Nature Friday – Backyard Birds – Part 2

Hi everyone! It’s Cindy here. A couple of weeks ago I showed you some pictures of the birds that were feeding on common buckthorn berries in our yard. I’ve finally processed the videos I took and wanted to show you just how much action there was.

American Robins & European Starlings in Common Buckthorn

The Common Buckthorn species is naturalized and invasive in parts of North America. We didn’t realize this tree was growing in our garden for a few years because its form and leaves are very similar to the Miss Kim lilacs that it’s growing near. When it finally grew taller we could see that it was an introduced tree. Charlie did some research to figure out just what it was.

The birds gobbled up the plentiful berries.

According to Wikipedia:

The seeds and leaves are mildly poisonous for humans and most other animals, but are readily eaten by birds, who disperse the seeds in their droppings. The toxins cause stomach cramps and laxative effects that may function in seed dispersal.

We would like to remove this tree but it’s behind a few shrubs that make it difficult to get to. This tree was full of berries before this flock descended on it. Here is a video of some of the action.

If you can’t see the video you can go here to view it.

As you could see by the end of the video there were very few berries left on the tree and ultimately there were no berries left.

There are very few berries left at this point.

It is very rare to see so many American Robins in January but some are more hardy and stick around all winter although we’ve never see a flock this large before. It was a treat to get to see all the different colorings from the very dark orange to the paler looking ones. I hope you enjoyed seeing them too.

Join the Nature Friday Blog Hop

We are joining the LLB Gang for their Nature Friday Blog Hop. You should pop over to their blog to see all the other posts.

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Nature Friday – Wet & Wild Webster Park Sunset

Hi everyone! It’s Cindy here. This past Tuesday the weather looked good to catch a nice sunset on Lake Ontario at Webster Park so Charlie and I headed up there to take a look. Since December 1st the parking lot closest to the shore has been closed but there is room at the top of the driveway for a couple of cars to park there. So far we’ve been lucky to be able to park there and this time, for the first time since we could remember, there was nobody else in this area of the park. Usually there are always a few fishermen but thanks to the high waves and cold temps (it was about 30°F with a stiff wind) they stayed away! (Don’t forget to click on the pictures to see a bigger view)

The waves were crashing against the break wall

I’ve been waiting for a day just like this to try to capture the waves as they crash into the break wall. I set my camera on a tripod with my camera about 2 feet above the ground so it would be about eye level with the waves.

A large wave crests close to the wall.

In order to freeze the water in the air I set my aperture at f6.4, and my ISO at 1600 to achieve a shutter speed between 1/800th to 1/1000th of a second. Since you can’t really anticipate the exact moment when the perfect wave crash will occur I also set my camera to take high speed burst pictures (15 frames per second). In the 20 or so minutes I was taking pictures I managed to shoot about 700 pictures!

The sunset was the perfect background for the crashing waves

Here is a little video of the wave action that day.

If you can’t see the video you can go here to view it.

Charlie captured this picture of the pier while I was shooting the crashing waves

I hope you enjoyed a different view of Lake Ontario at Webster Park this week.

Join the Nature Friday Blog Hop

We are joining the LLB Gang for their Nature Friday Blog Hop. You should pop over to their blog to see all the other posts.

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Selfie Sunday

Hi everyone. It’s Millie and Walter here. Recently we had a photo shoot in the living room with our dad.

Do you have any treats on you dad?

I sure hope he does.

Here is a video of our modeling session where you can see if our dad came through with those treats.

If you can’t see the video you can go here to view it.

This is a great shot of me dad.

I think this is a great portrait of me too.

We hope you liked our selfies and seeing how they were taken and we hope you are enjoying your Sunday too.

We’re joining The Cat on My Head for their Selfie Sunday blog hop. You should check out the hop to see some of the other selfies. Thanks for stopping by.

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Nature Friday – Snow Play

Hi everyone! It’s Millie & Walter here. We know some of you don’t really like the snow but for us there’s no place we would rather be.

I like looking for buried treasure.

Here is a little video of some of our snow play fun.

If you can’t see the video you can go here to view it.

I love pouncing on Millie while she has her head under the snow.

After I do a fly by I land and relaunch.

Get ready Millie…

…here I come again!

We just love playing in the snow and are happy that today we got a lot more of it. If Mother Nature brings you snow we say to embrace it and have fun playing in it.

Join the Nature Friday Blog Hop

We are joining the LLB Gang for their Nature Friday Blog Hop. You should pop over to their blog to see all the other posts.

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Movie Monday – Butterfly Buffet

Hi everyone! It’s Cindy here again. Last week I showed you some of the smaller creatures that enjoy our sedum. Today I’ll show you some butterflies that also enjoy the nectar from the sedum.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

This eastern tiger swallowtail is looking quite beat up at this point in the summer.

Giant Swallowtail Butterfly

It’s difficult to photograph the giant swallowtail as they are in constant motion. You will see what I mean in the video below.

Monarch Butterfly

This monarch butterfly had to share this sedum with some other insects.

If you can’t see the video you can go here to view it.

The butterflies have also been enjoying the Joe Pye weed, which isn’t a weed in our garden but a perennial that we planted (there is a native variety that does grow as a weed in our area too).

Monarch Butterfly enjoying the Joe Pye Weed

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the butterflies hanging around our yard.

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Wordless Wednesday – Sleeping Beauty

If you can’t see the video you can go here to view it.

Sometimes a girl just wants a little peace to sleep

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Mischief Monday – Wrestle Mania

Hi everyone! It’s Millie and Walter here. We don’t know about all of you but we have some routines that we like to stick to almost every day. After everyone has had their dinners we love to do a little wrestling in the living room. Well one day it kind of spilled over into the family room.

First we want to show you what our family room normally looks like.

View of the family room from the living room door

View of family room from back of room

Take particular notice of the location of the ottoman (with the tray on it). Now watch what happened when our living room wrestling spilled into the family room.

If you can’t see the video you can go here to view it.

There is more room for wrestling now that the ottoman is out of the way

Please ignore the dust flying in front of the camera and our crazy eyes. Mom was using her phone since it was the closest thing to her at the time.

Sorry about making all that noise while you were trying to watch your show dad. Usually we just run around the ottoman and then back into the living room but this time we just shoved it out of our way and had a great time.

Do any of you ever rearrange the furniture while you are playing?

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Mischief Monday – Bubble Wrap Fun!

Hi everyone. It’s Walter here. With all the packages that came to our house during the holidays there were lots of things in them to keep the contents from rattling around. Mom and dad always let me have the bubble wrap, if there is any, to play with.

Here is a little video to give you an idea of all the fun I have. The video is supposed to be embedded below but at the time of publishing this post it doesn’t seem to be working.

If you can’t see the video you can go here to view it.

I just love ripping all that plastic to pieces.

Don’t worry I never eat any of it. The best part is that mom has to clean it all up after I’m done.

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