting to my blog now...I have been out and about today and I'm still in the process of editing the shots I got today. But here are some pictures that I haven't had the time to get up. I thought some nice shot of small animals are in order. A lovely Mother Squirrel taking a break from her babies, Lovely baby Rabbit and my sweeeet lovable cat Truffles having a wee nap.

So Cute....baby Bunnie

Mother Squirrel having a break

Fabulous Fruit Fridays!!!

Well it's Friday **Sigh** Thank goodness for that I need my weekend to recover from my week at work. My oldest has been sick since Saturday and I had to take him to the Hospital last night. Our GP thought he might have had an appendicitis. Thankfully not!! Now I bet all of you are wondering why the fruit today. Well I wanted to add some fun into my blog and so I came up with Fabulous Fruit Fridays. From now on every Friday I'm going to put up a pic of some fruit for you to vote on....food that yes came from seeds and feeds all living things. So let me know what you think about my new fun theme. Have a great day :)

The Developing Pine Cone

Well when I woke up this morning I thought I would put up a post today that had nothing to do with birds or flowers....but about plants and their seeds. As all of you know seeds not only produce plants that we need for our environment but they also provide a food source for....yes you guessed it our birds, squirrels and basically any animal that rely on seeds for their diets. The plants rely on this as well to help spread it's species throughout the forests which surround us all and we always admire when we go out for our walks and hikes....so lets celebrate the wonders of seeds!

Gone to seed

Seeds of Plants ~ Pine Cone

Chipping Sparow 1 of 4

Hello!! These next four pictures of a Chipping Sparrow I captured in my back yard. Here I was all comfy cozy reading a great book under my umbrella when along came this little chipping sparrow checking out my Pot Pond that my Husband made for me for Mother's day this year. On the side of the pot he built a beautiful cascading water fall that runs down into the pot. Well it's a hit my yard!! all the birds love it, bath in it and drink from the spout of water you see in all the pictures!! So enjoy these very cute shots.

Chipping Sparow 2 of 4

Chipping Sparow 3 of 4

Chipping Sparow 4 of 4

Full of Heart a true display of Emotion

Morning everyone!! These next three photo's I truly want to share with you. They definitely have a top spot for me in the Heart category. Do you ever find at times that your wild life pictures don't show high emotions like humans? I do sometimes...but then you capture this lovely moment. This sweet wee hummingbird was truly in another land, singing it's heart out and swaying on this little branch....it truly took my breath away. It's eyes are closed, feathers from exertion are puffed. It reminds me of an Opera singer so engulfed within it's self but creating the most exciting display of Emotion and music. I hope you can see what I see because if you do it will instantly touch your heart.

Full of Heart

My Song

Robbin nesting in a Hanging basket.

For my last post of the day before heading off for work. I'm working 8-4 this week Whoo Hoo no late nights this week. Anyways yesterday I went out to buy my hanging basket stuffers when I noticed this....right in the middle of the Nursery there is a female Robbin nesting in one of the Hanging baskets!! I did see the little bobble heads in there as well, but Mom quickly tucked them back in...so sorry no shots of babies. But I thought this shot was very cool.

Sun tanning with MOM!! on the Pond 1 of 2

Well I thought I would put of these cool shots I got as well at the Swan Lake, it was a good day to be out in the morning that is for sure. Here are two views of a Mom sun tanning with her wee ones. I love the reflection you get on the pond with the ducks and the green grasses. Looks like they are sitting right on top of a mirror!

Sun tanning with MOM!! on the Pond

Cedar Waxwing 1 of 4

Goodmorning, Goodmorning....well yesterday here in Victoria BC was fab!! We got up to a warm 25 nice. So because I burn I decided to get out early, not as early as I would have liked but early enough that the morning sun was still ok and not the Mid day light that you can't get a decent shot in if you tried. My boys and I decided to head out to Swan Lake our Nature sanctuary. Well it was great I saw my very first Cedar Waxwings!! there was about five in the old oak tree which looks out onto the pond....Fantastic moment. Again I was excited but this time I didn't have to dump alot of pictures. Mind you thought my poor camera as you can see here was pushed and I say pushed to the max.....Ah again the reminder that I don't own an SLR...but I'm still happy with the results even though you can't really see alot of detail only their beautiful silhouette of colors against the blue blue sky.

Cedar Waxwing 2 of 4

Cedar Waxwing 3 of 4

Cedar Waxwing 4 of 4

Struggling Starling

Well before I headed out for work yesterday I was in the back yard practicing my Maro zoom actually on a spider. Got some great shots by the way....I will post those ones later. Anyhoo this Starling was trying to get the suet out of my log that I hang for the smaller birds. There really isn't anything for the bird to stand on so it has to fly up to the log and in seconds try to get the food out before falling to the grounds. I got two great shots to show you this lovely attempt.

Almost got it!!!

Black-headed Grosbeak ...Thanks to Frank:)

Thanks to Frank from The Early Birder for helping me figure this out!! You were absolutely right. Now I need to study the species and try to locate them so I can achieve a better shot. Thanks Frank you rock!!

The Unkown Bird!!..I Need your help Bird Bloggers!!

Ok....I need some help. I captured this bird yesterday in one of our trees outside. What initially caught my attention was the sounds it was producing. So quickly not recognizing it as a bird that visits our home I grabbed my camera. The bird was very high in the tree so the images aren't as good as I would have liked, but I have put all three up in hopes that someone out there that either follows my blog or someone passing by for a quick visit might recognize the species. I have utilized all my reference tools and exhausted my Google search last night. So can any of you help me??? :)

Black-headed Grosbeak

Black-headed Grosbeak

Wasps who likes them!!....But

Wasps what pests aren't they...but I thought I wonder what they truly look like while at a safe distance from them with the Macro option. I was pleasantly surprised....this wasp was actually taking thin strips of wood off the log in my yard. I further investigated why....well of course to take that pulp to construct their nests...is that cool...what a wonderful way to again take a decomposing matter and make something useful instead. Even though they are a nasty pest.

Couldn't find a butterfly.....So Hello Moth

Well as you can tell I'm workin the macro and thought I would take a shot of this moth. I had no idea how lovely they really are until you look at them. Their eyes are amazing!!! and the tips of their antenna's have little white balls on them. Very cool not including their molted colored wings. Gave me a new appreciation for the average moth.

Gastropods

I bet all of you are wondering why has she posted a picture of a Gastropod? Commonly known as a slug. Well for me everything about nature is amazing. Even though gardeners curse them they are an important part of our ecosystem by eliminating waste on the forest floors and also by assisting in the break down of larger decomposing items. Without these helpful creatures things on the forest would take allot longer to decompose. So hats off to the Gastropods. Oh and to really appreciate this lovely picture just click on it, and you will see the most amazing details that you would never notice on any average day. Even my boys were impressed :)

Not Happy!!....

My final post for the day is this Not Happy Peacock. He's as you can tell an albino. He's the only Albino Peacock in the Victoria area and today was not a good day for him. All through the park you could hear his unhappiness....so I tracked him down. Even for a moment he wouldn't stop the cries so I could take a nice shot...so this is what I got a display of truly an unhappy bird....

Checking things out!!

This sweet juvenile Male House finch was taking the opportunity to check out my yard plants very thoroughly it was just too cute. There were a few times where I thought I would have to rescue him from the plants!! He continually got himself into interesting situations. I laughed a few times watching him. In the end if you can believe this he came right up to me...flew right into the lattice and jumped onto my table where I was sitting and basically said hello :) I didn't dare move to take the shot....didn't want to scare him. He now comes all the time when I'm out in the yard too cute. One day he will have his nice bright red head, chest and back.

Caught Napping

When I was out and about this weekend I came across allot of different situations. So I took the opportunity to take this lovely shot. This female Mallard was so deeply sleeping that you could have if I had wanted to just reached out and touched her. I would have given her a heart attack if I had....so instead took her picture. I have always wanted to touch a duck's feathers. Mainly because I love touching textures.....helps you connect with things in this world.

Spotted Towhee

Well at last I finally accopmplished getting my first decent pictures of a Spotted Towhee. Now these little birds have been quite challenging for me to get. Usually when I go on my walks you can hear them but can never...and I say never get a good shot. Why you ask well simply because they love to forage in the underbrush for grubs and bugs never out in the open. But today was my day!!! Ah Ha ;) Both male and female where up in a tree eating our sucking worms that we get every year at this time. So enjoy the pictures...I especially will :)

Spotted Towhee....with lunch

Singing Song Sparrow

I love this shot!! Even though it isn't quite crisp or clear...the love you can see in this little bird is fantastic...Just singing for all to hear...

Happy Victoria Day!!....

Happy Victoria Day!! In celebration of our Capital's special day I have posted lovely flowers to recognize our holiday. For those of you who don't know Victoria B.C, we are the capital of British Columbia and we are known for being the flower capital of Canada. So I thought it would be fitting to post flowers instead of birds for our day.

Pink Miniatures

Pink Daisy

Butts are us....the back views heading into the water

Well yesterday was a very good day to be out with the camera. I got shots of Purple Martins and I found my first group of babies!!. I was soooo excited that I finally found some. Well because of my excitement most of my shots I had to scrap unfortunately due to blurriness. But the three I have up here are the best out of the lot. I particularly like this shot the most. I just love love their cute little fuzzy butts!! How can you tell I'm a Mom...I can't resist a soft lovely bottom. ;)

Baby Geese Together

Baby Geese

Male Purple Martin with Juvenile

Today was a beautiful day. Victoria reached a warm 21 and while I was out I knew I got burnt today. I'm a typical red head and burn to a crisp any time I head outside when the sun is out!!!...and I'm now aglow at my computer!!! ;) These beautiful Purple Martins are very much protected. Each bird has an ankle band and have special homes here in Victoria down at the Esquimalt Lagoon in Hatley Park. Their music is to dye for lovely sounds these Purple Martins make. To hear the sounds they make just Google for it....you won't be disappointed.