Parking Lot Pigeons

The other week I went for a nature walk.  The woods I explored were eerily dead.  No birds, not even a raccoon sleeping in a tree or cavity anywhere (I'm pretty good at finding raccoons for some reason).  After an hour out, I chalked the walk up to just that...  a nice walk.  I had an errand to run, picking up something from a friends' place on the border of Mississauga.  I happened to pass a small shopping mall and noticed the hundred plus pigeons in the parking lot.  Ya so, what about pigeons in a parking lot?  Well there was some real stand out birds in this flock.  People say pigeons are boring birds because there can be so many around and as some say "they all look the same", but that isn't really so.  Check out these guys I saw...

Red pigeons aren't very common to see so when I do spot one, I always take a longer look.  There was one in this flock and I watched him for a while.  Visually stunning I must say.  I love that fine line around his face, going from grey to that iridescent of reddish/purple.  Wow!

His friend is quite unique looking too...

Then there was this one relaxing near the curb.  He could be Gulliver's cousin.

Here is Gulliver.  Do you agree?

There was quite a few whitish birds in this flock.  Similar looking from afar but not so as you got closer.

I often hear from people who spot the white ones, thinking that they are people's escaped pets.  I don't believe that is so.  Maybe somewhere in the lineage some fancy bird's genes got in the mix; but really, as I learn more about these birds, they all have genes crossed from fancy breeds over generations.  It's a bit much to explain but if you want to learn more, I highly recommend this book, A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching, as it is a fun yet very educational read.  You can order a copy for yourself right here.

This fellow really stood out from the flock.  Almost all white.  It's like when people see snowy owls, the all white adult males send most into an excited tizzy.  Mind you, with pigeons, an all white bird doesn't necessarily mean an adult male.

I think I found his twin a couple hundred feet away.  He was roaming the ice mound in the corner of the lot.  Maybe finding salt bits in the ice?  The early days of spring can be so gross as snow mounds melt and all the debris that got plowed with the snow begins to show.  It's sad that masks are the new cigarette butt across the landscape; and both are in this photo.

Please note that is not poop on his chest, but it's the slight bit of colouring this bird has in it's feathers.

I joked to someone that these were rare Arctic pigeons.  They took me a little too seriously so I had to spoil the joke and admit that they were just common pigeons, although more uniquely coloured than the typical blues and greys most see.

The beauty of nature is all around us.  It really is there if you allow yourself to see it, even in a mall parking lot.  

I will revisit this flock another day for another look and perhaps take some pictures of the others (I thought I took more photos than what I have here in the folder).

From Sanctuary to Nursery

What I am blogging about here may not thrill that many people but hey, it's our property, and part of the reason for my animal blog and much of my social media posts is to share about living with wildlife, that we can coexist.

So, about 6 years ago the neighbour a couple doors over gave me his old doghouse.  He was putting it out to the sidewalk, asked me for help to move it, and I asked him to help me move it to our backyard.  It's not a massive house like a few that I went and looked at prior so this was perfect.  We don't have a dog so why the heck would we want a doghouse?  It was my intention to be a shelter, a place for a wild one to hide if need be.  We have opossums in the neighbourhood and with how harsh our weather can be in the winter, especially February, I've always wanted to offer them something.  I even went as far to pack it full of straw for warmth.

The house has seen a lot of action over the years.  Random nights I have put my trail cam out there pointed at the house to see what is going on.  Raccoons, skunks and a few opossums have used it for a day or two over the years.  No one has ever been long staying, calling it a "home" and that's okay; it's there for when an animal needs it.

Well this spring the doghouse has come in handy to an animal who really needs it.  A female raccoon has had her young inside.  I discovered this about two weeks ago when I was way down in the back of the yard after work one night.  I heard funny chattering coming from the box.  Check out this short video I took and you can hear them.

In this stream of photos you can see that they are secluded and out of sight.

A view from our back deck.

Almost near the shed.

Now we are at the side.  Squirrels currently are using that house in the back.

Little Al the screech owl used it for a day too!  Did you catch my blog the other day, he came back!

Now we are behind the shed.  There's the house (pardon the mess).  The yards that back onto ours all have garages and sheds so those neighbours cannot see what is going on back there either.  I only mention this because I don't know what any of them think about raccoons.  Raccoons used to live in that garage roof further back in the photo; they were in there for two years!  I told the home owner but he never did anything.  It's only us and the house right next to us, if they ever decide to go that far down into their yard, that could see them.  I use that broken piece of concrete stump for my trail cam.  Nothing can knock that over so the cam stays positioned.

Mother raccoons are very good mothers.  I've seen some great videos of them helping their young in difficult situations.  No one gets left behind.  I just did a quick YouTube search and cannot find the ones that I remember but here is a short one.

So with our mother here at home, I can tell by my camera footage that she's going to be a great mother too.  She doesn't go far from the doghouse or for very long either.  Late March we had a last blast of winter with a bit of snow and some bone chilling real feel temps of near -20 C.  

Mom spent over two full days in the doghouse, keeping her babies warm and fed.  I assume she went into a deep sleep, almost like a hibernation.  I cannot imagine laying in bed for over 48 hours and not getting up; that's how I see it.  Unlike some other animal species, the male/dad raccoon is basically a dead beat dad.  The old "wam, bam, thank you mam" and he's gone.  He doesn't hunt for food and bring it back to mom and the kids.

This guy here looks like a deadbeat dad, doesn't he?  I envision a beer or cigarette in his hand.  LOL!

Some cam images...

Coming home for the night.  She did not emerge again throughout the rest of the night.

A skunk wonders if there is room for him in there?

I won't post a lot of cam pics here but just enough so you get the idea of what's happening.  Here she is going into the box just before midnight.

She comes back out a couple hours later.

Probably went for a pee, to have a stretch and groom herself.

Then back to her young.

Out for a pee break I assume.

Ten minutes later back inside.

There hasn't been any other creatures coming through this stretch in the last week.  No skunks, no opossums and no other raccoons.  Just mom.

Occasionally I go down behind the shed to have a look and a listen.  I cannot wait to see a young one peeking out from that opening.  Right now mom has them tucked away in the furthest back corner of the house away from the opening.  I cannot see them but can hear their cries and grunts from that spot.

I hope for a photo opportunity or two before they vacate the house and our backyard as they get bigger and spread out.

The same mother raccoon as above taking a break in our yard.  Watching four kids is a lot of work.

Young raccoons are very cute and curious.  It was fun watching them play with our garden hose this one morning.  Even when we don't see them, some mornings there are signs that they were here with things moved about in the yard.

We often call our backyard "the sanctuary" but occasionally it turns into "the nursery" as wildlife have their babies here.  Our list isn't long but we've had a few including one house sparrow nest, three black-capped chickadee nests and twice squirrels have been born in one of the boxes.  

If you are in the mood for more reading, here is my blog about the time I was home when the chickadees fledged from the nest box.  It was an amazing thing to see and something I will never forget.

Come back for an update in a few weeks.  I will have one.  I promise!

Al's Return

Back in February I blogged about the screech owl that had been visiting us all winter.  Angie named him Little Al.  He was a real blessing and we enjoyed his many visits as random as they were at times.  His visits lessened as we moved into March.  There was a few days he was here and calling in the early morning, most likely looking for a mate.  Then he was gone.  We figured he left his cozy house and went off to the nearby golf course or the woods just beyond, seeking out a mate, and maybe setting up a nest somewhere else.  It made us sad but we were very thankful for having three months with this bird.  Not everyone is blessed to have an owl sleep in their backyard, are they?

As you can tell by this blog title, he has returned.

Here he is from today, April 4th.

I was going out this morning to get fruit and other necessities for the week when I heard all the ruckus coming from five blue jays in the backyard.  They were all swooping the box, standing on the roof and just screaming down to the entry hole below.  While I couldn't see what was causing them so much upset, I knew there had to be an owl inside.  I quickly went off to run my errand, being glad that I had a list with me, because all I could think about was what was going on back at home.  It had to be Little Al.

When I returned home, I decided to spend some time out in the yard.  It was a pleasant early spring day; I cleaned out a couple of the bird baths and filled them with water.  I puttered about the yard, picking up some trash that had blown in at some point over the winter.  As I was down by the shed, I happened to look up to the box and just like that, there was the owl.  SWEET!  I had my camera with me just in case, and took a few photos.  They look much the same as my winter pictures but what the hell; I was still capturing a wonderful encounter, that being Al's return.  Luckily Angie was working from home so she could enjoy the moment with me.

Al would roost at the entrance for lengthy amounts of time.  Then a couple blue jays would fly in and start yelling at him, swooping the box.  Al would retreat inside.  The jays would go away and eventually Al would surface again.  This scenario repeated itself a number of times throughout the day.

It was great to see him again.  We hope this wasn't just a one off.

This wasn't his actual return day though.  On Friday night I got home from work.  I backed the Mazda into the driveway.  As I stepped out, I instantly noticed a screech owl sitting on the house next door.  It was at the corner of the roof that overhangs their porch adjacent to ours.  Seconds later the owl flies down to the corner post on our front porch.  He's now glaring into the cedar hedge.  I'm still standing next to the car at this point, in awe at what I was seeing.  The owl turns his head and looks at me.  Next thing I know he flies out from the post, swoops low over my head, I could feel the flap of his wings mess up my hair.  He then circled back over me and returned to the porch post.  Wow!  So cool to see this.  I managed to get a s**t record shot of the moment with my mobile.  I don't think he was greeting me.  I think it was more like "go away, I'm hunting!"  I know he was hunting for house sparrows in our front hedges.  A dozen or more sleep there every night.  They often wake us up in the morning with their chirping.

I gave him his space and made my way into the house through the back.  Angie was up waiting for me as per norm for a Friday night; most nights she is usually in bed by now since she has to work in the morning.  We talked for a bit.  I told her about the owl.  After she went to bed, I got my camera, then headed out to the front in hopes of seeing him, perhaps getting a better photo.  Unfortunately he was gone by the time I returned.  Oh well, I was so stoked by this encounter.  It's not every day that you have an owl in your face, kind of attacking your head.  HAHA!

As I wrap up this blog a day later, the jays are back and yelling at the owl house.  Gotta love our backyard snitches.  It's drizzling out so I doubt Al will show himself this morning but I will be watching.

Here is a short video I took of him yesterday from our back deck.  It's not the most exciting video to watch but it is for us since this is right here at home.  If you aren't very familiar with eastern screech owls, here is a link to learn more about them.

I have had three blogs in my head and was going to work on one of them, but then this happened.  Hopefully I can get to the others soon before another "distraction" happens.

Cheers!