Humming along

September 7, 2025.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Caught her! Such a joyful sight.

Backyard Birds

July 20, 2025.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Hard to pick favourites when it comes to birds. I love the shocking contrast of the White-Crowned sparrow’s head feathers. The cowbird is not a usual sight at our feeders, so a nice welcome. Waking up to find a pair of bobolinks in our yard was a first for me. I never tire of our […]

Red-bellied Woodpecker

March 5, 2025.Reading time less than 1 minute.

I try not to pick favourites amongst the many birds that grace our backyard feeders, but there are just some that always manage to take my breath away. The red-bellied woodpecker is one of them. This beauty is anxious and tends to fly away at any movement from inside the house, so I have patiently […]

That’s Wild, Turkey!

October 8, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

It’s turkey weekend here in Canada. A good time to present these wild turkeys. At one time, they were nearly extinct in our area, but they have found their way back to proliferation. Coming across them always makes me smile. Funny birds. For Bird of the Week challenge.

Great Blue Heron

August 11, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

While I stalk the Great Blue Heron, he stalks lunch… and rejects it… Not quite what he had a hankering for, I guess. For Bird of the Week challenge.

Killdeer Couple

July 21, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

I’ve always loved the killdeer for their acting skills. To lure predators from the nest, the killdeer will pretend to have a broken wing and loudly exclaim in its two syllable cry: kill deer! We had a black lab once who claimed a killdeer as her best friend. The bird would cry out and the […]

Warbler

June 30, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

There are many species of warblers, and most I am not able to identify. Google reverse image suggests this is a Blackburnian warbler (likely a female). Most importantly, these little birds always bring such joy. Thanks to Don’t Hold Your Breath for hosting a bird of the week challenge.

Rosy Grosbeak

June 16, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

One of my favourites. The day my mother confirmed she was ready to die, I was tasked with calling the MAiD doctor, the funeral home, and so on. This Rosy Grosbeak with its large pink heart, stayed close by, as if to reassure me. He reappeared at my kitchen window the day we returned from […]

Mallards

April 28, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

It’s springtime, and love is in the air, even for the mallards. This pair idled by, and while I tend not to photograph mallards, I bowed to their insistence. Don’t fall for his apparent devotion, as soon as she gives birth, he’ll be off and other males will impose themselves on her, at risk to […]

Roadside Encounter

March 24, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

There were two, at the roadside, their presence impossible to miss, and when I pulled over to get a closer look, they ignored me long enough to capture their majesty.

Mother

When I had a mothermy hair would cascadein curls of auburn perfectiona red velvet bow to accentuate the wave And I’d wear my bestnewly sewn frockwith lace at the neckand fishnet stockingsand patent Mary Janes And the girls giggling with delightwould skip hand-in-handto the school promand the boys shyly perchedagainst the back wall would wonderhow […]

Lull (tanka)

Self-Sufficient

Isolated and incapacitatedI am prohibited from partakingof the influx of information incessantly presented consequently cut offfrom prescribed expectationsdictating costuming and culture external expressions of acceptanceare sorely missing, suggestingan overall lack of self-worth. Interestingly inverse to such conclusionsis the sudden contentment that arisesfrom escaping the mayhem Internal relief overrides dictated performancesurrendering willingly to intrinsic motivationand renewed […]