The Flashy Pileated Woodpecker
This very cool guy stopped by our alley today. He'd spent some time in our suet feeder first. You can tell it's a male by…
Birds
Bird watching, conservation, news and general enjoyment.
Vancouver’s Inaugural Bird Fest Takes Flight
In case you've missed it, bird-watching, now known as "urban birding," has become one of the hottest trends amongst millenials. Just Google "hipster birders" and…
On the Death of a Veery
Our windows may be killing a billion birds a year. This beautiful songbird, called a veery, struck our kitchen window the other day. I was…
The Eurasian Collared-Dove: Successful BC Immigrants
We see more and more of these plump, white birds in our yard every year. Although they first appeared in the neighborhood about ten years…
The Amazing Northern Flicker
Perhaps because we see them regularly, it's easy to take the extraordinary colors and patterns of the Northern Flicker for granted. These entertaining birds are…
The Urban Coyote: a Songbird’s Best Friend
Anyone who lets their cat roam free needs to accept the law of the food chain: if Fluffy gets to chase and kill songbirds, Wile E. Coyote…
Sharing Camp with a Red-Breasted Sapsucker
In May we shared our campsite on the Sunshine Coast with a pair of red-breasted sapsuckers. Busy birds they were, excavating a nest above us…
Killing Steller’s Jays for…What, Exactly?
We've known people who enthusiastically killed Steller's jays with pellet or BB guns. Why? Because these aggressive birds are bullies at bird feeders and predators of songbird…