Huge Sale on Zazzle!

Zazzle is having a huge sale today for up to 60% off. Use the code BDAYALLDEALZ at checkout and you'll get deals like 25% off t-shirts, 50% off buttons, stickers, and magnets, 60% off invitations, and 50% off prints, frames, and wrapped canvas prints. I've been adding lots of new nature photos to my store on Zazzle, so check it out!

Cute Squirrel Closeup

Baby Hummingbirds

I recently had the amazing experience of being able to see two baby hummingbirds grow up. A customer of mine kindly let me know about a rufous hummingbird nest and I jumped at the chance to see it. One day she took me there, and I managed to get one shot of the mother hummingbird sitting on the nest.

Mother Hummingbird on Nest

The babies had already been born and I believe this was the last day the mother sat on the nest. (By the way, the beautiful nest is made out of lichen and moss, and lined with feathers and sometimes bullrush fluff. Often hummingbirds bind the nest with spider web, which is strong but flexible.)

The baby hummingbirds were tiny featherless creatures that reminded me of little lizards. When you looked at the nest from the side, all you could see was two beaks sticking up. (That's how hummingbirds sleep, by the way, with their beaks straight up in the air.)

Here are the baby hummingbirds a few days later.

Baby Hummingbirds in Nest

I noticed that one of the babies looked a lot smaller than the other so I did a little research. Apparently hummingbirds almost always lay two eggs, and usually the eggs are two days apart. However that doesn't explain the size difference between the two babies because hummingbird eggs usually hatch on the same day.

Knowing that it takes about three weeks for hummingbirds to leave the nest, I visited a couple of more times. Here's a shot of the two hummers when they were starting to get too big for their nest.

Baby Rufous Hummingbirds in the Nest

I returned a few days later to find that one of the hummingbirds had already left the nest. He was flying around, making peeping sounds at his mother who was also nearby.

I found the other baby hummingbird sitting on the edge of the nest.

Baby Hummingbird Sitting on Nest

The nest was in the middle of the woods but right on a trail. I had to walk past the nest to photograph the hummingbirds because the tree branches were in the way on the other side. The tiny bird calmly watched me as I passed and just seemed to be sitting there thinking things over while I photographed her. (I don't know why I think of her as a "she" but I do.)

Here's another shot of the hummingbird telling me that she'd had enough of the picture-taking...

Baby Hummingbird Sticking Out Tongue

She stuck her tongue out a few times...I'm not sure why hummingbirds do this, but they do it fairly often.

When I walked past the nest to leave I heard the unmistakable buzz of a hummingbird in flight. The baby hummingbird had left the nest! She flew to one of the cedar tree branches, was fed by her mother, then flew a little further.

I stayed for a few more minutes, watching the happy family. What an incredible feeling to be able to witness this. I'll always remember it.

Roosevelt Elk

Usually I see herds of Roosevelt elk fairly often on my morning hikes with my two dogs. But they've been conspicuously absent ever since I found the carcass of a young elk back in February on the day I saw my first wolf and two bobcats. I think they got spooked from the area.

In May I was hiking in a new area and had just emerged from a trail through the woods when I came across a small herd of elk lying down in a field. A male and female stood up to gaze at me.

 Male and Female Roosevelt Elk

Can you see the ear of a third elk lying down on the right-hand side of the picture? Once he'd spotted me, the male elk took time to urinate then the herd casually trotted off into the surrounding forest.

A couple of weeks later I came across a larger elk herd in my usual hiking spot.

Roosevelt Elk Herd

This time the elk were very close to the edge of the forest but for some reason they chose to run across the path directly in front of us instead of disappearing into the woods. Then they paused to have a bit of a stare-down session. The dogs bounced around on their leashes a bit and the elk trotted off into the forest on the other side. They do this once in awhile...instead of disappearing into the forest closeby, they choose to run in front of me and go into the forest on the other side. I can't figure this behaviour out! But I appreciate it because it gives me a better chance to get a few shots of them. I hope to see some baby elk soon!



Animal E-Book

I recently released a new e-book called "Life Lessons from My Animal Friends". The book has 25 of my favorite animal photos taken over the years, paired with inspirational and humorous sayings. This book is the second in a series and it's available from Amazon  (for Kindles) and Smashwords (for different readers and formats). You can download a small sample for free from either site but the Smashwords sample is bigger.

Life Lessons from My Animal Friends E-Book

My first book from the series, Life Lessons from My Squirrel Friends, is also available from the same websites. Coming up next...a book about my bird friends!

Hummingbirds in Our Back Yard

The rufous hummingbirds returned from Mexico back in late March and are constant visitors to the three feeders around our house although I notice that I haven't been seeing them quite as much now that lots of flowers are blooming.

A little while ago I bought some bleeding hearts after learning that it's one of the flowers they enjoy. I set the plant close to their favourite feeder and was rewarded almost instantly when a hummingbird flew right for it.  

Hummingbird and Bleeding Hearts Flowers

By the way, I took this picture and the next one with my new external flash. I photograph hummingbirds using natural light if it's bright enough and with a flash if it's a little dimmer, although you can use a flash anytime...they're good for filling in shadows in bright sunlight when shooting outdoors.

One of the hummingbirds likes to sit atop a dried-out plant stalk and survey his domain and show off his beautiful gorget (neck feathers), not bothered that I'm standing very close by.

Rufous Hummingbird Sitting

 About a month ago I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and something caught my eye as I walked into the living room...it was a hummingbird sitting on the clothesline that runs along our back deck a few feet from the window. His beak was straight up in the air and I watched him, fascinated. I suspected that he was asleep.

Sleeping Hummingbird

He stayed like this for about half an hour. I later researched this odd behaviour and discovered that hummingbirds sleep with their neck pulled in and their beaks straight up in the air. Sometimes they even fall asleep and hang upside down...I found a couple of amusing videos on YouTube with hummingbirds hanging upside down from feeders.

I started to get a little worried about the sleeping hummingbird though because he began to twitch quite a lot. I half expected him to fall off the clothesline at any moment. A couple of chickadees came and went from the nearby bird feeder and the hummingbird still didn't awaken. However, finally a Steller's jay showed up and in the blink of an eye, the hummingbird zoomed off to some nearby bushes. I'm assuming he was o.k.!

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A Day of Birding

One of my favorite things to do is spend most of the day outdoors with my camera, seeing what I can see. I started early the other day and went down to the ocean at 7:30 a.m. for low tide. I've been seeing a seal that likes to fish at that time of day. Instead of a seal, I saw a bald eagle come flying towards me with some crows calling, in hot pursuit.

Bald Eagle in Flight

It always amazes me when I see smaller birds chasing a large bird like an eagle or a hawk. Crows especially love to harass raptors and I've seen it time and time again. Anyway, the eagle landed in my neighbour's yard, which was quite unusual. Since I was down on the dock and couldn't see him in the yard, I waited for a minute to see if he'd fly off again. When he didn't, I crept up the dock ramp to try to surprise him. Unfortunately I was halfway up the ramp when he flew off and I totally missed the shot. He was about 20 feet away...so close!

Returning home, I heard a fluttering of wings and saw large birds flying to various trees. I thought at first that a hawk was in our yard again. But no, it turned out to be several band-tailed pigeons. We've never had them in our yard before. Such pretty birds!

Band-Tailed Pigeon

One of the pigeons later ate some seed from our back deck. The pigeons are still around the house several days later and at least one of them has enjoyed his seed breakfast each morning Chez Peggy.

My husband and I then drove to one of our hiking spots to walk our two dogs. We often walk on forestry roads that are along the power lines. On these hikes I've seen (and photographed) bears, a wolf, two bobcats, many elk, coyotes, and lots of birds.

On this particular day we saw a hawk in the distance. My husband called it using his very bad imitation of a hawk. Surprisingly, the hawk flew right towards us! I saw that it was a red-tailed hawk. It began circling us over and over again. It was wild! I've never seen a hawk do this. I trained my camera lens on it and realized that it had a mouse in its beak. The hawk seemed to be showing us his prize. It must've circled us 20 times and eventually I noticed the mouse was gone...I assume he enjoyed his meal while flying.

Red-Tailed Hawk and Mouse

After our walk we drove to the Iris Griffith Centre, hoping to see some baby painted turtles hatching. It's the right time of year to see this phenomenon but we weren't so lucky. The nature trails were very quiet on that morning except for a few tree swallows flying around and a robin in her nest on the centre's building.

American Robin in Nest

We then drove to the nearby Ruby Lake Resort, where Aldo, the owner, kindly let me snoop about the grounds to take pictures of the birds. Aldo is a fellow bird lover so he understands. He pointed out a family of Canada geese with six goslings across the gorgeous, shimmering lake. I crossed the bridge with tree swallows darting about, seeming to lead the way. I found the goose family and sat for awhile, snapping pictures. Eventually mom and dad goose led their babies to the water and they went for a swim.



Canada Geese and Goslings

The barn swallows had returned to build their nests in the eaves of the Ruby Lake Restaurant's walls. I watched as a swallow worked on one of the nests.

Barn Swallow Nesting

O.K., this might not be the prettiest picture I ever took, but I thought it was interesting. It looks like the bird was adding mud to the nest.

So as you can see, we have an abundance of wildlife here on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. I'm practically guaranteed to see something interesting every day. I sure like living here!

A Rainbow for You

Just thought I'd share the rainbow I could see from our back deck this morning. We've had an unusually cold spring and it's been raining a lot lately too but the rainbow was a nice surprise. It got swallowed up by mist soon after appearing but the sun has broken through again this afternoon.

I guess I don't mind rain so much if there's a rainbow afterwards!

Rainbow on the Sunshine Coast