Winter in the Chilcotin Forest

The second day of the second month of the year.

It's a beautiful sunny day today on the Chilcotin Plateau. We've been seeing the tracks and resting places of our resident winter moose for a few weeks now without catching sight of her, until this morning.

We spotted her from the kitchen window in one of her favourite grazing spots, just across the creek where the willow grazing is good.

David got some great video of her which I hope he'll post on Facebook in the next day or two.  She appears healthy and relaxed. She may have been born here.

We have been enjoying our resident winter birds as well.  The chickadees and pine siskins, our three gray jays, the solitary blue jay we call Sammy, as well as those majestic predator birds like the shrike and the Northern Hawk Owl.  We have all the regular winter critters; squirrels and rabbits and weasels and coyotes, and foxes. For 16 years now we've witnessed and photographed our birds and wildlife through every season.  It's been an incredible experience to see them return and depart, to see the increase or decrease in their numbers each year.   And while we provide safe sanctuary for all our birds and wildlife; this is a tiny corner of their world.  We are always sad to see them move on and wish them godspeed on their journeys.

We have at least two more months of winter here in the Chilcotin Forest, but on a sunny winter's day like today, spring whispers in our ears teasing us into thinking it must be just around the corner. 

Here are some pics from our walkabout this morning

Life is good.  We count our blessings every day! 

We are enjoying the pristine beauty of winter (how could we not), and we look forward to Spring, trying not to wish this quiet season away.

Whiskey Jack on the meadow ~ a post from David

The Canada Jay lives here all year round, and like the Raven, Pine Siskin, Chickadees and Juncos, his cheery company can be counted on even in the coldest weather. At this time of year he is busy stashing food ...in spruce trees mostly from what we have observed. Larger spruce have naturally peeling bark that provides shingled crevices, perfect places to protect and hide the stash.

They eat and stash a wide variety of food ... meat, eggs, insects, fruit, sunflower seeds, suet, (left over turkey chopped fine saturated with bacon fat ...) and etc. We have to wait till the bears hibernate before we put suet or bacon fat in our feeders or we will have unwelcome guests ...

Grey Jays are adaptive and intelligent, naturally curious and friendly. A bit of patience will get one feeding from your hand and coming back daily for more. They do have natural predators and so they are very alert, keeping one eye on the sky. Most hawks eventually migrate, so the winter skies are much safer.

Their vocabulary varies from chatter to whistles, and they can imitate other birds. They are territorial and monogamous, and yes they do find a new mate if an accident befalls their partner. They nest in April, which is a cold and barren time of year here, so they depend on this food stash to feed their fledglings.

All offspring from the current year except the dominant male are pushed out of the territory before winter, and the remaining young male joins Mom and Dad for a year till he matures, helping feed the young by retrieving caches. He eventually pairs with a female pushed out of another territory and the gene pool is protected.

The name "Whiskey Jack" is the oldest name we have for this widespread North American bird. It is a derivative of the Cree and Inuit ...Wee-sah-ka-shat (many spellings). Wee-sha-ka-shat, along with the beaver, otter and muskrat, is responsible for the order of things.

The Canada Jay or Grey Jay by modern definition....


well feathered everywhere, this bird is equipped to handle forty below ....


Sometimes called Camp Robber, the Canada Jay is omnivorous and an opportunist.


He is curious and interactive and will come to your voice.


His rounded tail and wings provide a silent and stealthy flight despite his steady wingbeats ...


He keeps one eye on the sky watching for hawks or the shrike.


He can carry a tremendous amount of booty away from the feeders, reminding me of a chipmunk as he stuffs his crop.


That tail acts as a flag to signal when the mouth is too full to talk.... lol.


The winter would be a lot quieter and less cheery without this little bird. They are such good company.

by David Finch

Hummingbird Arrival

Our newest arrival.  Sunday afternoon; our first hummingbird of the season made his appearance. Very exciting.  By late May and into early September we enjoy well over a hundred hummingbirds at our feeders on a daily basis! It’s absolutely magical.

David is incredibly in tune with our wild birds ~ he observes, listens and communicates with them.  Somehow, he knew it was time! I was sure we wouldn’t see a hummer for a few weeks yet, but David insisted on hanging a feeder about 4 days ago and sure enough, on Sunday afternoon ~ our first hummer arrived!!

Here’s our Sunday arrival on the tree outside our kitchen door that we sometimes refer to as our Christmas Tree because it’s a bird magnet.  During these next few months it’s almost always completely decorated with hummingbirds and other wee birdlets.

For all you fellow bird lovers; May 9th is 'Global Big Day' under the wing (haha) of Cornell University's Lab of Ornithology.  Go birding wherever you are, for any length of time on May 9 and enter your lists in ebird. Here's a link to the Global Big Day 2015 site.   

Their primary goal is fundraising for their excellent work with birds, but May 9th is about finding as many species as possible for the Global Big Day tally and to have a worldwide show of support for the birds! I hope you enjoy your birds wherever you are and if you have some time on the ninth of May ~ please count and record any that you see.

Rose Breasted Grosbeak on the Meadow

Some excitement on the meadow this morning. Our first ever sighting of this lovely bird! The Rose Breasted Grosbeak is not native to our area. The mapping at 'All About Birds" shows that they summer slightly out of range to the east so he likely just veered off course on one of our summer storms. This may be the only time we see him but we're hoping that he brought his mate and that they'll decide they like it here. We really do love our Grosbeaks! Our Evening Grosbeaks brought their first batch of little ones to the feeder about a week ago. They are so sweet and almost as big as their parents. Another great birding resource is Boreal Birds where they say of the rose-breasted grosbeak that an estimated 39% of the species' North American population breeds within the Boreal Forest. Our meadow is on the edge of the Boreal Forest. Boreal Birds is a great website with a mission of "Conserving the Boreal Forest for our Songbirds". Thanks for visiting. Till next time.