Category: Nature

There were three woodpeckers (Northern flickers/ Colaptes auratus) in the alley, at the back of my house, at dusk tonight.

One was looking for bugs in the wooden utility pole — and found one.
Nearby on the overhead power lines, a male was courting a female.
Be careful, I thought : don’t let the sparks fly between you two.

Volunteer Park is closed for picnics and group gatherings, but it is still OK to walk through (while steering clear of others, of course).
It would be impossible for bugs and butterflies to miss the flaming orange tulips, by the Asian Art Museum.

Check out this stunning picture of a mature South Philippine dwarf kingfisher, published in the New York Times. It was taken by Miguel David De Leon for the Robert S. Kennedy Bird Conservancy, in a forest in the Philippines.

The little birds are just about impossible to catch sitting still, and it took three years of patience and trying to get a picture of the bird.

 

The little bergenia ‘Bressingham White’ that I have in a pot, has produced its first flowers.

Mr Squirrel is catching a little sun, oblivious of the pandemic that the humans have to deal with.

The new spring blooms on my camellia are serious competition for roses, as far as looks go. As for fragrance: no match at all.

I ventured out of the house with my camera this afternoon, and found this American robin (Turdus migratorius).
The ‘late’ bird was looking to catch a worm, and sure enough! it found one in the dirt next to the sidewalk.

Spring has arrived here in the North.
As of this hour, Earth’s Northern Hemisphere is starting to tilt towards our sun.

P.S. This year marks the earliest start to spring on the Gregorian calendar in 124 years. How so? Well, it’s complicated.

I had three of the beautiful blue-feathered Steller’s jays (Cyanocitta stelleri) in my backyard today.
For a while, they sat quietly inside my laurel fence (the second photo), and then got out and flew away.

I went hunting for spring flowers and blossoms this afternoon, just up to five or six blocks around my house.
All I know is that the gorgeous pink one is a camellia, and the bright yellow one, a dandelion weed flower.

I found these daffodils in Volunteer Park today.

Below is a cute picture of two abandoned bear cubs found on Dept. of Natural Resources-managed land.

The tweet does not give the location where they were found, and it could have been anywhere except in central Washington State.

A hummingbird visited my backyard today, attracted by my cold-hardy mahonia’s bright yellow flowers.
(There was a little more snow on the ground on Monday morning, but not enough to make too much trouble on the city’s streets).