Robins Ice Fishing

Robin Ice Fishing with Stickleback

      We have already survived a couple weeks of temperatures approaching -35 this winter but we are now closer to average; this morning -14c. American robins, are very common birds hopping around our landscape in summer but unusual here around the first of February. Instead of hopping across our rain-soaked lawns listening for earthworms in summer, there are several now hopping on the ice of a storm-water lake in Edmonton picking tiny stickleback fish from shallow open water along the shoreline. Also joining the fishing derby are a few magpies.
     Red squirrels are watching from the tops of naked tamarack trees as they feed on new buds and protest my intrusion.

Red Squirrel Chattering Between Bites in a Tamarack Tree

     I am always pleasantly surprised when I can go for a walk in our beautiful city parks and am able to watch and photograph wildlife of surprising nature. A couple nights ago while driving home around midnight a coyote watched my cautious approach then jaywalked behind me.
     Last week my hawk-eyed wife spotted an unusual white bird sitting on a snow-covered wooden fence. I had to do a doughnut and drive back for a second look. A leucistic magpie was enjoying a meal with a more familiar colored black and white magpie. After showing this photo to smarter people than I am, they told me that it could be called an "Imperfect Albino" because it does not have pink eyes. It does have pinkish colored beak and feet as well as very white feathers. Apparently it would require a DNA analysis to be sure if it is an albino 100%.

Leucistic Magpie

     If I'm learning anything and having it pounded into my thick skull is to be sure to pack a camera with me wherever I go. We never know when another of Mother Nature's miracles will spring upon us.