January Photo Scavenger Hunt

1.  Something new

Pussy Willows with new furry catkins :)

2.  Landscape

Taken on a bright sunny day this month, a bit of everything included in this landscape.

3.  Words

Walking down a trail, I noticed a handmade sign beside a pile of branches!

4.  Cold

The sight of this Trumpeter Swan entering the water reminded me of the stance that might be taken as cold water is about to come in contact with the lower body!

5.  Bottle

Here comes the hummingbird with its tongue out ready to feed from the nectar in the feeder bottle ~

6.  Up high

Since this month was fairly mild,  I took many opportunities to get outside, sharing the blue sky weather with wisps of clouds.  I was wondering if the cloud at the top right would be considered a Lenticular cloud.

Also, the Pileated woodpecker flew away after carving my tree, landing up high on a utility pole.

7.  Fridge

Here's is a very exciting photo of two containers of cheese and a jar of cranberry orange sauce on a shelf in my fridge.

8.  Texture

A log with tufts of moss and a lichen or two ~ oh, and a nail...

9.  Hidden

A dilapidated boat hidden amongst the bushes ~  I wonder if Benjamin Daniel used it for a forest fort??

10.  Blue

Along with the blue sky, and blue stellar jays shown in my previous post, I also spotted some blue berries on a bush.  Unfortunately, I don't know the name of the bush, but someone may be able to enlighten me.

 
11.  Big

Finally I was able to take a photo of the big Husky that lives across the street. The dog takes up the majority of the pick-up truck bed.  Whenever the Husky hears a siren from a police car or firetruck, he howls like this... (a youtube video of another Husky howling at a siren).  The rest of the time, he's very quiet :)

12.  Whatever

This photo came as a pleasant surprise.  I was trying to take a photo of the hummingbird in the bush just outside the front door like this:

However, in one shot, the camera focused on the Christmas ornament that was still hanging outside on the branch ~ and this is what appeared when I downloaded my photos ~

So that's it for January photos  ~ to see more selections, please click on this link, and once again thanks to Made with Love, who just returned from Hawaii!...for hosting these monthly challenges.

Soon...

...it will be the end of January and time for the monthly Scavenger Hunt... which I have already prepared, but thought I'd better post some other January photos, that either didn't match the categories, or that didn't make the cut!  

First a Merganser ~ a perky looking little cutie.

A bright-eyed Killdeer sharing the shoreline with Black Turnstones.

A  face peering out of the pebbles and rocks :)

A panorama taken from a point of land on a mild and pleasant January day ~

A large log and its reflection at the edge of a waterway ~

and a view of the mountain as the mist rolls in as the sun sets.

Thanks for dropping by :)

Onward and Upward

Check out the latest from Snowbird's Garden and Wildlife to see what inspired me to this:

PPD Award

If you read Flighty's Plot blog, you may remember his Plot A-Z posts.  After each post, I have given him an Award, befitting ( I like to think) of the particular alphabetical post.

To carry on with this longstanding  tradition ;), I hereby present Flighty with the "Pineapple Pipe Dream Award", which includes a P...oem.

Round 2

Back again to entertain ~ although I'm not sure the tree is thrilled about the attention.

A red headed visitor ~

The Pileated Woodpeckers were back today.  Good to see a splash of red in the fog.  I started taking photos through the front window and door, before realizing I should set up the tripod and get a video.  Well, with 'faffing' around with attaching the camera and raising and lowering the tripod's legs and finally getting it set up, I was surprised to see the woodpecker still on the tree.  Unfortunately, the part under the attachment wasn't screwed in tight enough and the camera was a bit wobbly.  However I have combined some photos in the video to show you what Mrs. W was up to.

First a still photo ~

Notice in the video that the woodpecker is taking a drink out of the cup on top of the hummingbird feeder.  This cup is filled with water to deter ants from climbing down and clogging up the feeder holes as they attempt to gorge themselves on nectar.  And now I have seen the cup used as a water source for birds :)  I bought the red cup and then fashioned something similar out of a small plastic pudding cup, a cork, a screw and a couple of hooks for the hummingbird feeder in the back.  It's held up well!  On to the video:

In a fog...

Hummingbird on a Branch

It was a wet, blustery day and a little Anna's Hummingbird found respite on a branch in my Winter Jasmine bush.  It perched there for so long, I finally attached my camera to a tripod and set it up at the window in the front door.  Unfortunately, the bird had its back to the window, but you can see its little head moving around, its tongue flicking in and out, and also its tiny feathers fluttering in the breeze.  The bird stayed steady, even when the big gusts rocked the branch.  Although not full of action, the video is steady, also (yay, tripod)!

Later I saw the hummingbird supping on the yellow Winter Jasmine flowers that are blooming on the same bush.  I was frantically trying to point the camera to catch the action, but the tripod became more of a hindrance than a help at this point.  This is the best shot I was able to take:

It was a good day to dismantle the Christmas tree, ornaments, lights, etc. and store them away.  I also vacuumed and washed the kitchen floor again ;)  Exciting, eh?

From bad to verse, to birds

Moving on from yesterday's experience, today there was an influx of birds in the front garden!  I took photos through the front window and captured some visitors. 

Northern Flickers are large woodpecker-type birds that spend much of their time on the ground pecking at ants and bugs.  This male (red moustache) decided to check out the bird feeder

A female Northern Flicker followed suit (or maybe that should be suet ;))  Actually, she seemed to prefer the seed container ~ not quite as messy on the beak, perhaps?

Three in a tree ~

The female Northern Flicker is joined by a Steller's Jay and a starling, I think.

All of these large birds didn't seem to intimidate the little hummingbird that continued to zoom in to its feeder.  Do you see a little bit of its tongue sticking out?

There were many smaller birds scratching about, including this little sparrow.

Quite dull and overcast today but at least it is a few degrees above zero and no snow is expected.  Other areas close by and on the mainland are in for a winter storm.

Edit to add: 

Hey...you nearly forgot to include my mate!

Slick!