Friday's Hunt v 3.20

It's Friday again, and another busy week has passed by.  We've had loads of rain over the past few weeks here in eastern Canada, and there's more rain on the way.  It might result in some heavy mosquito populations this year, which doesn't make me very happy, but at least I have the screened-in porch to sit in (if I ever get the time) where I won't be eaten by bugs!

Today's prompts from Eden Hills are:  Starts with T, Week's Favourite, and Food.

Starts with T:
Silly me - I did a big post all about my tulips yesterday.  Do check it out if you like flowers and have the time to take a peek.  I guess I can't do tulips again.  This week I took some photographs of a pair of mourning doves who came to eat the seeds under my bird feeder.  The name for mourning doves in French is Tourterelle Triste.

The word tourterelle means "turtle dove" (such as the 3 turtle doves in the Christmas carol).  The word triste means sad.  So the literal translation is sad turtle dove.  This is approximately the same as our English name, mourning dove.

I had not really noticed before, but the tourterelle triste has a patch of iridescent feathers on the side of its neck.  They were glistening in the sun yesterday, and it was quite noticeable.

Bonus tulip, just for fun.  My favourite one.

Week's Favourite:
I really like this picture I took of a blue jay in my yard - they are very skittish and not always easy to photograph.  I was really happy to get this clear shot.

I was also really pleased with some pictures I took of a southern red-backed vole.  They are through the window, so not perfect, but still not bad for such a tiny critter.  This was my favourite picture, with his tiny paws showing.  Absolutely adorable!

Food:
I am very interested in bees.  They are such a vital part of our ecosystem, and they need all the help they can get these days.  I was therefore concerned when I recently noticed a bumblebee on the screen of my screened in porch over several days.  It has been there for at least 3 days, which is the length of time I've been watching a robin make its nest (another post!) and I was becoming concerned about my buzzing little friend.  The bee had not moved at all for the past 2 days, and we have had very wet, dreary and cool weather.  Sometimes, early in the spring (which it certainly is here), bumblebees can get tired and cold.  There are not many flowers blooming yet, so their food sources are a bit scarce and the weather isn't helping.  If they are unable to get enough nectar to retain body temperature, they cannot fly, and they will just sit somewhere until they die.  So, my bee needed FOOD!

I brought my little fuzzy friend inside and prepared a slightly warm solution of about 30% honey and 70% water, in accordance with advice I found on a bee web site.  I put her in a bowl with a few leaves and sprinkled the solution on the leaves, and then poked some holes in a plastic wrap topper for the bowl.  I then set her on my desk near my work lamp where it is warm.  Here is the bee on a leaf.


Within about 30 minutes, my little friend was drinking the honey water and within about half an hour, she was already buzzing around the bowl.  It was remarkable how quickly she perked up after so many days of being immobile.  What started out as a clumsy and stumbling bee was now a normally-behaving, energetic bee.  Here she is with her tongue out - you can see it in the front touching the bottom of the bowl.  She was quickly ingesting the honey solution.  I believe it is Bombus impatiens, the common eastern bumble bee.


Every bee's life counts in today's environment, with these critical pollinators being subject to many challenging conditions.  I'm glad that I was able to help this bee get back on its feet.