Nature break

Bald eagle during a spring snow

It's been a long time since I've written here... and I wonder if anyone has missed me?
But now is as good a time as any, to jump back in and try to continue more frequently :)

 Right now I'm taking this evening off - away from the news and corona virus pandemic storm that has been growing and swirling around us all for the past few weeks, as I start my 3rd week of physical isolation. So that's all I'll say about that right now.

  This is a great time to review/purge and edit my (numerous) photos and to share some of them. I hope you like them :)

Bald eagle & misty mountain

One of our little chickadees- daily visitors most of the year.

Kingfisher by the lake

Song sparrow? Posing ever so briefly.

Stellar's Jay- all puffed up in the backyard.

Stellar's Jay drinking from our birdbath.

Canada Geese 

Bald eagle drying off after a wet morning.

Varied thrush under the feeder.

Woodpecker- not sure what kind though.

A toad in our creek- late fall (October?)

Close up of the toad on the rock :)

And that's it for now!

Please add a comment so I know you've been here :)

Keep safe.

Angie

Osprey rescue

UPDATE:
 Unfortunately all our efforts failed to save this magnificent bird, despite our best efforts.

I want to say a big THANK YOU to my friends that helped, especially OWL Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society and the  Selkirk Veterinary Hospital in Nelson.
The world is a better place because of caring people like this :)

Early spring in the Kootenays

Spring's popping up :)

I love spring!
The promise of warmer, longer days, new growth popping up from bare branches and peeking up from the ground.




Our snow was gone earlier than usual.
It's surprising how little snow we got here in the Kootenays this winter, unlike our fellow Canadians on the East Coast.
I don't mind at all. I used to love it but the older I get, the less I like snow.

I think this is a pine siskin, he's happy to sit & feed at the feeder.

Many birds have returned from wherever they spent their winter and our quiet mornings now sing with an orchestra of sound.

We've had an early spring here in the Kootenays and I'm thrilled to be able to share it with you - in pictures.

   

Our walnut tree.

Our cherry tree in bud.

I think this is a mock raspberry. 

Finally some crocuses!

I love the fluffy seedheads of this clematis.

Our star magnolia buds.

Larch starting to bud.

A whisky jack or grey jay! I think they like the higher elevations
as we rarely see them.

The Osprey Ferry on Kootenay Lake

The Osprey Ferry heading up the West Arm of Kootenay Lake

The sun sets early behind the mountains. I love this beach!

An entertaining little dipper on a rock in Kootenay Lake.

I love going for walks here, but they've cut down many trees lately.

Catkins? 

One of our little furry friends.
This little squirrel is my profile photo on Twitter :)

Thank you for visiting, 

I hope you enjoyed sharing a few peaceful moments with me, 

in my neck of the woods.

Peace & love to you,

Angie

A pygmy owl.

Dave and I both heard the thud, when a bird hit our front window this morning. I ran out front to see what it was and if it was ok.
This little feathered hunter was spread out on the concrete and not moving, so we feared the worst. Dave knew right away it was an owl, I wasn't so sure, since it was so small! I didn't want to frighten or hurt him by picking him up... but he wasn't moving and the grounds' so cold now.






 So I waited a bit, then picked him up and examined him as best I could. He was cool and so stiff  with his foot curled up by his eyes... yet I could see he was breathing so I held him close to my chest and covered him with my hands, breathing warm air on his little body, hoping a little warmth and the safety of darkness would help him to recover.

I peaked at him a few times but he still wasn't moving and his eye was 1/2 open. Thinking he was a goner, we didn't take any pictures... and I cursed our big window...but after about 5-10 minutes he opened his eye and next thing he flew out of my hand- chattering as he disappeared in the neighbours trees!

  I was thrilled that he'd survived and wished him the best, regretting that we hadn't taken any photos!




A little while later Dave commented that there's a bird chattering in the trees, and maybe it's the owl, so I grabbed my camera, shoes, a sweater and went to investigate.

 I could hear and see a little bird chattering and hopping excitedly in the trees, so I looked around and found that he was upset by the presence of our little pygmy owl, who looked quite annoyed as he recovered on a branch.
Here's a link to the video.

I took a bunch of pictures using my zoom and then left him alone...

 a couple hours later he was gone. 

In the meantime I've made a couple of silhouette cut-outs and taped them to our front window, in the hopes that no more birds will hit that darned window!

An assortment of bird photos.

            I love birds & have some lovely photos of them I'd like to share with you:

Osprey on the nest - Kootenay Lake, BC, Canada

Close up of an osprey in a tree in our yard.

Young ducks & their mom sunning on a log... usually there's turtles here, but not today.

A young flicker that was sleeping under our gas meter... when he realized I was there, he flew away :)

We saw so many blue herons at the seashore... lots of food for them :)

Three young blue herons waiting for dinner, close up.

We found an amazing heron rookery near the ocean, these young ones were patiently waiting for their dinner.

It's always a special day when I see a bald eagle.
There's many in our area, but it's still a treat to get a close up.

A duck of some sort on Kootenay Lake, BC, Canada

A close up of a stellar's jay

A stellar's jay posing for me.

The elusive blue jay. I didn't even know we had them in this part of Canada :)

The blue jay posing in our patio.

Backside view of this beautiful blue jay.

A little dipper

A little chickadee

A little nuthatch eating sunflower seeds.

Pileated woodpecker - they're so big!

A big crow 

A raven posing for a photo.