Birds!

Listening to and seeing birds offers proven mental health benefits, reducing anxiety, stress, and paranoia while enhancing mood.

In early February, I put up a bird feeder that I got for my birthday - it’s one of those ones that has a camera in it so you can login and watch the birds dig through the seeds, finding the ones they like best. Every day since, there has been a feeding frenzy of redpolls, red breasted nuthatches, chickadees, Steller’s jays, European starlings, magpies and the occasional squirrel.

:-(

paying my respects to the deceased

the ravens came a few hours later

We’ve also been visited by Bohemian Waxwings as they forage for the fermented fruit of our neighbors’ apple tree. Unfortunately, one such bird got a little too tipsy and crashed into our window, despite us having placed anti-bird-crash stickers to help them avoid it.

Here is a collection of all the birds that have visited our back yard this winter.

dark eyed junco

redpoll

chickadee

nuthatch

pine siskin

redpoll

Bohemian waxwing

chickadee

redpoll

a hungry redpoll waits for the feeder

a hungry redpoll

Steller’s jay

Steller’s jay - maybe with a slight bit of avian keratin disorder: the upper part of the bill extends outward a bit too far

female downy woodpecker visiting our back yard

I’ve also been going down to the Campbell Creek trail to get some steps and enjoy a bit of nature. I’ve seen lots of birds and animals, even during the coldest winter months. Here is a small collection of the birds I have seen along the trail.