Black-billed Magpie

Here is a Black-billed Magpie I spied through our kitchen window yesterday afternoon.
This is the first time I've seen one eat crab-apples, but I guess when you're hungry..?
The sun was peeking through the trees, causing that strange backlit effect of the background :

Rock Dove

The Rock Dove/Pigeon , or just plain Pigeon, tends to be largely unappreciated, due to its association with the mess they live in, and because they are so common. I actually think they are quite beautiful.
They stay with us all year round , enduring the harshest of winters. That surely has to be admired doesn't it ?

I took this photo while walking across the CN train bridge a few weeks ago on a very cold day :

Pileated Woodpecker

Keeping with the theme of winter woodpeckers, here is a previously unpublished male Pileated Woodpecker, taken at a park close to the river, this time last year :

Winter Woodpeckers

With the onset of colder weather and more snowfall, our yard becomes host to a number of different species of Woodpecker during the winter months.
The following photos were shot hand-held through my kitchen window. I wish the light had been better for these photos, but it seems the sun has barely been out for days.
The unsalted-unsweetened peanut butter is still proving to be a big hit for the third year in a row :

Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker - This male has been coming every day for the past couple of weeks and usually heads straight for the heated birdbath. Recently though he is spending more time eating peanut butter, to get through those colder nights.





Red-shafted/Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker Hybrid

Compare to the Yellow shafted : Note the orange/red on the underside of the wings and on the tail feathers, and only the faintest of red on the nape, where the male yellow has the black 'moustache', red nape patch and yellow on the wings and tail.
This female hybrid yellow x red shaft only seems to show up when the weather is really bad, or after a particularly big snowfall.
I was happy to see her back early this morning at the peanut butter tree.




Hairy Woodpecker :

The male Hairy Woodpecker still comes to the yard every other day.



Downy Woodpecker:

This female is one of a pair of Downies that also visits every day. I've noticed this species eating sunflower seeds quite often this season.

Great Gray Owl

Here is another Great Gray Owl image from Candle Lake in December :

Pike Lake Christmas Bird Count

After completing my final Christmas Bird Count this season, and notching up a nice 247 species for 2008, here are some photos from the Pike Lake count.
Our team managed to find 17 species ,in weather conditions that actually made headline news as some of the coldest on record. Minus 55 degrees celsius with the windchill !
And my friends and I were out in it !
Highlights for us were a Northern Shrike , Purple Finch , A Hybrid Red/Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker, Pine Grosbeak and a straggling White-throated Sparrow.
I'm still waiting to see how everyone else did.

Here are some photos :

Bohemian Waxwing



Hybrid Yellow/Red-shafted Northern Flicker





Pine Grosbeak



Purple Finch with Pine Grosbeak



White-throated Sparrow

More From Candle Lake

Here are 4 more photos from Candle Lake - Click to see full size :

Great Gray Owl





Spruce Grouse




Ruffed Grouse



Hairy Woodpecker