Friday Morning Birding

Skip and I went out birding this morning at Thickson's Woods again. We hoped there would be more action as it has warmed up a bit and there are lots more bugs/midges/food for the birds to eat.

In the woods the ferns are almost all unfurled.

I'm not sure what fern species are used for canning fiddleheads but these could certainly qualify.

I've never tried to eat one so I won't pass judgement on how they taste.

The trilliums are also more unfurled this morning.

We think this is a wild strawberry flower.

There wasn't much to see at all in the woods. Over in the meadow the birds were a bit more active.

We saw a couple of pairs of yellow warblers.

They were very 'flitty' so it was hard to get a shot.

 By this time it was very overcast so I had to lighten a lot of my images.

The flashes of yellow made them easy to spot.

Finally, one dropped down to eye level.

A pair of grey catbirds were making their way through as well.

When they were near the box, the tree swallow stood guard, blocking the entrance.

Back home, the tulips are in full bloom. Totally by chance we have a couple of red and white ones - which could by our salute to Canada's 150th birthday. Why are they caged, you say?

Because last year, the damned rabbits bit off all the blooms and ate most of the leaves. This year, Skip got the cage over this cluster in the nick of time. As it is, the rabbits have eaten the leaves that stuck out beyond the cage.

Lots of other neighbours have tulips that haven't been touched by the rabbits. I'm not sure why we get the 'honour'.

The emerging hosta also got nibbled almost down to the ground.

So Skip put a cage over it, too. Hopefully it will grow fairly quickly and we can remove the cage.

Rabbits are very cute but VERY destructive to gardens. We have been waging war against them for years.