the treats / October 31

Happy Halloween!  Watched the red-tailed hawk sitting in the tree just after lunchtime today. 

Common birds: house sparrow, red-breasted nuthatch, red-tailed hawk

Fall visitors: junco

October 30 / the housefinch

I haven't been seeing the housefinches lately, but I did see one today. 

Common birds: house sparrow, chickadee, red-breasted nuthatch, cardinal (pair), robin, starling, housefinch, downy woodpecker (female), blue jay

Fall visitors: junco

Overhead: gull

the hairy / October 29

The hawk perched on the tree again today.  I saw the downy woodpecker male, and either saw it again, or saw a hairy woodpecker.  The two are very similar, the hairy a little bigger, and this seemed a bit bigger than what I often see, but I might be wrong on that. 

Common birds: house sparrow, downy woodpecker (male), starling, blue jay, red-tailed hawk

Fall visitors: junco

Unidentified/maybe: hairy woodpecker??

October 28 / the post-season

Some garden tidying and leaf raking got done (not by me!) today.  I brought in some more beets and carrots from the garden. 

Common birds: house sparrow, robin, downy woodpecker, cardinal (female)

Fall visitors: junco

the second / October 27

Day two - better weather for it!

Common birds: house sparrow, cardinal, chickadee

Fall visitors: junco

October 26 / the tour

Day one of a two day show, so not much birding! 

Common birds: house sparrow

Fall visitors: junco

the thrush / October 25

I've got an art/craft show this weekend, so I was setting up this afternoon, with help!  At the late end of the afternoon when we came home, there was a thrush on the fence, which we watched for a minute before it hopped away.  Unsurprisingly, we can't be certain what it was, but based on the look of it, and the maps in the guide book, it was probably a veery. 

Common birds: house sparrow, junco, cardinal (male), starling

Fall visitors: veery??

October 24 / the junco

I've thought I might have seen them, maybe, a few times since the weather started cooling down, but decided it was probably not, more likely the chickadees, and may well have been.  Today, I saw one - a junco.  They return when the weather cools, leaving for more northern areas in the spring.  They're pretty birds, but it means the colder weather really is here. 

Common birds: downy woodpecker, cardinal (male), chickadee, house sparrow, red-breasted nuthatch, robin

Fall visitors: golden-crowned kinglet, junco

the errands / October 22 & 23

I've been doing useful things, like running errands.  Tuesday I noticed a few birds, Wednesday I was out most of the day. 

Common birds: house sparrow, chickadee, red-breasted nuthatch

October 21 / the hide and seek

I have a 'maybe' bird today - it may have been a brown creeper.  It was in one of the spruce trees, up and down the trunk, but it was hidden enough that I can't confirm this, it could easily have been the woodpecker, which I know I also saw. 

Common birds: house sparrow, chickadee, red-breasted nuthatch, downy woodpecker (male), cardinal (pair), goldfinch

Fall visitors: golden-crowned kinglet

Overhead: gull

the treetop / October 20

A hawk was sitting on top of the big evergreen today.  I wanted to try to take a picture, but as I went outside, it flew off. 

Common birds: robin, starling, red-tailed hawk

October 19 / the preserving

I decided to make something from the green tomatoes, before they spoiled entirely.  I picked them over, and even then had 4 pounds of usable fruit.  I made chutney with them, which I will be sharing with some friends or family, there's quite a bit of it.  I also wrapped a few whole green tomatoes in newspaper again, hoping to ripen them faster than they spoil. 

Not very many birds around, perhaps sheltering from the rainy weather.  

Common birds: house sparrow, cardinal (male)

Fall visitors: golden-crowned kinglet

the rot / October 18

To my annoyance, many of the green tomatoes I brought in, worrying about the cold, are turning brown, and going moldy.  I don't know if leaving them on the vine would have been smarter, or bringing them in earlier.  I've had them wrapped in newspaper, which is supposed to help green tomatoes ripen, and I have successfully ripened some a little earlier in the season. 

I saw at least 8 hawks overhead today.  I'm assuming they were red-tailed, although they looked dark, that could have been the light conditions.  

Common birds: blue jay, house sparrow, chickadee

Overhead: red-tailed hawk

October 17 / the buns

I made some potato bread buns today.  I haven't tasted them, but they smelled great. 

Common birds: house sparrow, chickadee, starling, red-breasted nuthatch, blue jay, goldfinch, cardinal (pair)

Overhead: gull

the tapper / October 16

In addition to a significant number of sparrows, I saw a couple of other birds today, one of which came as quite a surprise - not because of what it was, but where it was.  I heard a tapping noise, and thought it was probably coming from the other person in the house, but when I followed the sound, I discovered that it was the downy woodpecker, hanging off the eaves.  It was pecking at the wood near one of the holes the bees made earlier in the summer, so perhaps there are insects in there. 

I heard some bird calls, but am not able to say for sure what they were, it sounded like chickadees, maybe a red-wing blackbird as well. 

Common birds: house sparrow, downy woodpecker, cardinal (female), starling

Fall visitors: ruby-crowned kinglet

October 15 / the holiday

Saw some geese flying over again today. 

Common birds: starling, house sparrow, blue jay, house finch (pair), chickadee, red-breasted nuthatch, downy woodpecker (male)

Overhead: gull, Canada goose

the harvest / October 14

It's getting cooler, particularly at night, and I don't think the tomatoes are liking it.  They don't withstand frost well, and although we haven't had any frost warnings I've heard about, the leaves are withering, and some of the fruit has blemishes.  Today I picked the largest of the remaining fruits, I've left the smaller ones, hoping to give them a little more time on the vine, but might have to give in because the forecast later in the week is cooler again.  They can be ripened off the vine, so I hope I manage to save most of them. 

Also, there were a number of hawks high above today, I counted 9.  

Common birds: house sparrow, blue jay, red-breasted nuthatch, chickadee, starling, downy woodpecker (male), house finch (female)

Fall visitors: golden-crowned kinglet, ruby crowned kinglet

Overhead: red-tailed hawk, gull

October 13 / the thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  Having dinner with friends, making cranberry sauce, and a couple of other dishes to bring with me. 

Common birds: house sparrow, blue jay

the heron / October 12

Looked out my window as a great blue heron flew over today. 

Common birds: house sparrow, red-breasted nuthatch, chickadee, starling, house finch (male), blue jay, robin, cardinal (pair)

Fall visitors: golden-crowned kinglet, red-wing blackbird

Overhead: great blue heron, gull

October 11 / the games

Watched a some soccer on TV, got some sewing done, and watched a few birds. 

Common birds: starling, cardinal (male), downy woodpecker, chickadee, blue jay, house sparrow, red-breasted nuthatch, robin

Fall visitors: golden-crowned kinglet, ruby-crowned kinglet

Overhead: gull

the potato / October 10

My potato plant is getting so big it's funny.  I brought in one potato from it today, it was sitting on the surface of the soil.  I hope there will be a few more, though harvest is supposed to be after the plant stops blooming, and before/during die-back of the leaves, so I'm leaving it alone for now.

Common birds: house sparrow, red-breasted nuthatch, starling, blue jay, downy woodpecker (male), chickadee

October 9 / the predators

I saw two birds of prey today.  At the very top of the tall evergreen out back, first I saw the small bird of prey I mentioned recently, which I am guessing to be the American kestrel, which flew off, and was soon replaced on the same perch by the red-tailed hawk, which is about twice as big.

I also saw a sparrow, which was either the white-throated sparrow, as seen a few days ago, or the white crowned sparrow, which I think it was, but couldn't see its throat clearly enough to be certain.

Common birds: house sparrow, chickadee, downy woodpecker, red-tailed hawk, grackle, mourning dove

Fall visitors: American kestrel, white crowned (or white throated?) sparrow

the vireo / October 8

A few birds today, including one I haven't identified yet, though I think it was a vireo of some sort.  It was small, with a cream belly, grey head, olive back/yellow-olive sides, thin black eye bars with a white bar between, lower beak lighter (grey) than upper (black).

Common birds: downy woodpecker, chickadee, house sparrow

Fall visitors: ruby-crowned kinglet, golden-crowned kinglet

Uncertain: vireo?

October 6 & 7 / the opera

On the 6th, I was rather busy with other things, including a matinee opera treat for my birthday.  I saw some birds on the 7th, but I either didn't write them down, or can't find the notes I made.  Likely mostly the usual birds, though on one day recently, I saw the white-throated sparrow. 

Fall visitors: white-throated sparrow

the soccer / October 5

Saturdays are often soccer watching for me, as today was. 

Common birds: house sparrow, starling, red-breasted nuthatch, downy woodpecker

October 4 / the evening

Spent much of the day getting some sewing work done. 

Common birds: house sparrow, red-breasted nuthatch, chickadee, downy woodpecker

 Fall visitors: nashville warbler

the geese / October 2 & 3

I wasn't spending much time birdwatching.  Instead, I picked up a lot of my work from the shop in Craighurst where it had been since June, and visited with my sister.  Although there were a number of birds visible from the car, it was too hard to tell what they were mostly, but there were a large number of Canada geese together. 

Common birds: chickadee, red-breasted nuthatch, Canada goose

October 1 / the kinglets

The nuthatches, and there were at least two, were happy that I put more seed in the feeder today.  There were also at least two golden-crowned kinglets in the spruce trees this afternoon. 

Common birds: house sparrow, red-breasted nuthatch, downy woodpecker (female), chickadee, starling

Fall visitors: yellow-bellied sapsucker, golden-crowned kinglet

the damp / September 30

It rained.  After days of lovely weather, though, a day of rain wasn't so awful.  It wasn't cold.

Common birds: house sparrow, red-breasted nuthatch