Red-breasted sap sucker

 I was down at my friends Brendan and Grace's when we heard this sound. Nobody knew what it was. To me it sounded somewhere between a cat and a baby crying. Someone suggested maybe it was a bird. Their daughter Mary said it was and pointed up a tree. After a bit we heard it again and heard something pounding on a birch tree. Mystery solved. We spotted this red-breasted sap sucker. My bird book says these guys are shy birds. There was nothing shy about this one. He let us watch him from less than 10 feet away. Just going about his business. Every once in awhile he would fly away but a few minutes later he was right back where he was pounding on the birch tree.

On the town

 The first photo is a spruse grouse the second is a ruffled grouse. I'd say they are males all decked out and looking for the ladies

My back yard

These ruffus humming birds are around every year. I could and do spend hours watching them.

                                           female ruffus humming bird

                                                    Male ruffus humming bird

                                            Male and female purple finch

                                                                male purple finch

                                                      White crowned sparrow

                                                 Red breasted nut hatch

                                                 Black-capped chickadee

                                              

This little guy has been around since I first moved here. He is lots of fun to watch. I put peanuts out for hum and some days he has a heck of a time keeping the birds away from them. He puts on lots of mile running up the trees to chase them away. The birds just flit to another tree. The squirrel then runs down his tree and up the other one and the birds just jump back and off the squirrel goes again. Some times this goes on for an hour. Great fun.

                                                  male evening grosbeak

                                                 female and male evening grosbeak

Black bear that wanted his photo taken

I have seen a few bears this year But they take off as soon as they see me. This one hung around for a few minutes. Its always nice when they want their photos taken. This one was on the road when I first seen him. He walked off into the bush. Then stopped and watched me. I walked a few feet into the bush because lots of times they will stop and look back as this one did. He never showed any signs that he was upset with me being there. So I was outside his personal space. He just watched for a few minutes, as I did. Then wandered off.