The other couple of older threads are buried, so I’ll start a new one.
Robins were seen en-masse the day prior to the last blast of winter. Two different sunny hillsides here in town were covered with them. Now this morning the house finches have apparently braved the recent snow and are thick at the feeders…. camera shy too. They definitely are not accustomed to people being around yet, which has me believing that they are newcomers from the south.
On a sour note, I caught absolute hell yesterday from some women walking past the house and seeing me tending to the feeders. Bird flu was their bent. I told them the feeders were there to attract squirrels for my target practice, which got another round of hatred flying but they finally moved on. Hopefully they will find another route for their campaign.
The creek and river behind us have blown wide open now and as a rule the red-winged blackbirds show up soon after they open up so I’ve been watching.
Four species of woodpeckers have really stepped up the activity here: Downy, Hairy, Red-Breasted and Piliated. I rendered enough deer fat last fall to make about 20 pounds of suet/peanut butter that I fill holes in a birch log and to make several cakes for wire cages. I have enough left of that suet to fill the log one more time and that’ll likely be by Sunday at the rate these woodies are hitting the log. That’s a lot of suet for a mild winter. The woodpeckers are all paired up now.
Chickadees and standard Nuthatches and a bazillion Gold Finches are still hitting the seed along with the usual Sparrows, Mourning doves, and the few Robins that over-wintered. Red Breasted Nuthatches I think have moved north already as I haven’t seen one in a couple weeks. I did see a few stray Juncos during this last storm but for the most part I think they too have shifted north.
Ducks have begun to pair up now and the geese too are getting buddied up.
Most all of my feeders are now on long thin wires or long thin rods and are just about squirrel proof. I still see a daring hairball try to traverse the rods or wires only to fall off. The squirrels and rabbits seem content though to keep the yard free of dropped seed and chaff. Rabbits come at night and in the morning there isn’t a sunflower hull anywhere. I try hard to keep both critter’s numbers down but’ I need to try harder I see.
That’s about it for a bird report on my end. Once this white crap goes away I think we’ll start seeing quite a few different birds and we warm up a little. One more big blow maybe next weekend and with luck we’ll be seeing those newcomers.
