Birds On Friday

When I thought about creating this blog, I wanted to add some of my few and far between birding outings. It's a seasonal thing with me...usually around this time of year I pick it up a bit just because of all the migrant birds coming through. The spring hasn't started out how I'd like weather wise so I just have to take advantage of the opportunities when they pop up. Friday was my first time out in awhile and I stayed local meaning the forest walk just down the street. It's pretty hit or miss most of the time and Friday was no exception. Nothing new for me but one spectacular new bird for the area. This Chestnut-backed Chickadee just appeared out of nowhere and gave me a chance for a couple of nice shots. This is one....

Is this my good side?

Not much else to see save for a pair of Varied Thrush. I also snapped a quick one of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. I always check them out because of the possibility of it being a Hutton's Vireo which I've seen numerous times on my walks through the forest.

Ruby

I'm thinking my next time through will yield my first warblers of the season. Can't wait.

Ash Grunwald, Whistler, April 18th 2012

Ash Grunwald is an Australian Blues artist of the one-man band variety. I saw him a few years ago at the now closed Richards's on Richards and he blew me away. I was there to see Current Swell, who had just released their third album and decided to stick around for this guy with the dreads and no band. I couldn't believe how so much awesome sound could come from one dude. Well, see for yourself...here's a youtube video of Mr. Grunwald performing on Urban Rush.

So when I saw that he was giving a free performance in Whistler on Wednesday, we (the fam and I) decided it would be a perfect excuse to skip work and school (a first for the girls) and go check this guy out. We left around 11am, the weather wasn't looking too great but oh well. We'd  been to an outdoor show in Whistler at the same time of year and it was snowing then. After arriving in Whistler, we had some lunch...

The picnic tables were too wet

After wandering the village for a bit and sampling some of the local chocolate, we headed to the show. The crowd was unsurprisingly sparse so it afforded us some good views up close.

Unfortunately, none of the videos my kids or I shot are really worth posting....sound quality wasn't great and too much camera bounce. Speaking of bounce...this guy was doing an awesome job of it until his whiskey bottle went flying out of his jacket....

He picked it up and came back for more though....even got a mention from Ash. After the show we hung out and got some stuff signed.

Awesome day, great music, everyone enjoyed. We even got a win from the Canucks that night.