Snowy Crumbly Acres

 It's been a busy weekend, but the garbage is out. I filled the feeders and it didn't seem too cold. Joe has taken the car to get our snow tires on. In the meantime, more snow! It's not worth shoveling at this point. We'll see.

The 15 cm had melted, partially. This is the view from across the street. I saw a robin there, singing. We've had them overwinter some years. It seems as if they are managing on the sumac fruit.

These are from January and February, 2016.

February, 2022:

The birds manage. It is lovely watch them. Junco:

Mourning doves:

Cardinal:

#75, who thinks he is a bird:

I like this arrangement, obviously. It captures a lot of the seeds they throw around. Plus I put cracked corn in the, which the mourning doves like. They are mostly ground feeders, but they like this arrangement.

It is great having a clean up crew!

More about the surprise birthday party tomorrow! (And the 8-hour power outage!) 

Bird watching

 I guess seeing red squirrel is just a bonus! These are from the front window. With the recent cold snap, it is just lovely watching from inside. Of course, we were nowhere near as cold as the prairies. Right, Red?! You were at - 30 C., while we were only -10 c.!

American tree sparrow:

White breasted nuthatch:

Tappy cardinal:

Junco:

Mourning doves:

Downy woodpecker:

They sure like the bird bath, although they aren't bathing in -10 C. temperatures!

I moved the Wingscapes camera, you can see the lights on it.

It captures cats, as well as birds. 

It is tricky, as you have to set the focus prior to setting it out. It's hit and miss the critters.

 

cinnamon from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

cardinal from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This cardinal is a nut! Can you see him in the tree outside the window?

He was tapping on the bathroom window, seeing his reflection and an enemy. My blue heron statues watches, but so do the cats. 

Stories of here and there

Cinnameg were sleeping in the weak sunshine, safe and cozy.

 

When I get dressed in long pants, and head out, Cinnamon likes to come with me. I missed the shot, but he was on the path looking into the forest and stood up on his haunches doing 'bear.' Then, he went back up the hill. I thought he was cold but behind me, in the forest, You Two deer were running away to escape us. They don't recognize us in the forest, or maybe they have situational awareness of us. Cinnamon ended up coming with me! 

There were deer beds! They scrape out a bed and hunker down for a few hours.

I've given up trying to videotape our Mice Friends. I did once. Maybe the camera has reached its best before date.

Here is a good story for you! 

JB bought me a trailcam for my Christmas present. I was so excited. I bought it November 4th, and gave it to JB to wrap. It's been sitting here, and I finally opened it up, and discarded all the awful packaging. (Ridiculous...) Reading the Quick Start Guide, the date and time was set. I realized it has solar power! One is supposed to plug it into the computer for 48 hours to charge her up. 

Charging it for 24 hours I was hopeful. I grabbed it as I was heading out during the 45 minutes we had sunshine on Tuesday afternoon. Turning it on... NOTHING! 

It is a Spypoint Solar-DRK Camera. Grabbing the guide, this senior, with her B.A., B.Ed., and M. Ed., had failed to read the fine print. "Batteries not included!" We begin on Plan B. Batteries inserted,  plugged into the computer. Fingers crossed. So far, nothing...

✈ ✈ ✈ ✈ ✈ ✈ ✈ ✈ ✈ ✈ ✈ ✈ ✈ ✈ ✈ ✈ ✈ ✈ ✈ ✈

The trailcams haven't done well lately. Fortunately, I've other things to write about. Dec. 24 – Sander Geophysics did a fly over!

Plane CGSGL  – I attempted a video to grab the plane register. I need not have tried so hard. It was on the radar.

 

🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂

She really likes the decoration and the train! We had to move it.

🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦

We have had lots of mourning doves (13), chickadees (12), several woodpeckers. Tuesday, a junco, a pair of cardinals, as well as a female evening grosbeak. The mourning doves were huddled in the sunshine, under the evergreen tree, during that 45 minutes when we actually had sunshine yesterday!

Archive photos, they are camera shy!

Birds, feeder traffic

Saturday

I've been having trouble trying to take photos of the cardinal... you can see why. Dark days, blowing snow. The mourning doves, normally a ground feeder, like this feeder. I could not manage a photo. They are a bit flighty. Terribly shy. The cardinal is slightly more photographable.

Monday

They are busy at the feeders, no wonder. Thoughtfully (perhaps not), the replacement weatherwoman showed the temperatures to the south. I faithfully watch Your Morning, but this is a bit much. Funnily enough, she looks much like the weatherwoman on vacay: young, slim, blond!



Happily, after another blizzard Sunday (~5cm), we had some sunshine. I persevered. The mourning doves were nestled into the snowy tree branches, out of the wind. The cardinal took pity on me, or maybe he was so busy trying to doggy dig the seeds from under the snow.



This is a lucky shot! I'd done manual focus for the previous photo, and he just took off, seeing me in the window!


You can see the difference between the sun being in or out. The red squirrel's colours show so nicely. I counted 6 red squirrels, but spring is coming!


The American tree sparrow was looking for some seed. It was giving me the eye, as if I was to blame.


Downy woodpecker, white-breasted nuthatch, and mourning doves.


I persevered with the mourning doves. I know they are ground feeders, but they like the tray feeder.


Meantime, in the house... It probably came in on the wood!


Visit Eileen's meme for more critters!

Saturday's Critters #268