A Leucistic Junco

Today I happened to be looking out the window and caught sight of a dark-eyed junco with some unusual characteristics.  They are common birds for my area, so I'm used to seeing them, but this one was different.

Here's a "normal" dark-eyed junco.

Here's the one I saw today.  Notice that it has a crescent-shaped white marking on its chest.  This is not at all a normal feature.

In addition, it had several white bars across the back of its head, as shown in the following pictures.

Those white patches are definitely not a standard feature on the dark-eyed junco.

These unusual markings led me to the conclusion that this junco has a touch of leucism.  Unlike albinism, which is a complete loss of pigmentation, leucism is a partial loss of pigmentation.  It can occur in skin or hair, as well as feathers.  It can also be widespread across the animal's body, or just in small patches, as is the case with this junco.

I'm hoping that the junco will return to my yard on a nicer day.  The photos I took were in the rain, through my home office window, so they are not nearly as clear as I would like.  Unfortunately, we have rain in the forecast every day for the next week or two.  Spring showers...although it's a bit much for my taste.  I've already seen 2 mosquitoes and the snow isn't even fully melted!

It's Still Winter Here

Admittedly, there are signs of spring, and I am definitely encouraged by this, but one look around my yard today will show you that winter is still here in my part of the world.  I took a short walk this afternoon, although it's difficult here because there are no sidewalks and the snow and ice on the sides of the roads mean that the roads are narrower, so one must be mindful of safety when out walking.  I actually saw my first robin of 2019, so that's a good sign!

Here's a tour around the yard where you will see mostly winter, and a bit of spring. We have actually had a reasonably good March - it's further along in terms of melting than I'd expected it to be at this point.  Loads better than last year!  Here's the back deck, where you can actually see some of the wood steps.  These have only been uncovered in the past week - before that it was just a big heap of snow.  But, there's a lot of snow yet to go!

The path through the yard to the chicken coop is still completely snow and ice, especially underfoot where it has been compacted over the winter.  This snow is at least 2 feet deep still in some places.

The side yard where the spring bulbs live is still under deep snow.  We have a lot of shade from the woods so that does slow the melting process.

There has been a good amount of melting on the driveway, so you can actually see some pavement and gravel now, but as you can see, there is a great deal of snow on the flower bed in front of the workshop.  That flower bed is the one that receives the most sun, so it is the furthest along in terms of melting.

Look!  Bare driveway!! 

The snow piles left on the edge of the driveway in front of the house are also considerable.

The huge hat of snow that was on top of the arbour has mostly melted, but there is much yet to go underneath.

Here are the mounds of the raised beds, still enclosed in their snowy blankets.

The bird feeders were, at one point, covered up over the bottoms of the raccoon baffles, but now there is a lot of space under the baffles.  You can see that the sunflower shells, with their dark colour, have absorbed extra sunlight and caused additional melting in that spot.

Along the back of the house, there is a lot of snow but you can see where the drips from the melting on the roof have created a long groove.  

I've had a very difficult time with the chicken coop gate door this winter.  We had a lot of snow, so I kept digging out in front of the door so that I could continue to open it.  Over time, this led to a sort of deep "valley" right in front of the gate.  Now that we have some melting, it pools exactly in that spot, and there's no access to the ground yet.  As a result, I keep ending up with puddles that freeze overnight and it takes me a good 30 minutes sometimes to get the door free so I can access the birds.  I'm going to have it modified this summer so that next winter, it won't be an issue.  You can also see, in the picture below, that finally my feed bins are visible again.  The shorter one on the right had to be dug out a few times because I couldn't even see the top of it.  

The birds are all well though, and I only lost 1 chicken this winter, which is really quite good.  Here are Shadow the Icelandic cross hen, and Fancy Pants the Icelandic cross rooster, enjoying a bit of sunshine.  I love Shadow's grey feathering.

I might even call them lovebirds!  They do spend a lot of time together.

Inside the coop, here's a shot of Onyx--one of my biggest hens--and Sienna, a bantam hen. 

 One other sign of spring - egg production is in full swing!  Hooray!

Always busy!

Sometimes when I haven't blogged for a long time, it seems a bit overwhelming to get back to it because I really don't know where to start.  I feel that 2019 has been rushing by in a bit of a whirlwind.  I had an awful lot of work in the first 8 weeks - some regular contracts and then a few other projects I took on....a few too many I think.  I also had to travel several times so far this year - including to Charlottetown, PEI and Fredericton, NB - both to help facilitate workshops, and then I also went to Iowa for several days - primarily for 2 days of business meetings.  I was also able to visit friends along the way because I drove there.  In addition, my Iowa client is a former colleague who  hired my former administrative assistant, and we had a group meeting with a former attorney friend, so it was like 'going home again' in a way, sitting around a meeting table with people I hadn't seen in 8 years. 

After my work meetings were finished, I had a lovely time visiting with Teresa at Eden Hills, in particular helping her with an antique spinning wheel she had purchased at an auction.  Her Dad helped us out a lot too, and by the time I left, everything was working except the bobbin tension.  I need to do more research on that.  For the full story and pictures on the day of the wheel, Teresa's blog is the place to go, right here: https://edenhills.wordpress.com/2019/02/08/a-conundrum/

I had a lovely time visiting with Teresa's goats, llamas, chickens, cats, and of course, her lovable dog, Sky.  I think his one-ear-up-one-ear-down appearance is just so endearing. 

I also caught up with my friend Anne, a flautist who plays at the Des Moines Area Community College gourmet dinner series that I used to attend.  It was so lovely to see her and hear all her news.  Then I enjoyed a great visit with my former colleague Kathryn at a local barbecue restaurant - I do love good midwestern bbq!  It's really lovely to be able to catch up with old friends, even if it's only just a brief visit.

On my drive home again, I visited with friends in New York just briefly, since I had to be back in good time for a meeting in New Brunswick, so my visits were sadly short.  However, I got to cuddle with mini horses and goats along the way.  What better way to break up a long drive?!

Some long-time readers may remember the blog of Isobelle Golightly the Beautiful Goat.  This picture is with the mini horses where Isobelle lives.  Well, technically the one on the left is a mini mule, but they're all more-or-less horses!

I'm still in the midst of many work projects but I am hoping that things will ease up a bit in the coming weeks.  I'd really like to stop and smell the roses.  Well, not that we have any roses, because my yard has at least 2 or 3 feet of snow throughout, but I do have a lovely amaryllis blooming indoors, thanks to my mother who bought it for me for Christmas.  What a lovely blossom!

A Vulpine Visitor

I have a few minutes to do a quick blog post today, so I thought I'd share this beautiful creature who visited my yard yesterday.  In 2.5 years at this house, it's the first time I've seen a fox in the yard, even though we are surrounded by woods and I would think they are certainly about.  I can't say that one has never visited of course, because I don't spend my entire day scoping the yard, but I can say that I've never seen their footprints in the snow before, which would have been quite obvious.  

This one clearly isn't starving!  What a magnificent coat and tail.

I was a bit concerned to see it all the same, because the chickens would make a fine meal for a fox, but at the moment, the chickens aren't even going into their fenced side-yard because they do not like the snow at all.  The fox can't dig into the coop, and by the time the snow is gone, I'll be able to see if he or she has done any digging around the outer enclosure.

The fox did stop on the top of the brush pile to watch the sheep and goat, but foxes are not liable to take on full size livestock like that.  Here it is watching them.

I had to take the pictures through my home office window, so they're not perfect, but I'm glad I had the chance to see it.  That said, I hope it doesn't decide to keep visiting all that often - this is not a free chicken dinner restaurant! Run along little fox!  Thanks for visiting!

Long Time!

It's been a long time since my last post.  I feel as if things have been busy lately, which they have, but I also feel that I've been spending a bit more time on some craft projects, so that has been a focus and and blogging sort of took a break.  I'll try to do a little round-up today of the view from here.

First of all, we're in the grip of a really early winter.  Usually we have a couple of minor snowfalls in December but the real snow and bitter cold starts in January.  This year, things are all mixed up.  We have already had 2 significant snowfalls and have over a foot of snow on the ground.  It has been absurdly cold for this time of year - well below normal.  Temperature records have been set, as well as snowfall.  Many people in our area lost power in the two storms but we were lucky and retained power here.  Here's how the garden looks now.  It makes me pretty miserable.

Our menagerie of critters is well.  The chickens do not like the snow and typically stay inside the coop except to go out to the heated waterer.  They also like to eat snow.  Silly birds!  Not many eggs at this time of year, and I don't provide supplemental lighting to boost egg production because I think the hens deserve a break.  Here's a picture of some of them pecking at the snow. 

This year is expected to be an irruption year for finches on the east coast, and so far, that's proving to be true.  If you're not a bird person, you may not know what an irruption year is.  No, it's not a misspelling of eruption (those are for volcanoes).  An irruption is a significant migration of large numbers of birds outside their typical range.  Typically this happens as a result of food scarcity in the normal range.  Finches are particularly subject to irruptions when certain seeds are less available.  This year, seeds from conifer trees and birches are poor, so finches are poised for irruption moves.  If you're interested, here's some information on expected 2018/19 winter irruptions:  http://jeaniron.ca/2018/wff18.htm

I'm very excited to have a regular flock of evening grosbeaks visiting my feeders, which is certainly not normal for this area.  I'm hoping to see some siskins and redpolls if I'm lucky!  Here's a male evening grosbeak.

I have noticed very heavy feeding on all my feeders (currently 6 active feeders) for birds in the past couple of weeks.  We have a lot of black-capped chickadees (more than usual), red-breasted nuthatches, goldfinches, blue jays, dark-eyed juncos and both hairy and downy woodpeckers.  Keep your feeders stocked - it's a tough winter for many bird species.  Here's the flock of grosbeaks at my tray feeder.

I've been busy with yarn-related projects too.  I'm quite pleased with how this plain-weave wrap turned out.  I used a lot of different warp yarns with a rayon weft. 

It's so important to focus on colour when everything outside is bleak, cold and white or grey.

I also finished the first block of a crochet project I'm working on called the Stained Glass Lantern Afghan from Lilla Bjorn.  I'm quite pleased with how that's turned out as well.

So, that's a little bit of an update.  I'll see if I can write a few more posts in the coming weeks to try to get caught up with all the things I've thought about writing.

Frost-o Pesto

Tonight is forecast to have frost, which will be our first frost of the season.  I'm not very happy about it because I do not at all like the garden season coming to an end, and I really don't want to see winter.  Fall is a lovely season but it always comes too soon, and ends too soon, and then we're thrown in the deep freeze until May.

I've put some 4 degree row covers over the remaining plants in the raised beds (except the carrots and parsnips which should be fine).  I'm hoping that I'll get another week or so out of the tomatoes.  We shall see how bad the frost is.  After 2 nights, it is supposed to go back to "normal" fall overnight temps, which are not below freezing yet. 

Today I made pesto cubes with the remaining fresh herbs from my raised beds.  I didn't want them to go to waste in case the frost is significant.  I had a lot of basil and parsley, and also some sage, although the sage is a perennial type and doesn't mind a bit of frost.  The basil and parsley would not do well at all in frost.  It was time to make frost-o pesto!

I don't use my food processor all that often, but I do use it for pesto because I find it really does the job well.  I suppose a blender would be good for it as well.  I have a Braun food processor - this is my second one and the first one I had lasted for a long time.  I find it works very well and is reliable.  I use the regular blade for pesto.

I put the herbs that I'm using into the bowl after giving them a thorough wash and spinning them out in the salad spinner to remove most of the water.  You can use any blend of herbs you want, and you can also use garlic scapes.  I make the garlic scape pesto earlier in the season.

I use sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds in my pesto because Marc is allergic to nuts.  I don't think he has actually tried pine nuts, which are the traditional nut used in pesto, but I don't want to risk it. I also recently managed to get some very fine Lucques olive oil from France at 50% off .  It is a really high quality olive oil, which I think is important to use in a pesto.  Sometimes I add parmesan but I didn't do so today.  I can always add parmesan to the dish when I use the pesto.

I can't tell you exactly the amount of seeds I use - probably a cup or so.  I just do it by eye.  Then I drizzle the oil all over it and start the processor blade.

Initially, I have to use a scraper to move all the material around in the bowl to get things evenly chopped.

As I continue, I increase the speed of the blade and the chopping gets faster and the pieces are smaller.  I keep scraping it down.

Eventually, it starts to look more like a paste than a mess of chopped leaves.  I added a little more olive oil at this point.

Another minute or so, and I call it done.  It's essentially the consistency of chunky peanut butter.

At that point, I scoop it out of the bowl and into ice cube trays.  I gently press the pesto into each compartment and then pop the trays into the freezer.

In a day or two, I'll pop them out of the trays and put the cubes into ziploc bags in the freezer.  Then I can pull out a cube anytime I need one.  They add a wonderful taste of summer to dishes throughout the winter.  Sometimes I use it on pasta, but I also use a cube or two in soups, casseroles, on baked fish, or other dishes.  It's a great way to use the end-of-season fresh herbs. 

Vacation: Bird Round-up

My vacation was a great opportunity to photograph some birds that I don't usually see.  In particular, there were a lot of water-loving birds that I don't usually encounter.  I really enjoyed some long walks on the beach that allowed me to photograph some interesting bird species and to watch the activities of new-to-me birds.

As expected, there were a wide range of gull species spending time on the beach.  I managed to get this picture of four different gull species together.  From left to right, you can see a juvenile ring-billed gull, a herring gull, a juvenile great black-backed gull, and in the foreground, a Bonaparte's gull.

The ring-billed gull is easy to identify because of the black band around its beak.  It is one of the most common birds in North America.  It's the gull you might see in parking lots, scavenging dropped food items.  The herring gull is the typical "seagull" that people talk about, and is also a very common bird along the shoreline.

The great black-backed gull is the largest gull in North America.  It's often found with other gull species and is an aggressive bird which can benefit other birds that breed in the same area.  The one in the picture above is a juvenile, not fully dark yet.  Here's an adult with the full dark plumage.

My favourite of the gulls I saw was the diminutive Bonaparte's gull.  It's not named after Napoleon - rather it is named after Charles Lucien Bonaparte, a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences in the US during the 1820s, who made significant contributions to ornithology.  The gull is quite small and dainty in comparison to its larger brethren.

In breeding plumage, the head is entirely black and the legs are bright red.  At this time of year, they are migrating and their plumage is just white with a characteristic grey spot on the side of the face.  Their legs fade to a pink shade as well.  Bonaparte's gulls actually nest in trees, unlike most other gull species.

There was a large group of common terns spending time on the beach with the gulls as well.  The little terns make the Bonaparte's gulls look big!

Here's an adult common tern with a couple of juveniles who are still growing their adult plumage.

Naturally, the shore birds range from large to small, and there were a diversity of smaller birds as well.  These included the unmistakable semipalmated plover, a much beloved shore bird in this part of the world.  This one has a bit of a breeze blowing up her skirt.

They run up and down the sand looking for little crustaceans and other ocean dwelling treats.  They often investigate little piles of seaweed, where I'm sure little creatures get caught, just waiting to be found by the plovers.

The semipalmated sandpiper was also common on the beach, also running so fast you can barely see their legs move.

This little group includes, I believe, a least sandpiper on the far left, which can be identified by its yellowish-green legs.  The semi-palmated sandpipers have black legs.  The other three may also be least sandpipers or semi-palmated.

This little bird is a sanderling.  It breeds in the Canadian high arctic but migrates along the shoreline and winters along both coasts of North America.  This one appears to be a juvenile based on the plumage.

The adult non-breeding plumage gets quite pale.

On the last day, I saw a new-to-me bird of prey, which I had some trouble photographing due to its swooping and diving behaviour.  It is easy to identify the female Northern Harrier from its distinctive barred tail and the white flash at the point where the tail meets the body.  My pictures aren't great because I was at some distance and the movement of the bird made it tough to focus, but the tail is clear.

Here you can see the underside of the Northern Harrier, along with the distinctive barring on the underside of the wings.

I'm not sure what she ended up catching, and I didn't really want to see.

It was a lovely vacation for birding!