What do you see?

 Hello world. I'm back. Its been awhile I know. Just been busy with lots of stuff. Especially with a personal project that I have been working on for almost about half a year I think. I made it to the "putting colour on illustrations part" of my stuff. Hopefully can can finish this as soon as possible along with some editing of other things. 

For my avatar on the side over there, Not going to bother to change it for now since its almost spring anyways. 

Anyways we have this lovely pic of my dirty dish. I had just finished eating a slice of blueberry pie or was that cheese cake?  Oh well, yeah its been awhile since it was last year I took that pic.  To what was left behind, really caught my eye. I don't know about you, but I see a beautiful image of a graceful long necked bird. What do you see? 

I think I'll keep the image and when I get around to it, might draw it out. Maybe I'll find more of these "ink blots". 😊

 

Pecking out a message.

 And its back to winter yet again. The weather is very much bipolar lately. 

Took this lovely wood peckers pic last season of course. It was sometime in September and I happened to be outside enjoying the last of the pleasantly warm weather before the grim stuff comes along. I kept hearing this strange rattling sound coming from some place but couldn't quite figure out where exactly. And no I didn't think it was a rattle snake. Those are rare around here. But yeah we have those. No, I actually though it was the neighbor doing something in the back yard or playing a trick. So I continued to listen as it still make that rattling sound what ever it was. Eventually I determined that it was coming from the bushes that surround our little pond. Sound tends to bounce around in that area because of all those bushes and the noise of the water fall doesn't help to determine direction either. So I decided to look around in the bushes and low and behold I saw the little wood pecker going to town on a old and spent yucca flower stem. I left it behind and forgotten about it but I usually clip those off when they're finished flowering. So anyways he or she must have found some tasty grubs in those and as the little guy pecked away at the stem. The sound of the rattle noise must have come from the seed pods themselves and so that's why it made the sound of a rattle. Sorry about the quality of the photos but its the best I can do with an old digital camera. Still it is a pretty cool pic. Thanks for viewing! 

 

 

Got geese?

Its almost spring! Hooray! OK its a few weeks from now but who cares! 
Anyways here's some more spring related pics of a couple of geese perusing the neighborhood in I think 2018. Not exactly top notch imagery but still fun. They remind me of lawn ornaments only they fertilize people front lawns. 😜😁 These were taken in my neighbourhood and they just went from house to house eating the finest lawn grass. They seem well mannered and adjusted. There were a few times where they seem to beg the neighbours across the street for food. I think it was my dad's fault. He did hand feed them a few times. 

Summer Happy sunflowers

Ok so its still winter but here's a little bit of summer to wet your summer whistle. 😜 Besides I already saw Easter cream eggs already being sold during the Christmas holidays and just last month and only a few weeks into January I first heard what I thought were the sound of robins while on my way to pick up some KFC. Not a big KFC fan but the people in this household really seem to love the stuff. But the walk to the franchise is a body of a treat for me. I love a good walk. So yeah anyways the sound of what I thought at first, thought was my imagination and was really the sound of a whirlybird. Those whirling mushroom things on top of roofs that made the strange chirping/squeaking sounds. On my way back my eyes confirmed that I was not hearing things, it was indeed a very early robin. Although there were probably a pair I saw in a tree, I only saw the one. OK but how are they going to get enough food? There really are no worms at the surface this time of year. Only a scattering of small dried fruit still on some trees and bushes and not really the good kind. If someone knows tell us all? 😮
Oh and don't worry, spring is just around the corner. 

These are some lovely pics of last summer's sunflowers. Very successfully grown. But at the beginning a bit slow going with the squirrels stealing the seeds and seedlings and other mishaps. 
In in case you are interested,  I made a little green house for each seedling out of a half cut water bottle with vents cut onto the what is actually the bottom of the plastic bottle and placed them on top of each space. It gave them much needed protection till they can get a start. Then after removing the protection, I surrounded the sprout with small sharp sticks to discourage squirrels digging the plants up. You can also use plastic forks for this as well. Remember to have the pointy bits up.   After that its just a matter of watering them everyday on hot days. Later they provided a great meal to all the birds in our neighborhood. Such as gold finches. Sadly I never got a chance to take pics of them since they're really flighty type birds. Maybe when I have a go-pro cam or critter cam. Oh well.

None the less enjoy.  😊

Sadly that year. I saw no honey bees. Oh and they're still approving "round up" to be used in our municipality. Stupid bone heads!

Last day of a chickadee

Sadly it was the last day on earth for this chickadee. That's why it was so easy to take a pic of this little guy two summers ago with just a regular old digital camera. The poor guy was so sick he wouldn't even move much when I approached him. Even if I touched him too. Although he did kind of sickly give me a protest chirp. But by the end of the day the poor little guy fell asleep and never woke up again. But before that I placed him high on a near by bush so at least he could have some peace. Cause well my cat would have had him as a snack and well you just don't know what kind of diseases the bird had. In the end I buried the little bird in a pot full of leeks and garlic. I think it grew pretty well the next year. 

Just some cooings on.

Time for catch-up again. Still decapitating those ivy vines. Just can't do it all the time. I wait for when its not so hot and humid. But none the less they're almost pretty much out on the front. Found lots of empty snail shells for my collection in the processes. They come in handy for projects. Such as wreaths and a certain broach I made for my self. Still tackling other things too. Been a pretty busy summer. And oh yeah we might actually get some peaches this year. So far the squirrels have been keeping away. Another story when it comes to the night creatures.

Anyways here are some pics of some of my doves took two years ago just before I put them out for the season in their outdoor cage. I managed to take a few nice ones of my "rare in my household" a young dappled ring neck dove. She had a brother who looked just like her but as I said before her brother got spagetified by a hawk before we reinforced the cages to keep out the rodents and you guessed it hawks. Oh and I even got a rare pic of a dove just about to take off the covered car in our garage. Rare considering my camera is pretty old and its only a point n shoot camera. Not to mention a Kodak camera. I wonder if someday it might become a collectable? 

Oh they look a bit poopy considering when inside their winter quarters its a bit cramped for the night. But they have the whole garage to do what they please during the day. Such as bathing, foraging, playing and of course flying. 😊
 

One sweet little dove gone too soon.

Well today a hawk decided to see one of my doves as a spaghetti meal. The hawk tried to spagettify one of my doves as tried to pull it though one of the small holes of the chicken wired aviary. Its head was pretty mingled. It didn't have a chance. :_(
The others were lucky to have escaped with their lives. One had its tail plucked all out and another had a bunch of feathers yanked out of its back. So today it was the last straw, after also being harassed by rats and mice earlier. I brought them indoors two weeks early. Hopefully I can get the aviary safety improved next season. :o

Cooing from the gang

Finally got a nice pic of one of my doves flying in the garage. OK its not perfect but maybe next time I'll get an actual face showing. “They're kind of shy any how” Its kind of hard using an ancient digital camera for the task, for a movement that quick. Oh well maybe next year.

The pics were taken before they went out to stay in their summer incloser so it was right around the time where the doves started to molt their feathers. They were looking rather ratty. 

 My youngest male all grown up.

I caught one flying. Look at the pic below. 

  A secret space for male members only.

The Peck and Yank dove toy.

Introducing a new toy just for doves.
The Peck and Yank dove toy. The toy for doves.
I needed something new for my doves to explore but store wise  there isn’t much of an option for doves or rather nothing at all. I guess doves and pigeons are seen as dumb birds nothing more then good for a prop in a magicians magic trick. But if a bird can have the intelligence to understand a trainers command, then they do have some smarts. In fact doves are just as inquisitive and curious like any other animal. Maybe not like a parrot but the dove does use its intelligence in its own way. I designed the toy for the doves natural way of exploring the world, the love of pecking at interesting objects, the need for some things  and testing other things.  I have things it can pull, jingle and peck at interesting colorful dots.  I avoided large areas of bright colour since this would be threatening to the doves.

Here is my youngest dove enjoying the act of exploring the new object. He was the first to try out the toy followed by the rest of the flock. I have a lot of doves. ;)

If you would like to make one your self for your doves and or possibly pigeons, the instructions are available at Instructables.com Eventually the instructions will be available at my web site as well but the hobby part of that web site is currently under renovation.  Till then you know where to get it. ;)

Animal crackers in my soup part2……

And now for the rest of those pics.

 Some penguins and their cage mates.

 Some more penguins and their cage mates.

 A sunning rhino. 

 A full grown tapir looking for stuff. 

A hidden tiger. Try to find it. 

Some zebras saying see ya later. 

Belated Meetso

   I was going to share these earlier but with all the craziness of stuff to do it just wasn’t possible. Now its just another type of craziness and catching up to do. So far I managed to get some clip art done, some spring cleaning but more to be done, gone out, checked countless emails, planted seeds, planted plants. 

  Still have to post a few posts in my blogs which I'm currently doing, finish some unfinished personal projects, work on other personal projects so I can have some new things in my portfolios, freshen up my web site since its looking a bit dated, make more clip art before the next paying project, make some jam and probably other things if I get the chance. Yup my plate is full. 

   Anyways these pics of Meetso were taken last fall. Meetso was in a real playful mood so I thought I catch some of his funny antics mostly playing among the blue wisteria. 

                                    

Batting some ribbon among the blue wisteria.^

 Meetso spots a morning dove near the water fall for the small koi pond. ^

 Meetso sniffing around for mice. Such a poser. ^

 Meetso looking down at the world. My favorite pic. I just love the colours and the pose. ^

 Looking all cute. ^

 Play with me, if you dare!.........^

 NahNah!......^

 Pekaboooooo!........^

  Last night he caught his forth bunny. Bad kitty! Although I admire his excellent hunting skills and it’s a great use for catching pests such as mice, squirrels and rats I would really love it if he leave the bunnies alone. Btw I usually catch those bunnies and let them go in a neighbors yard near a park when Meetso is not looking.