Saturday Snaps

Today is warm, humid and very breezy. Not normally a fan of high winds, I do appreciate the edge it gives me on the mosquitoes. Unfortunately, my honey bee friends are finding foraging flights a challenge as well.

The birds are busy tending nests and nestlings now. It's all business with them and they fly as if they are in some sort of timed competition. On May the 8th, there was one mourning dove egg in a nest on a spruce tree bough. The next day there was one more. Today there are two squabs, looking plump and fuzzy. In a few weeks the parents will start on a second brood.

The second of these two mourning dove eggs was laid on May 9th.

May the 30th and the eggs are now alert young squabs.

The American Goldfinch crowd is now dazzling to the eye in their bright yellow breeding plumage. Normally they attend my feeders in groups so when one consistently arrived solo, I took a closer look and discovered he has only one leg. Perhaps this handicap prevents him from joining the 'pecking order' fray.

These goldfinches know that four watchful eyes are better than two.

Dining alone, this goldfinch is missing one leg.

Feral tom, Oscar will soon learn that there is no free lunch here. The price for my hospitality is a trip to the Ottawa Spay/Neuter Clinic. As he gets tamer, it is increasingly likely he will be spending his winters indoors with Ellie Mae and myself. I do not want any spraying behaviour. Oscar's appointment is on June the 24th. A few days before I need to capture him I'll feed him in a disarmed live trap. Oscar might be younger than I had first surmised. It will be interesting to hear what the attending vet thinks his age to be.

Oscar is blissfully unaware of his appointment with the Spay/Neuter Clinic.

He looks younger than I thought in this photo.