jacky_'s Favorites

I was walking to Alley Pond Park and heard a loud ruckus of Blue jays calling. It sounded like juvenile birds. I looked up at the tree, where the sounds were coming from, and saw a young Blue jay dangling upside down from a branch. The poor thing was calling loudly and seemed to be in a lot of distress. There were several adult Blue jays who were also very upset and were calling loudly - they were flying up to the young Blue jay and perhaps were trying to encourage him. I couldn't see very clearly what was going on with the young Blue jay's foot, but I quickly decided to climb up on this tree and try to help the poor bird. He was probably about 15 feet above ground, and fortunately I was able to climb up to him. I was a little worried that the adults might try to attack me and peck at me, thinking that I may try to hurt the young bird, but I took the risk. I got to the little bird and broke off some of the branches around one of his feet, which was bent in a strange way and appeared to be caught in the branch. I was then able to put the bird right side up on one of the tree limbs. He was very scared and at one point pecked at me, but it didn't hurt. I petted his back with my finger for a second and spoke to him softly to try to soothe him. He quieted down, and the adult birds stopped calling. I climbed down and watched the little bird for a few minutes. He remained perched quietly and none of the adults were coming to him. I really hope the parents returned to this poor bird and that his foot was OK, not broken. I then noticed a feral cat lurking in the bushes, under the tree. The cat may have been eying the young Blue jay. I hoped the cat had not gotten one of the parents. I threw some rocks in the bush, near the cat, which scared the cat away.

A Red-bellied woodpecker got into a confrontation with another creature. They were battling in the air, right next to a snag, some fifty feet up. I assumed it was the woodpecker trying to defend his/her tree cavity. The next thing I knew, I saw a creature tumble down to the ground. I ran over to the spot, thinking I would find another bird that the woodpecker had injured, but the creature turned out to be a bat. The poor bat was breathing rapidly and was probably in shock. @cesarcastillo and I were deliberating what to do with the poor bat, as we didn't want to leave him/her to die. Just as I was about to give the bat some water, she flew away. A happy ending to the story!

3612/3 Photo taken by me during a school trip to Mana Pools. The buff charged us while we were taking a morning break - my bag can be seen on its left. It later moved off and the 3 boys came to safety. It had been wounded by a poacher and a few days later it was shot by a ranger.

On Sunday, I decided to walk to the pond rather than drive. What a walk it was, I was outside for more than 2 hours!

On my travel, I saw several species of birds, the highlight of which was when I saw a Hairy Woodpecker for the first time. Getting a photo was a bit of a challenge as it was located on the other side of the street and was flying from tree to tree. I followed it for a while, until it finally flew across the road and into shooting range. It landed on the side of a tree where I then took a few photos. It would then fly down to a bird feeder in the same backyard.

This is a Hairy Woodpecker because it has a longer beak and its white tail feathers lack any black markings as seen on a Downy Woodpecker.

My attic is home a pair of European Starlings. It's interesting seeing how their behaviour changes throughout the year. In the spring and summer, they are very alive, and their calls and songs can easily be heard. In the fall they slowly become less active until winter, when they are completely silent.

In the summer, they raise their chicks, which are just as noisy. Once I was able to see one of the chicks as a sub-adult, bearing it's juvenile brown plumage.

An odd occurrence that happened last year was when multiple eggs fell from the Starling's nest. Two of them smashed on impact, while a third remained intact (egg in photo). It was on the ground, so to keep it warm, I placed dead leaves around it. Sadly, nothing became of the egg.

I'm curious to know why so many eggs feel to the ground, this hasn't happened before, and these Starlings have been around since my childhood. Could it be due to rival Starlings placing their eggs in another's nest, with the eggs then being rejected? It that something that European Starlings do?

Comments welcome.