BIRD BRAINS....

Over the past 19 years (gasp, YES, we've been in Campbell River, B.C. for that long!) these are some of the birds visiting my back yard.  I have a great view of the mountains, the rainforest, valley, and these birds ...

Black headed Grosbeak

"I would like to paint the way a bird sings...:" -Claude Monet

Nest gathering

"By coming and going , a bird weaves is nest.." -Ashanti

Mr. and Mrs. Finch

"You are a bird in flight, searching the skies for dreams..." 

                                                                                                                 -Haruki Murakami

White crowned Sparrow

"Tomorrow the birds will sing. Be brave. Face life..."

                         - Charlie Chaplin

Dove grey, always together...

"After the sharp-eyed Jay and the roaring Lion, peace will come on dove's gentle wing..." -Erin Hunter

Stellar Jay

"Nothing but the silence of the tree, and then he is gone.." -Mary Oliver

Annas Hum Hum

"Powered by its own life and its own motivation..." -Abdul Kalam

Flicker

"The birds of heavens dwell in the trees.." - Psalm 104:12

Grackles "Cowbirds"

"If birds glide for long periods of time, then why can't I?"_Orville Wright

Pileated Woodpecker

"A woodpecker's drilling Echoes to the mountain clouds.."

                                                   -Dakotsu lida

Towhee

"I like the idea of taking off like a bird...." -Florence Welch

baby sparrow, I believe...

"Are you my mother?" -P.D. Eastman

Varied Thrush

"Every spring I hear the Thrush singing in the glowing woods...." - Mary Oliver

Robin red breast

"The robin flew from his swinging spray of ivy on to the top of the wall and he opened his beak and sang a loud, lovely trill, merely to show off." -F. Hodgson Burnett

American goldfinch

"Faith without works is like a bird without wings; though she may hop with her companions on earth, yet she will never fly with them to heaven."-Francis Beaumont

Cooper's Hawk

"Only in silence the word, only in dark the light, bright the hawk's flight on empty sky..." -Ursula K. LeGuin

                     FLY...............

Pine Siskins

"I wake up every morning, free as a bird..." - Ashley Cole

Rufous Hum Hum

"I'm youth. I'm Joy..." - James M. Barrie


                                                          Eagles

“The Eagle does not escape the storm. The Eagle simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It spreads its mighty wings and rises on the winds that bring the storm.” – Jack White

Photographs 2025 All photos taken in Campbell River, B.C.
 

NESTING EAGLES at WILLOWPOINT

"Eagle's flight of loneliness soars so high around its sigh, no more alone in the sky. Other birds remain away, clouds pass by between the shrouds of life and sun rays die...."-Munia Khan

 There is nothing like watching the eagles....

 Especially when they call to each other......

 As they sit over their huge nest in the gigantic trees down near the Passage in Campbell River. They start prepping the next together  in late December. It becomes a bonding ritual for the pair.

 My vantage point was near this bench, way from their actual home.

 And I could hear them calling with their dinosaur calls.

 maybe talking to their babies in the nest, or the other eagles perched high. 

 "Walk with wolves. run with lions. SOAR with eagles...."
                         -Matshona Dhliwayo

 Their calls carry across the sand. Sounding somewhat like a Velociraptor from Jurassic Park.... 

 And they don't stop calling. ...

 The sun and clouds wash low into the horizon and still the eagles  call ..

 Eagles can live a long time, into their thirties in the wild. In Sanctuaries they can live p to 48 years. 

When they catch prey in their talons, they will use their beaks to clip the spinal cord of prey.

 Usually they lay two eggs between March 25 and May 1st in B.C. approximately.

 that means those babies are almost here....or could be already....the way the parents were chorusing.....

 Eagles bond together. Mate for life.If one dies the other will find another partner in the same territory. And they cycle continues on...

"The eagle only knows how high it can fly when it spreads its wings....." -Matshona Dhliwayo

 Photographs 2020

Photos taken at Willowpoint, in Campbell River, B.C., 
                          Discovery passage

BIRDS....

 "She decided to free herself, dance into the wind,create a new language. And the birds fluttered around her,writing "yes" in the sky...." - Monique Duval

 Seasons are changing. The birds have started gathering again . A Flicker and his mate with rose coloured cap...

 Stellar Jays eating peanuts like they're going out of style

 The beautiful female Flicker. I have never seen her before. 

 And the male. Stuffing himself with suet without sharing any with  her!

 "In order to see birds it is necessary to become part of the silence..." -Robert Lynd

 The orange flushed Varied Thrush. Looks like a chubby robin.

 The eagle on the power poles.

 "When the Sun of compassion arises darkness evaporates and the singing birds come from nowhere...." -Amit Ray

 And the Thrush.............

 Warbles...

 Purple Finch.

 And the Flicker shoves in  as much suet as possible 

 While the female waits her turn.

 Eventually she kicked him out. 

 "Somewhere a bird sang. Its chant hanging plaintive and melancholy in the air..." -Jane Johnson

 And off they flew. Into the dusk.

 While the Jays splashed in the bath....

 Ate some seeds and wondered where all the peanuts had gone. Were more coming?

 "Birds are the eyes of heaven....." -― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

 Towehee

Photographs 2020

Spencer