Angie and I just got back from a week down in the Cape May, New Jersey area. What a week we had! And a blog is coming about that in the not too far off future.
Today, is our first full day back at home, and we opted for a day of mostly rest (and a bit of house cleaning). We tried to enjoy the backyard when it wasn't cloudy or drizzly but those moments were far and few between. For me, I was really hoping for something new to visit the backyard today. It seems over the last few days, friends about the city have been enjoying Indigo Buntings, Scarlet Tanagers, or Warblers making appearances to their feeders. The cool wet days are keeping migrating birds in Toronto at the moment... so it seems.
Well, nothing was going on in our yard in way of new. A dozen regular visiting species plus the return of a Hairy Woodpecker (not seen one here since last fall).
But right before dinner, having my 20th something look out the kitchen window in the last couple hours, and this caught my eye.
Who could miss a sight like that, eh? Arctic Rock Dove!!!!! Snowy Dove? LoL!
As you can see, I raced for my camera. I know it's just a plain ol' Pigeon but he was clean, bright, pure white and new. I guess I got what I wished for... sort of.
I toyed with the settings on the camera, changing the metering to spot metering. My friend Brian taught me that this past winter for when out photographing Snowy Owls. I am not good with technical stuff, but it really does improve the white in photos. With the dark skies once again, ISO not quite right, making everything else around seem much darker.
He was quite the model bird, showing off all angles of himself. A near pure white bird minus the dirty backside, like he just went through fresh cut grass. On a day like today, no way he or anything else outside was going to stay clean.
I snapped photos, took moments just to watch him graze through the garden, and seeing if there was any reactions from the other birds. If you happened to catch my blog about a month ago about the banded Pigeon from Quebec, he was given a bit of a hard time from the others upon his arrival. But with this guy here, nobody gave much notice to him except for Angie and I.
The bird did his thing, and slowly got closer to me. Finally acknowledging my presence but didn't seem to care. I just sat there and embraced his beauty. I laughed at this all too. He's no Indigo Bunting, not a Tanager of any sort, 20x larger than a Warbler, and most would scoff at this sight. But in my desperation (joking) of wanting something new to come to the yard today, someone up above gave me just that. And I took to it quite happily.
After all, on such a dreary Sunday, home all day; why wouldn't I?
Suddenly a couple Jays made screeching alarm calls and sent all the birds flying. I watched this beauty flee with my regular flock and has yet to return. It was late in the day and only 2 came back about an hour later. I wonder if we will see him again? I sure hope so.
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