In the morning, just after the sun was out and striking the top of the tall cedar trees horizontally from the north-east, I took a mug of hot coffee and stepped out on my backyard garden for a few moments of quiet time, watching my vegetables and planning out a to-do list for the day.

But when I lifted the blinds and opened the glass door to the back patio, I knew I had to take my camera. Backyard was full of birds. As the sun had started warming the air, the insect population comes to life, and along with it, the insect eating birds and spider. Also, as the seed eating finches were about, since many of the wild and not so wild flowers were dropping mature seeds on the ground or floating in the air. A flash of yellow streaked by and I notice gold finches flitting about – not so common a site in my backyard.

By the time I got a camera with a long lens on it, the gold finch was nowhere to be found. However, there were a few hummingbirds flying wildly about, often chasing each other and even zipping my me, where I could hear the whirring of their wings. These experts of aerial acrobatics have been a daily and near constant visitor to my backyard, not just for the flowers, including some fuchsia in pots kept specifically for these birds.

Clicking on these birds were not easy since they were so fidgety. But I had gotten a few pictures of it hovering under a feeder a few days ago. It reminded me of the slow motion video I got of an Anna’s hummingbird weathering out a gentle snow fall, which looked even more gentle in the slow motion video.

Hummingbird during snowfall

Back to the present, I had a northern flicker sitting on a wooden power line post on my neighbour’s property. This guy, apart from drumming on wood and bark to pry out grubs inside the wood, had taken to drumming on metallic objects. It was not looking fr food, but rather, advertising itself for a potential mate. Since drumming on metal produced a far louder and ominous noise racket, it hope t convince a potential partner, that this was a male that would be more than able to provide for the family and should be considered a good catch.

Meanwhile, above me, a violet green swallow sat on a wire and pruned itself leisurely. Looking at it from its underside, it is not easy to figure out what kind of a swallow it is, or why it is called violet green. However, the bird was constantly moving and twisting around, trying to clean out and rearrange its feathers, so I could spend time on on clicking it from different views. This bird has both violet on its rump and brilliant green on its back.

 

The swallow and hummingbirds were of course not the only visitors. I had the more reliable jackrabbit that was a near constant visitor to my backyard.

Then there were the constant whirring of bee population visiting the numerous yellow flowers of the Cucubrita family – that is pumpkin, various squash, gourd and cucumber.

Apart from the perennial chickadees, we also were having another bunch that had appeared of late – a few of the siskin family. I could see them sitting on a pine tree or even the roof of my garden shed. American robins kept watching out for early worms. House finches roamed by deck occasionally.

A collared dove sat on another part of the overhead wire, and watched me serenely while all this was going on.

Come to think of it, I had lost my bird watching group on account of covid vaccine. But thankfully, the birds had not abandoned me, In fact, they were coming home, right in my own backyard. Fancy that.

I finished my coffee, set the camera down on a chair, and opened the water to water the plants. Today I was going to sow late season seeds – turnips and beet, on a new bed that got a fresh layer of wood, twigs and mowed lawn grass and then a top layer of soil and compost. Some of the home made fertiliser came from powdered egg shells, while others came from worm compost castings and worm compost tea, as well as recycled organic matter.

Talking about worm composting, I lost my stock when I was in India for two years till 2019. Upon return back to Canada, I had to purchase a small batch for $20. That small batch, numbering abut a hundred or so two years ago, has now had a huge population explosion, expanding from my first bin to a second bin and numbering several thousand. These fast compost producing red wiggler worms are outnumbering themselves beyond my needs. So, should anyone wish to buy some of these wonder creatures at half price, let me know. I do not need the small cash, but giving it free often results in insincere people grabbing some and letting them go to waste.

Anyhow, time to head back indoor, watch the final soccer match between Italy and England for the Euro2020 cup, and then fish out my turnip and beet seeds, and perhaps a bit of the carrots too, and head back out again once the sun has passed its hottest daily phase and begun to lose some of its sting.

That was my todays story, of backyard visitors, mostly birds. Like I said – grow food, not lawns. You will be amazed how the life around you begins to change. It is good for the soul and for the health. Good for the pocket too. Growing your own food is like printing your own money. Think about that.