Mainly about Young Birds........

     Time spent in the backyard recently has been characterized by visits from a range of birds with their young in tow, begging and pestering as young birds are wont to do.
     I am not surprised they visit us. Food is provided, there is water, lots of shade and cover, and predators are scarce.
     Chief among them have been Common Grackles (Quiscalus quiscula) whose young can set up a racket to induce parental feeding that has to be heard to be believed! And they have soliciting down to a fine art.

     This parent looks like it has just about had enough!

     But who can resist the kind of importuning seen below?

     This young grackle, feeling the heat no doubt, decided a cool bath in the fountain was just the ticket on a hot, humid day.

          As you may see, a full range of services are provided at the spa on Osprey Drive!

     An American Robin (Turdus migratorius) was less accommodating to her two fledged young.

     She fed them a little now and then, but mostly she ignored them and left them to forage for themselves.

     The young birds looked very healthy and seem well prepared to survive all the foibles that life in the wild throws at them.

     A family of four Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) joined the feeding scrum, but the reticent young birds stayed hidden in the foliage relying on a devoted parent to ferry food back to them.

           In addition to the birds, I would like to introduce you to DB (named by Miriam), meaning David's Buddy. This is a friendly Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus), who would come to feed next to me if I laid down a little sunflower seed mixed with cracked corn adjacent to my chair. 

     It didn't take long before it would feed right out of my hand and we have become firm friends!

     You will not be surprised that the Eastern Cottontails (Sylvilagus floridanus) have maintained their association with us, but it was to Miriam's consternation that an adult with three well-developed youngsters showed up one morning. 

     Recently they do not appear to have attacked her plants greatly, so she is inclined a little more favourably towards them.

     In reality, it is hard not to expect them to become marauders in a garden. We have taken away their natural habitat, and paved over a good deal of it - and continue to do so. In the process we have removed their food and planted a smorgasbord of epicurean delight for them. Who can be surprised that they enjoy a little hosta salad, with a side-order of coneflower?

     American Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) is a regular visitor and is a pugnacious little rodent.

     If you get too close to them, they shake their tail furiously and give you verbal hell - for the sheer pleasure of doing so it seems!

     If I forget to bring in my bird feeders at night, I am likely to find them on the ground in the morning.

     I am not sure whether the culprits are Raccoons (Procyon lotor) or Virginia Opossums (Didelphis virginia) - but the end result is the same!

     American Goldfinches (Spinus tristis) are late breeders, but several of them are a constant feature in our yard.

     House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) are equally reliable.

     I have several times posted pictures on my blog of the Western Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) nest near the Conestogo River in St. Jacobs. 

     A couple of days ago I was out that way on a blistering hot day, and the female was sheltering her chicks from the heat. I often feel there is much to admire in the parental care manifested by birds, and much to emulate in fact.

     An Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) seemed to feast at will on passing insects, sallying forth every couple of minutes to capture a delectable snack.

     We have watched the young Bald Eagles (Haliaaetus leucocephalus) in Cambridge almost from the moment of hatching and they are now big and strong and seem just about ready to launch themselves from the nest.

     I had been reading that several artifacts indicating indigenous settlement had been found in the area, and it appeared that an archaeological dig was underway.

     This region was ancestrally settled by the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples.

      Sadly, and in many respects incredulously, I end this post on a distressing note. 

      Take a look at the natural beauty of the area.

     And take a look at how we treat it.

     I wish I could say that it was rarely that we find trash like this. But, it is all too often.

     Fisherfolk seem to be especially culpable, since often part of the garbage comprises styrofoam bait containers, discarded monofilament line (a death trap for birds and other wildlife) - and what would a pile of junk be without beer cans? I am sure there are responsible fishers but they seem to be in short supply around here. And the general populace seems to show no less disdain for the environment.

     It absolutely sickens me, and it seems incomprehensible that in 2020 we have still not come to grips with the problem of junk despoiling every ecosystem on earth, from your neighbourhood streets to the deepest ocean trenches. 

     If we cannot solve something as simple as this,  so dependent on personal ethics, and so easy to tackle, I have no idea how we can ever come to grips with major issues like climate change.

     We are confronted with our own destruction yet refuse to mend our ways.

     We are a sad, sad species.