Sparroworking in Quebec

Evolution at the Sparroworks …

sparroworks — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:07:25 +0000

The address of this on-line journal has already changed a couple of times since it emerged from the egg but finally the senior Sparrow has found a nesting cavity with enough “features” to make another, and hopefully final, démenagement worthwhile … accordingly might we ask you to follow us over to the tree next door and henceforth to bookmark and visit this address:

http://sparroworks.ca/journal/

See you there.

Buttery bread

sparroworks — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 18:51:23 +0000

This a topic that is off topic and so we will redirect you to the parallel web-journal we have at this address :

http://sparroworks.ca/journal/

The Canadian workman is worthy of his hire …

sparroworks — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:57:28 +0000

Time to catch up …

First, we would be remiss if we did not mention the great construction project of Baie d’Urfé. At the end of our road is a bus route and bus stop where we have many times stood in the rain waiting for something dry to coma along. A couple of weeks ago the road there was blocked by three trucks, several orange cones and two guys controlling traffic while a hole was dug. Big stuff, we speculated, must be going to put in one of those warm bus shelters with seats. Checked the site at the end of the day and there was shuttering in place in a very deep hole …. “a BIG shelter” we said to each other. A few days later the trucks and gang of men were back controlling traffic and concrete was poured. A few days after that a concrete slab was laid with reinforcing rods and we decided this shelter was probably going to be big enough to hold fifty people. Every time work was done, the same three trucks, two traffic controllers, foremen standing around sucking their teeth and much impressive potential.

Finally, all was revealed and the job has been completed. No, not a shelter but a two seater bench bolted to a concrete slab with some bits of decorative turf around the edges. Nice to know our taxes are being well spent. Pretty sure that two guys with a spare afternoon and a sack of cement powder could have done the job but that is not the way in our prosperous little town.

Anyway – a warm, dry, cloudy, humid weekend and so the mozzies are out in force in the arboretum abut they didn’t deter us. In the last week or two the plants in there have burst upwards and it’s quite a job hacking your way along some trails …

Tiger Swallowtail butterfly

Campion (??)

Junior American Crows taking flying lessons from their parents

Flap, flap, flap aaaaand ..... made it !

The Sugar Shack in a sea of Sweet Cecily

Marshy morning

sparroworks — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 19:42:37 +0000

This weekend’s early morning expedition was to Cooper Marsh (Marais Cooper) just over the border in Ontario and beside the St. Lawrence river. Some interesting birding and a good number of species but nothing terribly special – mostly a nice ramble without other people to annoy us. Pausing for a coffee mid-morning we found ourselves in small thicket of trees beside the marsh that was heaving with numerous Common Yellowthroats and some Yellow Warblers hopping about gathering insects. At the western end of the marsh there were many overflights of Snipe (Wilson’s Snipe) and all over the place were stands of brightly flowering yellow and purple iris. A very nice morning. The Ospreys had departed from the nesting platform which was being used by several Snipe as a place to hang out and rest giving us good views through the scope.

Cooper Marsh - a very fine wetland birding site

One of the welcoming party near the entrance

Bullfrog deciding if we were a threat

Iris

More Irises

Tree Swallow (note the fuzzy background is due to a shallow DOF on the lens and constitutes "art" ... OK - it was intentional?)

Something to note … I have once again been playing around with trying to find the optimum web-journaling arrangement and it may be that in a few days, or weeks, or never I will invite you to redirect your bookmarks to the experimental parallel site I am developing at the moment. If you have time, please visit http://sparroworks.ca/journal/ and let me knowyour thoughts. You will see from the URL why this appeals to me and no, it’s not just that the banner images change every time you visit.

Rainy day in the garden

sparroworks — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:05:53 +0000

Today has turned wet and there has been a steady downpour since noon … all of which should be a cause for gloom but instead it seems to have brought one corner of the garden into its own. At this time of late spring/early summer the lilac is on flower. there are drifts of forget-me-nots and the shrubs have just put out their new leaves … al of which actually looks so much more pleasant under grey skies and mellow, late afternoon light.

I took a couple of photographs and also played aorund with some “artistic’ options in Photoshop … gardening is a splendid enterprise:

Spring garden - original photograph

Spring garden - as watercolour

Spring garden - drybrush

MBO Baillie

sparroworks — Sat, 23 May 2009 19:50:46 +0000

The Baillie Birdathon is a sponsored birding event designed to raise funds for Bird Studies Canada and the local bird cause of your choice … we were up very early this morning to assist the MBO (McGill Bird Observatory) get in the birds and hence get in the cash. The MBO make a point of spending their Baillie-day on foot or cycle and avoid the use of the internal combustion engine … hence this was a day starting with a detailed census at the MBO and then a high-pressure examination of the Arboretum which is adjacent …. total species for the day (final numbers still to come) in the region of 82 species. not quite the 98 we had this time last year but quite excellent for all that helped by the fact that most of the participants were superbly high ly skilled people.

Time for the pictures … first some action shots from the banding station:

Veery in the mist net

Veery being extracted from the net ready for banding and release

Traill's Flycatcher - could be one of two species only separated by their song

Northern Parula

And now some birds seen on the round …

Turkey Vultures at rest in a ploughed field on the seed farm

Cooper's Hawk flying over one of the Bobolink fields

Red-breasted Nuthatch busily excavating

Baltimore Oriole - 1

Baltimore Oriole - 2

Tree Swallow

Red-winged Blackbird in the reeds on Stoneycroft Pond

American Goldfinch

Yellow Warbler - 1

Yellow Warbler - 2

Last of all – a map of the route walked …

map1

Wasps and The Way of the Sparrow

sparroworks — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:57:12 +0000

Today was, at last, hot and sunny so naturally it ended with G&Ts on the deck … so there we were, winding down happily when J looked up at the underside of the canopy over our chairs and saw some activity …. beats last summer when i climbe dinto the compost heap and stood on a completed apartment block but this was at least dealable with:

The Way of the Sparrow …

It is not the Sparrow’s way to give up … ever
The sparrow is a pragmatist, not an idealist – the goal is not always to do the best possible job but to do the best you can with what you’ve got
Don’t be judgmental – what you call squabbling we call dispute resolution
Cheerfulness is good, be cheerful.

More tales from the Arboretum

sparroworks — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:07:42 +0000

After yesterday’s adventure with a group of followers J and I went back this morning by ourselves, primarily to confirm the exciting numbers of Bobolinks but we couldn’t resist checking a few small warblers as well.

To yesterday’s 51 species list we added Great-crested Flycatcher, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Parula and Warbling Vireo. You occasionally hear people rubbishing the arboretum as a birding site but it has plenty to offer as we hope we have shown this weekend – just a question of knowing where to go and being there early.

Now – the Bobolinks were indeed present – we confirmed by sight eight males in one field, six in the second and a male + female pair prospecting the “official” bobolink Field …. going by the singing we are sure there were more but we did not have sight confirmation. The females seems shyer today but the males were up singing and feisty.

The three fields in which they can be seen are at: http://tinyurl.com/pkvyah

…. and here is one of the birds. Even with my big lens distance plus heat haze made things fuzzy but it’s clear what is there:

Bobolink

Plenty more pictures follow …. what an excellent day, what an excellent weekend. we urge everyone to visit the Arboretum soon and enjoy the birds:

Magnolia Warbler

Northern Parula

Female Black-throated Blue Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

American Redstart

Black-capped Chickadee

Yellow Warbler

Chipping Sparrow

American Crow

Great-crested Flycatcher on the lookout

Great-crested Flycatcher after the next meal

Eastern Kingbird

Song Sparrow

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker after Eau de poteau

Tree Swallow

But there were mammals present as well …

Red Squirrel with huge nut

The early birder catches the bobolink

Cold weather brings good birds

sparroworks — Sun, 17 May 2009 16:53:57 +0000

Yesterday was a very wet day indeed (and the start of the long holiday – Journée des patriotes ) and today is unseasonably cold and very windy so great things were not especially anticipated for the novices birding walk that J and I (ably supported by the presence of a couple of experts from BPQ – Wayne and David) were booked to lead in the Arboretum. Nevertheless we were there at 7:00am and had a happy and enthusiastic if somewhat well wrapped up group of 15 people to walk around with. With some trepidation we set off but finished the day with a splendid 51 species …. list below somewhere …. which included 11 species of warblers, a superb Scarlet Tanager and well over a dozen displaying Bobolinks. These latter birds were in the two field to the east of the Arboretum boundary, one of which McGill has let to a farmer this year so we hope, but do not expect, that he will hold off damaging the field until summer when the Bobolinks will have had a chance to nest and raise young. One tree in blossom Corner was, for about 15 minutes, simply ehaving with warblers and the tanager – be in the right place at the right time and birding can be fun !!

Next week the MBO have their annual Baillie Birdathon in the arbo – things are looking good for a high species count.

Pictures first – then the species list – then some gardening commentary – because of the cold weather the large camera was not taken but iot’s amazing what can be achieved with a small one.

Scarlet Tanager

Black-throated Green Warbler

The 51 species seen were ….

Great Blue Heron, Canada Goose, Wood Duck, Turkey Vulture, Cooper’s Hawk, Ring-billed Gull, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Least Flycatcher, Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Kingbird, Tree Swallow, Gray Catbird, American Robin, Black-capped Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, Blue Jay, American Crow, Common Raven, European Starling, Red-eyed Vireo, Tennessee Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Palm Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, Scarlet Tanager, Chipping Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Bobolink, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Baltimore Oriole, Pine Siskin,American Goldfinch

Salamander

Family-sized bracket fungi (with scale)

Cold but satisfied birders

Meanwhile in the garden burgeoning is happening everywhere -

Lily of the valley

Really nice tulips - these start white and gradually turn this blush rose colour

Cold day with (some) good birds

sparroworks — Sun, 10 May 2009 18:38:42 +0000

Terribly cold today and grey and utterly miserable but being stalwart types we headed for our regular weekend wander in the arboretum inadequately attired (well, it’s May) and actually had a good bit of birding. hard birding but we enjoyed the presence of a Great Crested Flycatcher in the middle of Pullin’s Pasture, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak singing its heart out at the northern end of PP, a Chipping Sparrow who came close enough for his portrait – many, many more singing in the forest – and happily splashing about and eating in the Quarry we happened on a Solitary Sandpiper.

Spot the RB Grosbeak on a cold day

Rose-breasted Grosbeak ... yes the blob high up in the previous image

Chipping Sparrow

Solitary Sandpiper

Solitary Sanpiper almost losing balance as he comes up with a morsel to snack on