Ian P 🇨🇦

Great to connect!
For me, freshwater fisheries at UK Liverpool Uni, then fish pathology first at Yorkshire Water then Severn-Trent. Then Alberta Fish & Wildlife, Red Deer, before switching careers that allowed retirement to Vancouver Island. Two of three kids still in Edmonton. Cheers!
Ian Pocock

Just found your posts - excellent! And a fish guy to boot, even better!

Three tiny bushtits (Psaltriparus minimus) hanging at various angles from a suet feeder to get at the last remaining fragments

Chestnut-backed chickadee (Poecile rufescens) in a less photographed pose on the feeder showing its (ahem) bum Can you say bum on bluesky? Guess we'll fing out!

Nothing quite like a feeder to generate #birdsatoddangles especially when it's nearly empty - bushtits obliging for #birdsoftheday
Plus a bonus message for all anti-democracy goons from a chestnut-backed chickadee...

I'm certainly no expert, but sounds like a Swainson's thrush to me. We don't get the veery on #VancouverIsland but I have heard them up in the mountains
Do get another opinion though!!

Wow!

For me, getting outside - sometimes quietly in nature, other times taking a chance to talk to strangers when out and about. Breaking this last barrier is key imo - more difficult in the city environment, but worth the effort in the long run. And don't forget to smile!

Close up of a chestnut-backed chickadee (Poecile rufescens) on the side of bird feeder loaded with chopped sunflower seeds. The grey wing primary and tail feathers contrast with the chestnut back, white neck and black cap. Very tolerant, they allowed me to take this photo with a smartphone from 50 cm away. The presence of food is key: it's definitely 'cupboard love'!

Diplomatic relations resumed with #Birds now that the seed embargo is lifted
First to show up are the chestnut-backed chickadees

a man in armor is standing in front of a window Alt: Knight in armor is standing in front of a window looking frustrated and hoping fair Sweetie is out of halberd range

Meanwhile... (not a #bird)
Sweetie Indoors informs her rain-soaked Knight that the robotic vacuum has gone off line.
Gadzooks fair Sweetie, dost thou forget how to deploy the dustpan & broom?
I shall attend thy wishes for a network reset as soon as I have the composter installed safe within the keep

Awww!

Recently rejoining battle in the castle keep, there is nary a 🪶 in sight. Have they forsaken me for pastures anew? It seems a knight that deserts his feeder duties is not worthy of allegiace. Was it #CupboardLove all along?

A dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis) on the bird feeder helping themselves to sunflower seed - the tree behind is a variety of evergreen magnolia

A spotted towhee (Pipilo maculatus) on the ground below the feeder, waiting for the sunflower seed chips dropped by the smaller birds above that can successfully land on the narrow perch of the feeder

And in today's episode of 🪶 #UpstairsDownstairs ...
A dark-eyed junco helping distribute sunflower seed to the spotted towhee waiting below

Dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis) sitting on our deck railing with a backdrop of garden trees - looking none too happy that the feeders are empty! Various species come and sit on the railing in full view to 'remind' us to get busy with the sunflower seed

Crimson leaves of a dwarf weeping Japanese maple (Acer sp.) - the brightest red of any autumn leaves around here!

🪶 No chance of an egret around here!
Have a dark-eyed junco instead, and a splash of autumn colour
Once it gets light I will try and get another bird photo by our feeder - fox sparrow in my sights!

Bet that feels better...

Red-breasted nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) enjoying chopped sunflower seed on a backyard bird feeder. Quite tolerant of humans (with food!) - this one was about 1.5 m from me and arrives with a nasal "honk" to warn me of nuthatch incoming!

A cluster of tiny bushtits (Psaltriparus minimus) huddled together on a dowel close under the soffit of our covered deck, taking shelter from a winter storm. So vulnerable, so cute!

I see your Eurasian nuthatch, and I raise you one red-breasted nuthatch...
No great tits on #VancouverIsland of course, but I hope the clump of bushtits sheltering from a winter storm gets a sympathy vote
#birds are just amazing!

A slightly damp juvenile golden-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla) waiting in the veggie patch for brunch of chopped sunflower - one of at least three young of the year that hatched in our yard

A grumpy "chitting" Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna) sitting in the red, gold and green autumn leaves of our Persian ironwood tree (Parrotia persica) - grumpy because... well, who knows!

And in today's slightly damp collection of 🪶 we have a golden-crowned sparrow and a scolding Anna's hummingbird

Hipocrisy us the stock-in-trade of politicians that don't give a flying f...
Apparently a global attribute

Very nice photo - I love Olympus gear too but most of mine are taken with the smartphone now... sigh
🪶 Here's a photo of a dazed brown creeper from my part of the world #VancouverIsland - happy to report that it recovered after its collision with our window

Not today's, but if we need #birds in the sun will these fine friendly fellows do?? They waddle over and say 'hi' every time we walk past

Not a bird! Likely the melanistic morph of the invasive eastern grey squirrel which was introduced to Vancouver Island in the 1960s

Tentatively identified as a song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) - please reply if you believe this ID to be incorrect- thanks! Note the spotted towhee (Pipilo maculatus) waiting on the rock behind for their turn at the feeder

Believed to be a juvenile golden-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla)

Female downy woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) playing hard to get today behind the feeder canopy, plus moving sparrow on the other side

And today's #BirdOfTheDay is a...
Hey! Wait a minute, that's not your food...
Oh well, at least the birds had their turn:
downy woodpecker, golden-crowned sparrow, song sparrow (I believe) and a spotted towhee. No sun today though in this temperate rain forest on #VancouverIsland

Thank you - that would be great! I may be long in the tooth but I'm a newbie at all this!! Happy birding!

@breadtopia.bsky.social
Had first go at your recent pain de campagne recipe (25% red fife, 5% rye 75% hydration) - very nice loaf, but I need to work a bit more on my dough tension: a bit of flop-bot!

Totally with you on that one - just back from shopping under the convenient cover of Halloween supplies ;-)

Haha - yeah, dry suits can be the worst shrinkers! I nearly suffocated struggling to get into my old Northern Diver neoprene dry suit.
Brilliant piece of kit for UK diving all those years ago - I'll never forget sitting on the bottom off Skomer Island watching the razorbills swimming by!

Am I right in thinking in some US states that would be considered murder?

A chestnut-backed chickadee (Poecile rufescens) enjoying chopped sunflower seed at a backyard feeder, North Cowichan, Vancouver Island. Photo taken with a smartphone about 1.5 m away - cropped but otherwise unedited

The chestnut-backed chickadee is my #BirdOfTheDay today - one of 20+ visiting our backyard on #VancouverIsland

On the other side of the continent, the red-winged blackbirds have just arrived in our community on Vancouver Island for the winter - ain't nature wonderful? And noisy haha!

We love your TV programs Lucy - and thank you #KnowledgeNetwork here in BC for showing them!

This takes me back to my youth: most welcome cuppa ever was a mug of sweet milky tea at a Yorkshire café after a hard day hiking in the Dales against the horizontal rain...

@vancouveraquarium.bsky.social
Another great visit to your wonderful aquarium - thank you for all your hard work! If I lived closer I would be on your volunteer list for sure!

Just discovered #BirdOfTheDay - here's a favourite: red-breasted nuthatch #Birds enjoying sunflower seeds against a magnolia backdrop - go to love #VancouverIsland