For the birds

"For the birds" is an expression that usually means something is worthless. The expression is thought to originate from before the automotive age in New York city when horse drawn carriages were used for transportation and the horses left behind their "calling cards" in the streets. The horse droppings, or the undigested oats in them, attracted a large population of sparrows. So saying that something is "for the birds" is not a compliment although the birds seemed happy to have it.

When I said the expression "usually" means something is worthless, I did so because I intend no such slur against birds here today. To me watching birds is a joy and definitely not useless or worthless. 

The weather lately has not been pleasant, a lot of rain and wind and some snow. So on a rare sunny afternoon I eagerly grabbed my camera and headed out.

The birds were taking advantage of the day. There were about a dozen Robins, like the one above, feasting on red berries. These are North American Robins, which much bigger than their European cousins. The North American Robin belongs to the thrush family.

At first they watched me and then went back to the berries.

When I hear the saying "The early bird catches the worm" I always think of the Robin. This phrase is first recorded in John Ray's "A Collection of English Proverbs" (17th C) as "The early bird catcheth the worm" and is generally thought to mean that those who prepare well will be rewarded with success.

I continued my walk into the park. When I got to pond, it was partially covered in ice, but the ducks had managed to keep some open water. This pair of Mallards came over to see if I had anything good to offer and were disappointed when I didn't. There is a sign asking people not to feed the birds.

There was quite a commotion over the other side of the pond, and it seemed that there was a group "bird bath" happening. It was not just a couple of flaps it went on for over 10 minutes and was quite entertaining to watch. Apparently it was "spa day" at the pond.

Afterwards there was a lot of preening and feather arranging and I found this downy feather nearby.

I noticed this pair of Crows on the beach, I think this is the same pair that I have seen preening each other. They were standing a couple of feet apart and I asked them to get a little cozier so I could get a better "couple shot" and to my astonishment they almost immediately moved closer together and gave me the "is this OK now look". You might notice a bit of snow/frost in places on the beach too.

Here is the last of the "birds" for today, a short video titled "Pigeons - short animation cartoon":

On another topic, and nothing to do with birds, I would like to tell you about a fantastic play that we attended recently. "Duet for One" by Tom Kempinski is about the interaction between a violinist who has become unable to play after contracting MS and a psychiatrist.  The action takes place during a series of appointments in the psychiatrist's home office as the tangled emotions of the violinist are explored.  The dialogue between the two is powerfully compelling and the acting first rate.  It is part of the United Players current season at the Jericho Arts Centre until February 12, 2012 and is well worth seeing.

Lastly, I am taking a painting course, this one on "pouring watercolour". In this technique we prepare small containers of each of the primary colours and pour them onto our paper and use various techniques to move the colours around (using fingers, brush and blowing) then allow paint to dry. The pour below was for a picture of grapes.

Using the colours and shapes from the pour, here is the finished picture:

The next project is poured and will be a painting of poppies soon, I hope. The blank areas were masked and will become the foreground poppies, the poured areas will be the background. Please excuse the ugly green tape, it just holds the paper to my painting board and produces a clean border when removed.

This great course is taught by Leslie Redhead. Here is the link to her website: Leslie Redhead Watercolours

Thanks for your visit today, until next week, Happy Whimsy Wednesday.

Snowy Owls

Snowy Owls are making a rare visit to the Vancouver Lower Mainland area this winter. A group of Owls is called a parliament, and we have been lucky enough to host them "in session" this winter at Boundary Bay in Delta, British Columbia.

Snowy Owl

A local television station reported "Birdwatchers are flocking to Boundary Bay in Metro Vancouver to catch a glimpse of Snowy Owls, which migrate south only once every four or five years". In fact on the day I went to see the owls the bird watchers outnumbered the owls.

The Snowy Owl is the biggest of the North American Owls at about two feet tall and can weight from 1.5 to 3 kilograms (3.5 to 6.6 lbs). It is also known as the Arctic Owl, Great White Owl or Harfang and it is the official bird of the Canadian province of Quebec.

The adult male is virtually pure white, but females and young birds have some dark scalloping. Most of the owls I saw were probably females or younger owls.

Snowy Owls have thick white plumage and heavily feathered taloned feet, making them well suited for life north of the Arctic Circle where they usually live year round feeding on lemmings. However, every few years the lemming population declines in their usual habitat and they come south looking for other prey.  Lemmings, by the way, do not indulge in periodic mass suicides.

Since they gather here infrequently, they are attracting a lot of attention. It was cool, frosty morning so I also took a few shots of frosty plants.

The owls hunt at dawn and dusk and doze in between. My shots were taken late morning and I was behind the cameras with the long lenses, so I have cropped and resized some of the pictures.

This owl was giving its head a good scratch, so its eyes were open and below you can see its foot and talons.

These two owls were watching the photographers around them; their heads really do spin around rather like tops.

This beautiful video on the "Snowy Owl Invasion" is from the Cornell Ornithology Lab:

"Snowy Owls lead nomadic lives and travel vast distances from year to year searching for productive feeding areas. Some years, most recently in the winter of 2011/2012, conditions cause them to come south in great numbers.  Get an intimate look at these white owls from the north through video and photographs captured by the our photographer, Gerrit Vyn."

One last frosty plant shot.

One very important thing to remember when you are on a photographing expedition is to take along everything you will need including spare camera batteries; another important thing is to remember to charge the batteries! On this particular trip my spare battery wasn't charged, so the trip ended sooner than I had planned.

I am way behind on my blogging and have not been able to keep up with the blogs I usually follow because my Mother's health has taken a turn for the worse just recently and she has been admitted to hospital. Thank you to everyone that has visited my blog and especially to those that have left comments. I hope things return to normal soon, but I rather think it will be a while yet.

Here are a couple of my new works; both are watercolours. My search for colour has led me to paint these bright paintings featuring spring blooms:
  

Bright Spring Colour




First Daffodils

 More new works next week and I'll tell you more about the painting course that I have been taking.

Here's a favorite song of mine from many years ago, Cat Stevens, Moonshadow:

Happy Whimsy Wednesday, until next week.....

Colour starts to return

The days are starting to get longer and the colour is returning to my world. We have had several days with clear skies and beautiful sunrises recently so I decided to get up before sunrise and go for an early walk, camera in hand. I head over to a nearby park and notice these interesting wave like cloud formations which remind me of the ripples in the sand after the tide has gone out.

Soon there is a red glow on the horizon, reflecting off the clouds and giving colour to the frosty ground.

Sunrise from Trimble Park 1

As the sun breaks the horizon there is a curious blue streak in the sky.

And so the sun is up and the moon disappears in the western sky.

 

Because the sky is clear, it is quite cool, and the frost decorates the grass and fallen leaves.

Later in the day, walking along the beach there is a good view of the mountains and the harbour is full of freighters. The tide is out and the wet sand mirrors the colour of the sky.

View northwest from Jericho beach

View toward downtown Vancouver from Jericho Beach

This strutting seagull is reflected in the wet sand.

The trees seem to be reaching their bare limbs to embrace the blue skies.

The days are getting longer but the sun is still very low in the sky creating long shadows on the sand. I loved the red boots in this picture which also includes my shadow.

The day was windy and the gulls were floating in the wind over the pier.

The sun is disappearing but lights up these leaves that have been captured in the fence by the Jericho Sailing Centre.

The last light reflects images of the bare trees in a second storey window.

And finally just the silhouettes are left.

Blue Skies - Irving Berlin

I was blue, just as blue as I could be
Ev'ry day was a cloudy day for me
Then good luck came a-knocking at my door
Skies were gray but they're not gray anymore

Blue skies
Smiling at me
Nothing but blue skies
Do I see

Bluebirds
Singing a song
Nothing but bluebirds
All day longNever saw the sun shining so bright
Never saw things going so right
Noticing the days hurrying by
When you're in love, my how they fly

Blue days
All of them gone
Nothing but blue skies
From now on

Willie Nelson - Blue Skies

There will likely be a lot more cloudy, rainy and dull weather before spring brings us its first flowers, but seeing the sun shine brightly in the sky for a few days in a row has had the effect of lifting my sagging spirits for now.

Until next week, happy Whimsy Wednesday, thank you for dropping by.............