Wednesday 31 October 2012

Happy Halloween from NovaBirds!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!


A wet chickadee visits the feeder.
It's going to be a pretty damp and dreary Halloween here at NovaBirds! The edges of Hurricane Sandy are over our region, bringing us heavy rain and thunder storms (yikes)!
That doesn't seem to be deterring the birds though! Although damp, they're still visiting frequently!

Have a safe & happy Halloween everyone!
Tuesday 30 October 2012

Hurricane Sandy

Our thoughts and prayers here at the NovaBirds Cam go out to the millions of those who have been affected by hurricane Sandy.
 

Sandy has knocked all the leaves from our trees.
What hits home especially here in Nova Scotia is the tragedy of the HMS Bounty. The ship was built in Lunenburg, NS and had just left that port after a recent visit here. While the majority of the crew were saved, two were not so fortunate.
 
Rest in Peace Claudene Christian, and lets also pray for the safe recovery of Captain Robin Walbridge.
 
Back here in Nova Scotia, we were lucky enough to have Sandy miss us. We're quite used to getting the tail ends of hurricanes, but Sandy's unusual path allowed us to avoid the worst of the storm.

We still have had (and will for the next few days) a fair amount of wind and rain which has knocked all of the fall leaves from the trees (as you can now see on the cam). Tomorrow sounds like it will be our worst day, with wind, thunderstorms and rain in the forecast. It will be a dreary next few days on the cam!

Wednesday 24 October 2012

Scramble Returns

"Get outta here bluejay!"
Scramble has been on a bit of a hiatus. I hadn't seen him causing mischief on the cam, so I figured maybe he had moved on to bigger and better feeders..

That was until I put the acorns out! Not only did he clear out the entire pumpkin on the first day, but he then moved on to the feeder, attempting to knock it down.

"Argh! What is this stuff?"
He was quite entertained by the jacoklantern and used it's stem as a perch as he glared at the bluejay occupying the feeder. As soon as the coast was clear, he made his move and attempted (in vain) to remove the cover from the feeder. Luckily (for me and the birds) some of the heavy-duty tape still remained on the cover and he eventually lost interest.
Sunday 21 October 2012

On today's Menu: Acorns!

Over the weekend, I travelled a few hours away to visit my inlaws. The nuts there are plentiful! ...and by nuts I mean acorns..but maybe I mean seeds?

Anyways, to get to the point, my inlaws have a number of oak trees surrounding their property, and every fall at least a few of them drop acorns. Because we have no oak trees near our own home, I thought that the squirrels and chipmunks would really like a special treat, so during my visit, my father-in-law and I grabbed a 4 litre bucket and filled it with as many acorns as we could find.

When I got home, I took our hollowed out little pumpkin and filled it with acorns and pumpkin seeds. Within a matter of hours, the chipmunks and bluejays had cleaned out the pumpkin! Looks like the acorn idea was a win! Now the little tricksters will have extra treats to enjoy for the next few weeks!
Saturday 20 October 2012

Halloween decorating on NovaBirds Cam

Festive critters!
I finally got around to carving our Jack-o-Lantern!

Depending on what time of day you view the cam, the face on the jack-o-lantern may look different...and in the evening, I'm always sure to have it lit up!

The birds and critters seem to enjoy having an extra perch to view the feeder from.

I also saved all of the seeds from both the jack-o-lantern and smaller pumpkin. I think I will see if the wildlife might eat them. I'm not sure if they'll eat pumkin seeds, but here's to hoping!
Sunday 7 October 2012

Changing seasons...

Not only are the leaves changing, but somone thought
they were clever and started to build a nest in the feeder!
The leaves are beginning to change here, as you can see on the cam. The air is getting much cooler and lots of critters are stocking up on extra calories to prepare for the snow and colder weather.

I've noticed that Scramble and the chipmunks have really been cleaning out the feeders. I've been replacing seed daily now.

Bluejays are also showing up more frequently and even perching on the main cam feeder.

Hopefully these critters will stay through the winter, with the exception of the chipmunks of course, who will be beginning to hibernate soon!

Stay tuned to the cam. As we approach Halloween, some peculiar things may begin to show up!