The Weekend Roundup: J

The prompts for this weekend from Tom the Backroads Traveller are: Starts with J, Joy, and Favourite.

Starts with J

Jumper starts with J.  In the UK, and some other commonwealth countries, a jumper is what we here in North America call a sweater.  To me, a jumper is a sleeveless dress that is designed to be worn over a top of some kind.  In any case, I was recently inspired to try a new wine from a winery called Tussock Jumper.  Each wine they produce has a different animal on the label, and in each case, the animal is wearing a red jumper (sweater).  The wine I tried was the Sauvignon Blanc variety, which is one of my favourite wine grapes, and I really enjoyed it.  However, with this cute label with a sheep in a red jumper, how could I even resist trying it?!

Tussock Jumper makes a whole range of different wines with cute jumper-clad animals on the labels.  I'd like to try the Rose Moscato with a rabbit in a jumper on the label, and there's a Cabernet Sauvignon with a really cute penguin!

Joy

I am not very joyful today - unfortunately little Ivy, our pet rat whom I featured last week, died last night.  It was a sad day for me and I am sad for her sister, Violet.  Sometimes when I am feeling sad, spending time with pets and animals helps me to feel happier.  So, I found some joy today when I went out to spend some time with the chickens.  I have a little plastic step-stool that I take out to the coop and I sit on it and just relax and let them interact with me.  There are several hens who will immediately come over and jump up on my lap.  The first one is almost always Amelia.  She flew up onto my shoulder the day I brought her home, and she has remained very interactive ever since.  Here she is on my knee today, doing some preening.

Amelia has really lovely feather patterns.  She is a maran cross breed hen.

Such a beautiful hen.

The two young birds that have been the subject of prior blogs, which were incubated by my white silkie, Whisp, are now out in the coop, and they are also extremely friendly with me.  Willoughby, the little rooster, and the little hen Buttercream, both fly up to my lap very quickly, and as I pet them, they soon settle down to sleep.

Here they are shortly after flying to my knee.

Such a sweet pair.  How can I not feel some joy when they are so eager to sit on my lap?

Buttercream flew up to my shoulder for an adventure.  She made me smile, and that's a sign of joy.

Shortly after that she came back down to my lap, where her brother was already asleep.

Soon I had two sleeping chickens and after a time spent enjoying the antics of the rest of the flock, and collecting a few eggs, I had a much improved disposition.

Favourite

A favourite shot for this week is this one I unexpectedly snapped of a red-breasted nuthatch who had just dropped its seed, presumably by mistake.  I didn't realize I had caught that moment until I downloaded the pictures.  Since a person who drops things is sometimes referred to as a "butterfingers," I wonder if I can call this bird a "butterbeak?"  

Friday's Hunt, v. 3.18

It's time for Friday's Hunt, although I'm typing this on Thursday because I will have a very busy Friday on the road with work-related meetings, and I won't have time to type a blog post.  I will get it linked up after the Eden Hills post gives us the link.

The topics for this week are:  Starts with R, Week's Favourite, and Window.

Starts with R
This is a red-breasted nuthatch - a common bird in my area, and one of my favourites.  They have a funny little flute-like song when they talk to each other.  I can always tell when they're coming through the woods to the feeder - they sound like they're playing tiny party horns.

I can always tell when they're coming through the woods to the feeder - they sound like they're playing tiny party horns

Week's Favourite
I'm so thrilled that the daffodils my mother and I planted in the fall have burst into bloom this week! That makes them qualify for my favourite this week.  Here are a few shots of the mixed varieties that we planted.  Many more blooms are yet to open.

Window
One of my clients very kindly purchased me a window bird house, since she knows how much I love the birds.  So far, I don't have any residents.  I moved the bird house to a different window today in the hopes that it will be a more attractive location, since it is closer to foliage that will come out on the climbing hydrangea.  Last year the robins built a nest in the hydrangea branches.  The birdhouse is designed for chickadees or sparrows.  Soon, those leaves on the hydrangea will unfurl and the birdhouse will be more hidden.

The birdhouse attaches to the window with little suction cups.  It has a clear back, so you can see into the birdhouse from inside the people house!

There is a little mirrored surface that you attach to the window on the inside so that the birds can't see you watching them.  You can see it in the background of this picture.  It is my kitchen window, so I have some chicken-themed items on the window sill, as well as a little lavender plant that I bought a couple of weeks ago.  It is one of the fancy lavender plants that produces bracts on top of the flowers. I believe it is a Lavandula stoechas species, but the tag didn't specify anything when I bought it.  It is only good for zone 7 and up outside, which we are not, so if I decide to put it out for the summer, it will stay in a container and come back in for the winter.  Anyway, that's a bit unrelated to the window birdhouse!  If I do get any residents, you will definitely hear about it on the blog!

Friday's Hunt v 2.14

It has been a VERY busy week.  My work has just been crazy, and I haven't had time to blog regularly.  I am trying to keep up with Friday's Hunt though, just to keep myself blogging during this busy time.  Thanks to Eden Hills for hosting the Friday's Hunt blog.

This week our prompts are:  Starts with N, Week's Favourite, and "I made this."

Starts with N
My N story is a sad one.  I had finally managed to convince a nuthatch to start taking seeds from my hand.  I was thrilled to have this new wild bird visiting me over the course of 3 days, and it was an avid sunflower seed lover.  On Wednesday, I was feeding it seeds on the edge of my woods and it flew off with a seed in its mouth, across the yard, and straight into one of my windows.  It died almost instantly.  I was deeply saddened by the loss of this beautiful bird, and felt particularly disheartened about losing my "friend" in such a horrible way.

It has made me investigate ways to prevent bird-window collisions, since almost all of my windows face the woods around my home, and they all reflect that view.  I have learned about a product that I plan to use to help my feathered friends.  It's a do-it-yourself treatment using a special tape with spaced markers on it that prevent the birds from flying into the window, even when there is a reflection.  It's a product recognized by FLAP Canada (Fatal Light Awareness Program) - a program dedicated to reducing bird deaths as a result of window collisions.  Did you know that across North America, estimates of birds killed in window collisions annually ranges from 100 milllion to 1 billion birds.  That is tragic.  I do not want to contribute to that statistic.    I'll be installing "Feather Friendly" marker tape soon.  If you have bird collisions with your windows, consider doing the same thing.

Week's Favourite
My week's favourite is this photograph of yet another new warbler species for me.  I have now had a total of 9 warbler species at my new home, which is really exciting, because I didn't have warblers before.

This is a female Blackburnian warbler.

So far this year I've seen and photographed the following warblers:  Nashville Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Pine Warbler, Black and White Warbler, and the Common Yellowthroat, which is a warbler even though it doesn't have warbler in its name.  I'm hoping to keep adding to that list!

I Made This
I make lots of things.  I spin my own yarn on a spinning wheel.  I knit.  I crochet.  I weave.  I do wet felting and needle felting.  I do beading.  I sew and quilt.  I bake and cook.  I've also dabbled in book binding, basketry, origami, quilling, rug hooking, pottery (hand building and wheel throwing), silk scarf painting, tie-dyeing, woodworking, and I even did a blacksmithing course once.  I love to make things because I find it relaxing, rewarding, and an enjoyable way to spend my free time.  I wish I had more time to make things!  Anyway, here are some recent knitting projects!

Here I am wearing a shawl I made - it's knitted from two different skeins of my handspun yarn.

In this close-up, you can see the green yarn, which is a 3-ply blue-faced Leicester yarn (that's a breed of sheep!) and the blue/mauve yarn is 50% merino, 50% tencel, in a 2-ply yarn.

You can see the shawl here along the top of the fence, and with it is the Sea Dragon shawl which I knit last winter.  It is made from handspun yarn from Peru.

Here is a close up so you can see how the blue and green colours meld together - I just love the colours in this shawl.  It took a long time to finish knitting it though!

My little chickadee friend was inspired to check out my knitting too.  I think it's a bit big for her!

This is the Woodland Hoodlet designed by Tiny Owl Knits.  I love it, but I finished it in the spring of this year, so I haven't had a chance to wear it yet because it hasn't been cold enough!  I do love knitting cables!

My little chickadee friends were hanging around for the whole time I was taking pictures with the tripod and self-timer.  They think that all the time I spend outside should be dedicated to feeding them more seeds!

Finally, here's a scarf that I wove on the rigid heddle loom last fall.  Nearly time to start wearing scarves!

A New Lens!

I'm so excited because I purchased a new-to-me lens for the Canon Rebel T6 camera that Marc had received from work as his perk for reaching parts sales goals.  I am still learning how to use the camera and its many settings, but I realized fairly quickly that unlike my little point-and-shoot camera, the DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera didn't have a digital zoom function.  Sometimes the digital zoom works well, especially for casual pictures, but a DSLR camera can accommodate different types of lenses, which my point-and-shoot camera can't do.  The lens that the T6 came with is great for lots of regular pictures, and it's also great for my moth photography, but it really wasn't working at all well for birds, unless they were really close (like the hand-fed chickadees!)

I decided to look on Kijiji (which is like Craig's List in the USA) to see if I could find anyone selling a zoom lens that would fit the T6.  I wasn't sure what I'd find, and the first few times I searched, there wasn't anything suitable.  However, this past weekend, I saw a new posting offering an EF-S 55-250 mm F/4-5.6 IS II lens with image stabilization.  I had to go look that up on Google and find out what it was, what it normally sold for (new) and whether it was appropriate for the kinds of pictures I wanted to take.  I also asked the seller a couple of questions to see if it was suitable for my needs.  As it turned out, it was just perfect for my needs, and I decided to take the plunge because the lens was in excellent condition and the price was fair and reasonable.

I went on Sunday morning to look at the lens and try it on the camera, and the seller turned out to be a delightful lady who spent more than an hour with me teaching me all sorts of useful tips about the lens and how to use the T6 camera in general.  She is a great photographer and showed me some of the images she had taken using the lens.  She gave me lessons about some of the settings on the camera, particularly the non-automatic settings.  I learned so much - I felt like I should pay her extra for the camera lesson!  I felt newly confident as I left with my purchase, and couldn't wait to get started, but I had work projects to do, so I had to be very strict with myself and limit my time with the camera.

Anyway, I am SO excited with the pictures I've been taking with my new lens!  A whole new world has been opened up to me, especially when it comes to bird photography.  Of course, when I first went out with the lens, ready to take some pictures, there was not a bird to be seen.  Isn't that just typical?!  I did, however, find a willing squirrel, although it certainly complained at me very loudly while I was photographing it.

Then, I managed to get a little warbler.  This little bird was far away from me, and moving fast, so this isn't a super picture, but it is still better than what I was getting before.   I think, although I'm not 100% sure, that this is a pine warbler. It's a shame about the shadow on the top of its head.  I'm open to corrections on the ID!

I got a great shot of a nuthatch!  So clear compared to my point-and-shoot with digital zoom.

Then, since there weren't that many birds about, I took a picture of a junco.  They're ordinary little birds, but I was anxious to keep trying out the new lens.  The junco landed on a branch quite close to me, so I thought it was worth a snap.  Anyway, it wasn't until later when I took the time to download and review my pictures that I had a grand surprise!  It wasn't a junco!  It was a black-throated blue warbler!  I am really excited about this one because it's a new bird for my life list!  I have never seen one of these before, at least not to my knowledge!  The shot I managed to take with the new lens is so clear and sharp.  I am really pleased with this photograph.

A cedar waxwing landed almost right in front of me and I missed it.  I was annoyed about that, but I'll be watching for it now.  Meanwhile, I'm working on the ID for this little tweeter.  I believe it is possibly an ovenbird, given what appears to be that dark stripe on its head.  I think the female ovenbird, given that there is no orange on the head.  I'm pretty excited about this one too, because it's another new "life list" bird.

Sorry, blogosphere, but you're probably going to be seeing more bird pictures from me in future, given my amazing new lens!  Tweet tweet!  Not to mention squirrels...

Feeding Chickadees

Almost every day I go out at the same time to feed my little chickadee friends.  I'm getting better at taking pictures of them on my hand.  They are bold and inquisitive, and today, one of them flew right at me when I was in another part of the yard, as if it was expecting me to magically produce seeds.  I just adore them!  I also had a nuthatch take a seed from my hand last week.  I haven't had it happen again, but I keep hoping.

Sometimes they take more than one seed, but I haven't managed to get a picture of that yet.

Look at those cute little birdie toes!

Some of the seeds are already out of their shells, making easier work for the birds.  This chickadee was smart and chose an unshelled seed!

I have about 5 that regularly land on my hand now.  Then I have this little one.  He is trying to be brave enough, but he's not quite there yet.  Every day, I am very patient and keep hoping that he will figure out that I'm not going to hurt him.  In the meantime, I sometimes raise my hand a bit so he hangs upside-down from the branch and grabs a seed, rather than landing on my hand.

I bought a "Pampered Chef" stoneware dish last week from a thrift store with the intent of creating a mosaic inside it to make it into a pretty birdbath.  I haven't managed to get around to that project yet, so I decided to put the birdbath dish outside for the time being until I could get to my mosaic project.  I set it into a wire chair-shaped form that Marc had in his shed and which he wasn't using.  I think the device is supposed to hold a flower basket, but I thought it would make a good birdbath holder.  It was out for several days and I wasn't getting any visitors, so I felt like my efforts were for naught.

Today, I was very pleased to see I had a bather!  Forgive the fact that these pictures aren't great - they were taken through the glass of my office window.

What a cute little bird - I'm not even sure what it is.  It might be a junco or a sparrow.  It's a bit wet and bedraggled so it's hard to ID the species.

I'm so happy to see that the birds will use the bath.  Stay tuned for my mosaic project, one of these days!  I leave you with a shot of a red-breasted nuthatch enjoying a seed from my feeder.