Barb Castell is a birder who lives on an acreage SW of Calgary, Alberta, near the community of Priddis. The location is in the foothills, a transition zone between the prairies to the east and the mountains to the west. It is a great place to see birds, including some …
The last month has been an interesting one here in Toronto, both with the weather and the birds. Spring may of arrived in March, but “old man winter” kept hanging on, his most cruel blow coming in the form of a three day ice storm the second …
Living in Ontario, the first day of Spring is always welcomed to a birder, as it signifies that Spring Migration is just around the corner! But for me this year, the first day of Spring put my birding activities to a halt. A fall on the stairs at home gave …
Yes, I had every intention of throwing out this old weather beaten, shredding lawn chair cushion. Early May wasn’t exactly warm enough to sit on the deck, so the chair was waiting for the spring yard work urge to strike. Apparently procrastination can pay off, as these American Robins now have …
For the first time, anyone anywhere in the world with Internet access can participate in the 16th annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) February 15-18, 2013. Participants simply watch birds at any location for at least 15 minutes, tally the numbers of each species they see, and report their tallies …
If you feed birds in your yard each winter, why not turn your hobby into research that supports bird conservation? By joining Project FeederWatch and sharing information about which birds visit your feeders between November and April, you can help scientists at Bird Studies Canada and the Cornell Lab of …
Throughout most of the year, I have a good variety of birds passing through my yard, including the occasional rarity like a boreal owl or pileated woodpecker. During most of August however, I’m generally stuck with the good old house sparrow. Many, many house sparrows as the young of the …
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSOB) has proclaimed Oct 24 as Feed The Birds Day. It serves as a reminder of all the things we can do to help the birds through the coming winter. We’re pretty good at providing fast food for birds and this is …
Pine siskins are members of the Finch family, and are presently at my feeders in both the front and back yards. The name ‘siskin’ comes from the Scandinavian word for ‘a chirper.’ These little brown birds have prominent streakings of yellow at the base of the tail and in the …
