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Wednesday 23 August 2017

Breakfast with the birds

It’s early morning at the stream which empties into the harbour




and the sandpipers are busy feeding. 




These birds are tall, with yellow legs, which gives them their name. The flock of starlings is busy nearby and some drop into the islands in the stream. Four of them are busy digging for grubs in the mud.




Then she appears out of the bulrushes, a female green-winged teal. 




She’s the only one of her kind here, but she swims around, up-ending into the water to feed, unconcerned about the others sharing the stream. At one point, she too is on an island with the starlings, as she checks through the mud. Her green spot breaks the camouflage.




In one of the old trees overlooking the scene, an immature yellow bellied sapsucker is busy drilling into the old trunk. By the look of the trunk, this is one of his favourite trees. He makes his way around the trunk, drilling as he goes. He is driven!




Then another bird crosses the stream and lands on a dead branch near the woodpecker. From the profile I can tell it is a kingfisher. The bird, with the unruly topknot, stands on the branch motionless, watching the stream. I couldn't see it at the time but the photo shows the female has a white cross in front of her eye.




Meanwhile the sapsucker drilled for its breakfast behind her.




In the stream below, everyone is busy getting breakfast. The starlings are on the islands digging, the yellowlegs walks on an island, dipping its long beak in the water and the duck is dabbling.




They each have a place in the environment and co-exist peacefully, a testament to the wonder of natural selection.


This time watching the birds is one of my favourite experiences along the boardwalk. 



30 comments:

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Birds and animals could teach us a lot about co-operative living Marie, I love the way they just get on with the everyday job of finding food.. surviving in harmony.

Shammickite said...

Lovely to have so many beautiful birds to watch. And they all seem to co=exist..... until a big hawk comes looking for dinner!

Anvilcloud said...

5 critters in the last photo all doing their thing but keeping a decent personal space too.

DJan said...

Nice to join you on the walk with the birds, Marie. Nice place to visit, for all of us. :-)

Linda d said...

I enjoyed my (your) early morning visit with the breakfast club. Your pictures are spectacular as usual.

Joanne Noragon said...

Your birds are beautiful and I am jealous you have so many. But, I do have fifty varieties of sparrows. It is hard for me to say "sapsucker", and not "woodpecker".

Ginnie said...

Breakfast with such a variety of birds is wonderful ... I would have settled for the Sandpipers, one of my all time favorites.

Down by the sea said...

Wonderful pictures of the birds captured on your early morning walk. I was fascinated by your kingfisher as we have only ever seen blue ones. We saw last evening on TV seaweed being collected from Prince Edward Island to be used to reduce methane emissions in cows. It looked as if the shoreline and bridge I have seen frequently here! Sarah x

Elephant's Child said...

Thank you so much for sharing feathered enchantment I will probably never see for myself. I came to being intrigued/obsessed with birds relatively late in life but now spend a LOT of time marvelling at them.

Bill said...

What a wonderful and pleasant way to start a day. A very nice and interesting narrative, Marie

Angela said...

The place place to be in this planet is near nature. You got wonderful photos!!

Debbie said...

WoW!! what great birding day. your images are beautiful!!!

Marie Smith said...

Thanks, Debbie. It was a great day!

Marie Smith said...

Close to nature is my favourite place, Angela.

Marie Smith said...

It was a great morning, Bill.

Marie Smith said...

I have come to love birds as well, EC. They are wonderful creatures

Marie Smith said...

The steel gray blue of the kingfisher didn't show well in the light that day, Sarah.

A farmer in western PEI made the discovery about cows and seaweed to reduce methane. Seaweed will be a great help in reducing greenhouse gases from cattle. Growing enough seaweed will be a problem however.

Marie Smith said...

Love the sandpipers, Ginnie!

Marie Smith said...

The sapsuckers are new to me this year, Joanne. I'd love to see so many sparrows.

Marie Smith said...

Thanks, Linda. The breakfast club was fantastic!

Marie Smith said...

It was a special morning, Jan.

Marie Smith said...

I have photos of the starlings and duck close together, AC. The sandpiper kept its distance though.

Marie Smith said...

I had seen a hawk swoop in there as I watched from a bridge. He was gone by the time a arrived at the head of the stream though, Shammi.

Marie Smith said...

As I watched those birds, PDP, I had the same thoughts as you. They just did what they had to do, live and let live.

Rick (Ratty) said...

You did a great job of watching the birds, and an even better one of helping us watch them with you here.

Blogoratti said...

Those are tall looking birds indeed, quite fascinating. Lovely shots and nice of you to share.

Marie Smith said...

The birds made it easy, Ratty.

Marie Smith said...

The greater yellowlegs sandpipers are big sandpipers, B.

The Happy Whisk said...

Bird watching looks like great fun. Relaxing, too.

Ginnie Hart said...

Your post has made me burst out into singing "Islands in the Stream," Marie. How fun is that! One day I would like to take up bird-watching. It is so fascinating, isn't it!