PARTRIDGE ON A SUNDAY MORNING

This past Sunday was snowy and the temperature was falling.  It was getting cold.  The birds, sparrows, were feeding at the bird feeders.  Much to our pleasure, nine partridges swooped in and started to feed.  There were several males in the group.  Males have a red circle of hair on their chest so that is how you can tell the difference between the sexes.  Besides the partridge we also had a flicker feeding on peanuts.  In the first picture there was a sparrow feeding beside the partridge.  As I took these pictures through the kitchen window and was playing around with my camera, the exposures are different.  It is always a treat to have partridge in the backyard.

Years ago when I was young and still living at home with my parents, we would get partridge in the backyard during the winter.  Even though we lived in the suburbs, there were fields close by which attracted a number different birds and small mammals.  My parents liked to feed the birds and there were feeding stations set up, similar to what I have in the backyard now.  We also had fruit trees including apple, plum and pear in the backyard while growing up.  What made this all the more humorous was that the partridge would sit on a branch in the pear tree.  

BUFFET BARS

There are many different themes to buffet bars - chinese, italian, american, salad, sushi, ukrainian, and vegetarian.  In our house we operate one that caters to birds.  We have four feeding stations set up along with two suet cages.  The DH feeds the birds a variety of seeds including niger and black oil  sunflower but the blue jays are spoiled.  The DH puts out about five cups a day of peanuts in the shell.  The blue jays don't come to the buffet bar every day but when they do there can be four of them.

I am sure we are feeding all of the sparrows in the neighbourhood.  They show up once it is daylight and feed throughout the day.   The blue jays pick up the peanuts from the feeder and if they are not breaking open the peanut shell with their beaks and consuming the nuts, they are flying off with a peanut and burying the treasure in someones backyard.  We are wondering what will happen when the secret stash of peanuts gets covered with snow.  How will the birds find the peanuts?  What happens when the snow melts in the spring and the home owner wonders how and where did these peanuts come from that are littering the yard.  The dog has figured out that some of the peanut shells on the ground will occasionally have a nut in them as the blue jay will drop a peanut shell on the ground with parts of a nut still remaining.  The dog is now patrolling the ground around the trees and feeder checking for leftover peanuts.  

The cats do find some entertainment in watching from the kitchen window the birds gathering around the buffet bars.  We will all be watching the birds this winter.

SUNDAY MORNING WALK

A few Sundays ago I took my camera along on my morning walk with the yellow lab.  I sometimes walk along a creek that is enjoyed and used by different species of wildlife.  I have shown in previous posts beavers swimming, chewing, moving branches, their lodges and just being busy doing their jobs.  The lodges that beavers build can include the parents and their children - yearlings and two year olds.

The beaver I saw this particular morning was young.  He or she was chewing on some kind of foliage.  I was able to get close to the edge of the creek while hanging onto the leash attached to a busy dog and with the other hand snapping away with the camera.   I knew that this beaver was young just based on size.  I have seen the adults and they are quite bigger and also darker in colour.  Being able to photograph wildlife includes much luck in terms of timing - being at the right place and the right time.

PARTRIDGE IN THE SPRING

This past spring we had a pair of partridge that spent time in the backyard quite often in the afternoon or early evening.  I am sure they were the same pair along with other partridges who would come in for an afternoon snack of niger seed during the cold winter months.  The DH would cast niger seed on the snow swept ground for these birds.  

This spring, the pair came to feed on birdseed and also rest.  When the female was eating or resting, the male bird would be on the lookout for any potential or real danger.  The only danger in the backyard is the dog.  At some point after the birds had been in the backyard for awhile and the dog wanted to be let out, we would open the back door and he would sometimes stay on the deck and watch what was going on in his kingdom.  He didn't always notice right away that the partridge were there.   Once he noticed that these birds were on his territory, he quickly trotted down the few steps and ran in the direction of these birds.  They would quickly lift off and fly away.  

I am sure that if the dog didn't occupy the same backyard, this pair of partridge would have nested here.  Access to seed and water from the pond was very tempting.

THE BEAVER AND THE CREEK

When my four legged companion and I go walking along the creek, I am always on the look out for the beavers who live in the creek.  I am not sure how big the family is but based on sightings I am guessing it could be three.  

These beavers are quite industrious and always working.  I know they are destructive to the popular trees and willows growing by the banks of creek.  I have had the chance to watch the beavers swimming by as I am walking on the footpath that follows the creek.  When a beaver realizes I am close to them, it will loudly slap the water with its tail and slip underwater and swim a short distance before resurfacing.  I have attached some photos from recent walks. 

The beavers keep busy trying to dam the creek.  

The same dam observed from a different angle. 

The beaver den/house.

Another picture of the beaver house.

One of the beavers swimming by.

WILDLIFE AND SPRING

Going out for a walk in the early morning when the sun is just starting to rise allows you to see some of the wildlife that are out and about, especially beavers.  I have only been able to see the beavers by the creek when I walk in the early morning or at dusk.

With the increased water levels due to spring runoff and excessive moisture this winter, the water has overtaken some of the land close to the walking and biking paths.  With some trees being surrounded by water, it has made it easier for the beavers to gnaw and chew on certain trees.  Beavers are wonderful to watch and have interesting social structures but they are destructive.  I took the following photos while out walking one recent morning.  The photos include some of the sights I saw that morning.

When I first saw these two beavers I thought this was two mounds of dirt.  The beaver on the left is facing me and the one on the right has its back to me.

This beaver with its back to me, is chewing away on material from a tree. 

A front photo of a beaver chewing on material.

About 15 minutes later from the first set of beavers I saw, I saw this third beaver swimming along the creek.

Damage to the tree by a beaver.

Another damaged tree.

The Canada geese make much noise when I walk by with the dog.

A red winged black bird.

Several ducks foraging for food.

The rabbit is slowly changing its cost from winter to summer colours.

COMMON REDPOLL

The common redpoll bird is not seen every winter where we live.  The bird spends its summer in the tundra (Artic) and the winter in brushy areas.  Sometimes they do travel further south in the winter.  The birds look like sparrows but they belong to the same family as the gold finch.  Both male and female have some rose colour on the crown of their heads and the males also have rose colouring on their upper breast. They like to feed on seeds including niger seed which we have scattered for the partridge.  With winter hopefully ending soon, these birds will be flying north for the summer season.

Male redpoll.

Female redpoll.

Male redpoll.

Male redpoll.

THE BIG BOYS

Over this winter the big boys have come to feed in our backyard on almost a daily basis.  The big boys are both male and female partridge.  When I see them through the kitchen window in the backyard, I announce to the pets and the DH that the 'big boys' are here.  The cats do watch the partridge sometimes, perched on their cat condo and looking at them through the kitchen window.

Since we have bird feeders set up in the yard, the partridge are attracted to come and feed.  Beside the sunflower seeds for the sparrows, we have scattered niger seed on the ground for the partridge.  The flock that usually comes includes several females and one male.  It is easy to tell which bird is the male as he has a red patch of feathers on his breast.  We have had more than one flock come in at the same time and this means that there are two males in close proximity.  That is entertaining to watch as sometimes there is a bit of a chase scene between the male birds.

Female sunning herself on the roof of the garden shed.

Besides the female sunning herself on the roof, there is a sparrow on the corner of the roof, which is hard to see, and a male partridge sunning himself on the top of the fence. 

The flock is pecking away at the niger seed. This picture and the following photos were taken before sunset.  

Two females.

The two bottom birds are females and the top bird is the male.

POLO

One of my favorite movies, that I never tire of watching is Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.  There are a number of scenes worthy of comment including the shopping on Rodeo Drive, the sports cars, the hotel, and the polo match.  The polo scene in the movie showed everyone dressed up for a charity event at a polo match.  Julia Roberts was wearing a sleeveless brown polka dot dress and a lovely hat.  You don’t need to get dressed up to go watch polo.  I went to my first polo match in casual summer attire.  I may have also been wearing a ball cap.

Polo has been around as early as 500 BC when it was played by Persian noblemen.  The Indian army introduced polo to the Western world and the 19^th century British cavalry officers refined the game.  

Polo is really about the horse or polo pony.   Most ponies are about three quarters thoroughbred of needing stamina, speed and the disposition for polo.  If you don’t have a good horse to play polo, you will be left behind the others while chasing the ball.  The original American polo pony was limited to 14.2 hands and was developed from the cutting horses used by ranchers.  Today’s pony doesn’t have a height restriction but usually averages 15 to 16 hands.  The average age of a playing pony is nine years old but they can also play well into their teens.

Polo consists of two teams that play against each other.  Whoever scores the most goals wins.  Each team has four players who play certain positions.  Position one plays offense and stays up front to get the passes and score the goals.  Position two plays defense and offense and goes back and forth.  This player needs to be fast and aggressive.  Position three is like the quarterback.  This person stays more behind and figures out the strategy.  Position four plays defense and tries to stop position one of the opposing team from scoring goals.  Finally the captain of the team can be any one of these four players  How you tell which person is playing which position is by the number on the back of their shirt.  The game I watched had two referees on horseback and they will blow a whistle if anyone commits a foul.  A foul can be called for a variety of reasons.

Each player has a handicap and it is given to them by one of the professional associations.  You are ranked on control of your horse, how well you hit the ball, how well you play.  The higher the handicap you have, the better the player you are.  The games can be described as low, medium and high goal polo.  The high goal games would have better players and horses.

As you can see from the pictures, the ball is hit with a mallet in order to move it down the field.  These horse and riders can be going pretty fast.  They also have a lot of ground to cover as the playing filed is 300 yards long by 160 yards wide.  This is the approximate area of nine American football fields.

Polo is different than hockey or football where you change sides after each period or quarter.  Every time a goal is scored they change sides.  The periods or quarters are called chukkers and each one is usually seven minutes.  Depending on location, a game can have four or six chukkers.  Furthermore, the horses are changed after each chukker.  Three minutes are allowed for changing your horse.  Horses need to be changed after each chukker as they can cover a lot of ground.  Sometimes the horses can cover three miles in each chukker.  In high goal polo most players takes 10 horses to each game while lower goal polo will require less mounts as the game is played a bit slower.

If any of you get a chance to watch a polo game, do so as it is quite enjoyable.  I enjoyed watching the game, the horsemanship, being outdoors, the pace of the game and the skill needed to score the goals.

A MEETING WITH THE LOCAL COYOTE

Over the past few weeks I have been seeing the local coyote while out walking the dog.  Most sightings are in the early morning while still dark.  The distance between the coyote and us has been acceptable and the coyote knew that I knew it was there.  The dog has not always seen it because he was focused elsewhere or the snowbanks obscured his view.

This past Sunday morning I went walking when it was light out.  There was light snow falling and it was looking like it was going to be a cloudy day.  I was coming up to the end of the path that I usually walk on and from there you walk on the road.  I was six minutes from home.  I saw the coyote and it was on the banks of a creek sniffing around.  The creek is very close to one of the turns in the path.  I did not have many escape options unless I wanted to go through deep snow to cut to the road.  It wouldn't have been pretty.  The coyote was not interested in the dog or me and was focused on other things.  Plus s/he was moving away to give us more space.  I stopped by the end of the path and close to the road to see what s/he was doing.  The coyote was hunting for mice and as I watched it, s/he got one.  The coyote jumped up as if s/he was pouncing on it and was successful as I watched it chew it and swallow the critter.  The coyote started to walk further along the edge of the creek so we left.  The dog had definitely seen the coyote and was watching it and he was interested in going over.  Of course, that was not going to happen.  I was also happy that I hadn't let Shane off the leash as I sometimes do on this stretch of the path.

Upon arriving at home and recounting this story to the DH, I decided I needed to see if I could get some photos.  The dog and I got into the car and quickly drove over to see it the coyote was still there.  I left the dog in the car, much to his dismay and went back on the path to see if I could find the coyote.  I waited around and finally saw it behind a city equipment building that is situated by the path.  I couldn't get a close photo as the coyote went behind the building.  By the time I could get some photos, it was walking and trotting along the creek system and was putting some distance between us.  It was definitely hunting rodents.  The following photos show some of the scenery and the coyote.  I darkened the photos so that you could see the coyote better.

The creek that runs close to the path. The coyote was along the top ridge.  

Another side shot of where I would have seen the coyote. 

The coyote is moving along.  To the right of the photo is someone walking with their dog along the creek system and would likely not have been aware of the coyote being there. 

Another distant shot. 

The coyote is getting close to a back country road but didn't cross and instead came back again.