You know, just hanging out doin' the splits.

Hahaha! Another wonderful animal expression:

(source)

The majority of my bird watching lately has been seeing all the lovely little hummingbirds pop by my feeder (well...when I'm at home and not on vacation) but this little marsh wren would be a nice treat! Especially if he was hanging out doing the splits! Hehe! 

My trip home from the airport.

Sadly, yesterday Lindsay had to travel back to the interior leaving me once again best-gal-pal -free and alone (sort of) in Victoria. We had a fabulous time together, she did a really good job of making me spend my money (on amazing worthwhile investments of course) and I really enjoyed every moment we got to spend together. Unfortunately the trip home from the airport was a little rough for me (beyond having to say goodbye to Linds). I have always had a problem with motion sickness but I have very quickly realized that moving windshield wipers (and the large amount of rain requiring the use of them) make car trips even worse. However, it wasn't a complete disaster of trip because when we were pulled over on the side of the highway (where I was keeled over in the ditch) I saw something wonderful:


An owl! Okay, no it wasn't a brightly coloured crochet one (although that one is adorable), it was a real, live, fluffing his feathers owl! What a bird watchers delight! Even though it was very dark and I was in a rough state of things, I tried to take note of his markings so I could double check what type he was when I got home (which, by the way, took a good three times longer than the trip there). He was mostly a mottled brown colour with big yellow eyes and a V-shaped white strip down his chin! Three of the four bird books I have hint at him being a Great Horned Owl! Perhaps just like this guy:


OoOo! How I wish I had my camera with me! I'm still not totally set on his identification since he wasn't enormous (more mid-sized) like most Great Horned Owls so it is possible he's a Western Screech Owl! Cool! Too bad I've misplaced my "Birds of Victoria" book for another region specific reference, but regardless it did turn a normally awful situation into a somewhat more pleasant one! Next time you're car sick and vomit-y on the side of the road maybe you'll see an owl too! Neato!

Birdy Update

As you may recall, Fraser and I recently bought a snazzy new recycled bird gazebo for one of our front trees to replace the old mesh enclosed seed bell that the birds finished eating (link!). I was excited to get some birds back in our yard (making my dish washing a much more enjoyable task) and didn't mind the low price tag on the feeder! Well - the feeder has been up for just a few days and sweet jesus! - those birds are enjoying their new food source! It's practically half gone already and there always seem to be little chubby friends coming to visit! Check it out:


Perhaps not the best picture (I took it through the kitchen window) but I did want to show you how much seed they've gone though and I love how the little house sparrow's head it peeking through the plastic! Hooray! I'm so pleased with how this feeder has turned out and I'll have to keep my eyes on it to refill too! So wonderful!

And since we're already on the topic of bird feeders I wanted to share with you am amazing project I spotted from Something Wonderful's blog. Take a look at these charming little tea cup and saucer bird feeders/baths:

Rockie got the idea from a flea market where they were charging $10 for each cup and decided to get some stair railing spindles and some thrift store cups and make her own! What a wonderful idea! She ended up spending $7 for the three cup feeders and now gets to enjoy watching the squirrels and birds enjoy their new food source! I totally want to make some of these (in fact, I've been dreaming about making these for a few days now) and I just love the multi-level finished product! Looks like it is time for me to stop by some thrift stores and start my search for wooden pegs and tea cups! Then (hopefully) my dad (or Fraser) will help me whip them up! Hehe! So much fun!

So what do you think? Do you have a bird feeder? Or maybe some old tea cups and saucers you're willing to donate to my project?

New!

Let's celebrate the weekend by exploring the five new exciting things happening around my house these last few days.

New #1 - New mail:


Hooray for postcards from friends in far away places! I was overjoyed to get this kitty themed post from Lucas this past week. It totally perked up the dreary rainy day and gave me a daily kitten dose (although he assures me the strays around Greece aren't that cute).

New #2 - New bird feeder:


The sad little orange mesh bird seed bell has been devoured at last and I've replaced it with a recycled bird feeder gazebo! How fancy! Well..more like when I went to find a new bird seed bell they didn't have any...but this was the next best (as in cheapest) thing I could find! Plus it is totally less ugly than that orange sack hanging from the tree and will hopefully lure loads of little chubby birds to my yard! Hip hip hooray!

New #3 - New sign for Fraser:

Lindsay actually caught my pinterest attention on this one and boy it is ever perfect for Fraser! I mean batman and motivational towards artwork? Awesome! I printed out a little version of this and taped it to the monitor in his studio and then giggled to myself for a good 10 minutes. He didn't end up seeing it until I was already in bed but apparently we had a good conversation about it while I was sleeping (yes, I hold conversations while I sleep - doesn't everyone?)

New #4 - New sign:


No, we didn't buy a house I just thought the "BOUGHT" sign on one of the houses down the street looks so bizarre. I mean why choose "bought" over "sold"? It isn't even fewer letters so it's not like they were trying to save money on printing. Ack! It is so silly! I just don't get it. Give me an old fashioned sold sign any day. What is the world coming to?

New #5 - New bed!:

Okay... I'm jumping the gun on this one a bit but Fraser and I are in the process of replacing our wee 3/4 size (that's right we share a bed that is smaller than a double) bed with a new queen! Oh the luxury! We found a great deal on a mattress and are planning on heading down to the coast next next weekend with Fraser's parents to pick up an inexpensive bed frame from Ikea! Fraser is looking for "a bed without a foot board" (nice specifications hey?) and I'm looking for "a nice timeless bed that will last us a good 20 years and have loads of storage options"! Any suggestions? I'm also stoked to get some new sheets for our new bed/mattress/comforter while we're at Ikea too since 1) they have an awesome selection 2) there are lots of gender neutral designs and 3) they are so much cheaper than all the $200 and $300 semi-acceptable sheet sets they sell here in town!

Ah! So much new fun! What's new in your life?

adventures in bird watching!

Two months ago I told you all about how I am going to embrace my old lady ways and add yet another hobby to my plethora of pastimes by taking up bird watching! (Don't recall? Not to worry - here's a link.) Well! I may not have found enough time to go out in the field with my non-existent binoculars, but I certainly did see a bird at my seed cone feeder the other day! I was so thrilled I called up fraser at work (he pretended to care) and then my mom (who may have actually cared) to tell them the good news! Jim (my partner in bird watching crime) came over to help me identify the exciting little chubby bird too! Woo hoo! Check out our friend who came to visit:


Pretty cute hey? Well un-excitingly, he turned out to be a house sparrow. Perhaps not exactly the rarest of birds to see - but I am stoked to see that seed cone get some use! The stealthy ninja birds in my neighbourhood managed to eat all of the suet brick feeder over the winter without me seeing a single one (oh except for that flock of black birds that one day) making spotting one on the seed extra awesome! While jim and I kept our eyes peeled to see if the little house sparrow would come back we saw another little chubby bird at the feeder! Take a gander at this beaut:


Wooo! My first day of attempting to bird watch and I got to see an adorable downy woodpecker! He had the cutest little spots on the backs of his wings and the red on the back of his head was so vibrant. How wonderful! Now I just need to find a little more time when jim is available and we'll have to do some more adventurous bird hunting (like where I'm not in my pj's standing at my kitchen sink). Oh fun! So what do you think? Anyone out there see any of these birds at your home?

new hobby time!

Even though my spare time is usually at a minimum, it seems that I am always looking for new hobbies to partake in. I suppose if I aspire to become a modern day martha stewart I need to be a woman of all trades - and this time I've decided to take on bird watching! It's not like I need to dedicate my entire life to tracking bird migration patterns, but I certainly do enjoy birds and biological identification so I figure I've got nothing to lose! Heck - I'm already not so secretly an old lady so I might as well roll with it! What triggered this new found love for aviary enjoyment you ask? Well two things really. The first has to do with my front yard. I shared this snowy picture of it with you a few days ago:


Looks like a plain old yard to you right? Well there is one thing you may have missed - my pathetic bird-less bird feeders (yes there are two there - a seed cone and suet brick):


I've had those feeders out there pretty much since we moved in this fall and I was yet to see a single hint of a bird coming to visit - that is until just the other day...I was so thrilled by the little flock of birds that stopped by that in all the excitement I only managed to snap one terrible picture:


See it? No? Well....there were birds there. I have no idea what kind of bird they were (little chubby brown ones? Mom? Any ideas?) so I thought to myself, "wouldn't it be cool if I could identify birds?" Poof! Reason 1 to start bird watching as a hobby!

The second thing that pushed me to move bird watching forward on my list of hobbies happened just the other day as well. You see, I have been trying to convince my friend jim that we should take up bird watching for years now. We would always go for walks in the spring down to the park and I'd tell him about all the bird species at the pond. They are all super easy to identify there (i.e. "that black bird with the red on its wing is a red winged black bird") and I only had to sort of recollect what I learned during that bird watching project in grade five. Well - the other day the sun decided to come out (thank goodness - I'm tired of winter!) and we both thought a walk downtown would be a great way to spend a friday morning! On the way there we both spotted a bird climbing up a tree fairly close to us and it reminded us of our failed bird watching endeavors. I told jim the bird we saw looked like some sort of woodpecker - maybe a flicker? Jim decided to prove me wrong by checking out the answer on his phone....and...I was right! Imagine that! So it was decided - we would officially take up bird watching.

I ended up spending the left overs of my xmas bookstore giftcards the following week on what seemed to be the best bird watching supplies:


Woo hoo! I liked the super in depth descriptions and multiple illustrations the larger national geographic book offered and figured the region specific smaller book (with actual photographs of the birds) would be great to tote around for further reference! Throw in a moleskin for documentation and I'm set! Bird watching is on! Oh and jim - in case you were interested that bird we saw was actually a male "northern red shafted flicker":


Hooray! I love new hobbies! Now I figure I just need to get my hands on some binoculars and I can get to identifying and appreciating nature! Does anyone out there bird watch? Or know anyone who does? Any tips on binocular buying?