On January 1 we took part in a bird count in Mahone Bay with Kevin, an experienced birder from the Valley. He recommended a movie called “The Big Year” with Owen Wilson and Steve Martin which we watched that night. The kids weren’t interested in watching with us, but it was so good that I … Continue reading
Filed under Birds …
The iNaturalist app
At the beginning of April we downloaded the iNaturalist app on my phone and have been slowly but steadily uploading our nature observations. (The website is much easier to browse through: iNaturalist.ca) So far, we’ve uploaded 57 plants and animals. Our “finds” include salamanders and spiders, lichen and fungi, trees and shrubs, beetles and bees… … Continue reading
Bird Nest Bonanza!
During COVID-19 lockdown we’ve spotted more bird nests in the garden than at any time in the previous 10 years. Here they are — in order of discovery (all spotted within a month from mid-April to mid-May, 2020): Cardinal nest on the way into the wood was the first nest of the year. She laid … Continue reading
Spring in Quarantine
March 22, 2020: The world has been rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic and we’ve been in quarantine for a week since Matt came home from a work trip overseas. Today the premier announced all provincial parks and all beaches are now closed and people will be fined $1000 for violating the social distancing laws. We … Continue reading
Mild Winter of 2019/2020 & Seals in February
It’s only February 23 but temperatures are close to 10° C today and the sun is shining. The robins were out in full force yesterday — around 15 of them — grazing on the lawn. And today we watched a pair of nuthatches on the suet bird feeder outside the kitchen window. It feels like … Continue reading
A soggy spring
It was a cold, wet spring on the whole (and an especially wet May) and everything was a week or two late as a result. April 21, 2019, saw the first few pink blooms open on the magnolia, the first lilac buds and the rhubarb shoots just poking through. May 8 we spotted our first … Continue reading
Summer loving
This year, 2018, will go down in Hall family history as the summer of broody robins. Back-to-back-to-back-to-back broods. It’s July 1 and we are on the third round of egg-laying already! Another short 5-day break between broods, and we are on batch #3 of the summer. We couldn’t believe it when we saw the new … Continue reading
Spring round-up 2018
Here are a few of my favourite “finds” this spring in Nova Scotia. Here’s a painted turtle laying her eggs on the side of the Dynamite Trail — photographed by a friend, Callen, who spotted her while we were out for an evening bike ride at the end of May near Oakland Commons Pond. They … Continue reading
Eggs of common Nova Scotia birds
The top three birds found in Nova Scotia are red-winged blackbirds, American robins and European starlings. I was curious what the nests and eggs looked like of these and other common garden birds, so I collected some images. Blue is a common theme: check out all these shades of blue! And speckles. But my favourites … Continue reading
Back-to-back robin broods!
The American robins have returned to their favourite nest just outside our back door. Although everything I’ve read says that robins build a new nest for every new brood, this is not the case at Casa Hall. They come back time and again to the same nest, and don’t appear to make any upgrades or … Continue reading
witches whiskers 