Lmst

The focus is really bad here 😅 but I was able to walk to the magnolia for the first time this year!! We'll have many flowers again during the spring 😍

#SKyard

A small magnolia tree (a few feet high), with multiple fuzzy green buds on naked branches. The ground is so covered in some ice and lots of leaves

@stephanie #SKyard expansion incoming? 😆

The caged tube feeder is always the most popular with the American goldfinches 💜

(Phone 📸)

#SKyard

A caged feeder filled with seeds. Two goldfinches are on different feeding ports while one bird is perched outside the cage.

The (Canadian!) suet and seed balls are pretty popular this week

(Just some phone pictures)

#SKyard

A female downy woodpecker on a treat feeder, beside a big suet ball with some seeds in it. She's looking to in between two bites

A chickadee perched on a bowl containing a suet ball

The American goldfinch's favourite spot! Tall stems of native plants!

#SKyard #BirdPhotography

A dark yellow goldfinch, with black pattern on the wings, perched sideways on the stem of a coneflower. They're surrounded by old flowers, now going to seed

Look at this perfectly round junco!! :face_holding_back_tears: Just stayed there for me for so long!

#SKyard #BirdPhotography

I was missing our New England asters from the old house this fall and thought that maybe I'd buy some next year.

Well, the god of volunteer plants heard me! Guess we're at five different species of native asters now 😍

#SKyard

Two different styles of asters. The top one has darker purple petals that are thin and long. At the bottom are lilac blooms (smooth blue asters)

Fly, fly little butterfly milkweed seeds 🍃

#SKyard #NativePlants

A butterfly milkweed seed pod, burst open, showing little black seeds in some white "floss" to help them spread with the wind. It's surrounded by more pods and leaves. The sun is shining from the top left corner

He's blurry, but look at how happy this little cutie is!!

One of our white-throated sparrows

#SKyard

A puffed up little bird, white chest, with brown wings, a big white patch on his throat and little yellow eyebrows, his beak open, and sun reflecting in his eye. His on a fence with fall coloured leaves behind him

So much attitude in such a small bird 😄

I *think* this is one of the new kids from this summer; her colours are quite tame

Love seeing our female cardinals more often during the fall! They're even using the feeder a lot (it's usually the males who use it more)

#SKyard

A female cardinal, mostly brown, with a pinkish beak and her crest up, beak open in a scream. She's sitting on a fence, with fall coloured leaves in the background

Pigeons are silly 😆

(This is the weighted feeder I often talk about! Still defeating the squirrels!)

#SKyard

A rock pigeon on top of a bird feeder, looking to the side

Well the asters definitely took over 💜

#SKyard #Bloomscrolling #NativePlants

A huge bush full of little lilac flowers

Fall blooms (all new from this year)

White aster (very rare in the wild now; and happy in the shade!)
Snakeroot (also in the shaded zone)
Dogtooth Daisy

#SKyard #Bloomscrolling #NativePlants

Little white aster flowers (one incomplete row of thin and long petals) in a smallish plant

A cluster of white fluffy and dense white flowers next to a garage. A bumblebee is on the flowers

A close-up of another cluster of snakeroot blooms, with smoother bumblebee

A tiny plant with dozens of buds. A couple are open, a button-like center with bright yellow petals. A bumblebee is on the middle of a bloom

Spotted beebalm is so beautiful (and bumblebees love it)

#SKyard #Bloomscrolling #NativePlants

Two blooms, one shorter than the other, in front of each other. The blooms are multi tiered, and very pale pink petals and purple-spotted yellow spikes

A close-up of a different bloom, which is pretty tall, and green spikes at the top

The butterfly milkweed is always very popular! Common Eastern bumblebee and striped sweat bee 🐝

#SKyard #NativePlants #pollinators

A big black and yellow bumblebee on a cluster of bright orange flowers, surrounded by thin and long green leaves

A smaller bee with a green head on a big cluster of orange flowers

These are bad pictures, but I thought I would still share them because they really show how *tiny* ruby-throated hummingbirds are! Also it was the first time that she sat on the cables for so long (at least a few minutes)

#SKyard