Good Monday to you! I can’t believe the difference in our weather in one short week. I was outside this morning inhaling the wonderful aroma of the many lilacs that have come into bloom in the last couple of days.
This past week was a pretty quiet week in terms of birds. I have Baltimore Orioles that make a daily appearance in my yard. I am hoping they find a spot to make a nest. I witnessed a pair of males chasing a female in my yard this morning! Ahhhh, I love Spring!
I went out to photograph a Chipping Sparrow nest (photo below) a few moments ago, and was able to capture (somewhat poorly) a pair of Orioles. There was a lot of chattering and fluttering. It was a pretty passionate affair! Also, speaking of Chipping Sparrows, you can see a photo of one below that I had snapped earlier this spring.
Earlier on this past week, I was driving on Cedar Hill Side Road, and spotted a pair of Canadian Geese and their 2 Goslings. I pulled over to snap the babies through my car window as I would not have dared to step out and face their wrath. There were several moments of intense hissing from the parents.
I don’t believe I mentioned in my Bio or in earlier posts, but I raise chickens. We have had egg laying hens pretty much as long as we have lived here in Pakenham. Anyhow, I got the bug to incubate and hatch my own chicks, ducklings, goslings etc…years ago! For years I was hatching my own babies but stopped as life got busier and I lost interest. A month ago I decided to gather my chickens eggs… (they are fertile as we do have some roosters), and I set them in the incubator to hatch my own new future egg-layers. We had a pretty successful hatch this week-end with 19 chicks! I have included a sequence of photos below of the hatching process. They are a bit fuzzy as photos were taken through the incubator window. Please enjoy!
I hope you get a chance to get out sometime this week and enjoy the weather and the wildlife around you!
Have an amazing week of feathers and beaks!
(Cobden)
(Cedar Hill Side Road)
(My yard)
(My yard)
(My yard)
(My yard)
(My yard)
(My yard)
(Newly Pipped egg in my incubator)
(chick hatching in my incubator)
(yes…wet and a little bit homely!)
