...that the deer found the seed and corn that I put out yesterday. You can see the tracks through the snow where several of them came into the yard from the north, and then circled around to the back door. They didn't eat everything. There was a little left for our early morning visitors.
I have an older feeder that has four vertical posts, wrapped with a length of close-weave hardware cloth. I filled that for the birds this morning. The cardinals were just coming to check out the seed when I left the kitchen to work. We've had several hawks hunting though our grove. When the trees are suddenly bare of birds, we know to look for the hawks. Yesterday there was a VERY large hawk sitting on a branch close to the ground. The only part of him that moved was his head, as he watched for prey.
I have more ear corn to share with the wildlife. I'll have to toss it to an area that doesn't have the big drifts, or it will be there until spring. The walkways of the herb garden were filled with snow yesterday. If it weren't for the wind currents creating drifts, you might not know the raised garden was there.
The temperature has dropped. In return for a beautiful sunny day, we have frigid temperatures. Right now it's 8 degrees F. and it's only supposed to get to 12. I'd be surprised if it warms up more than 2 more degrees today. My area of the Chicago suburbs has been cooler than the rest.
I'm thankful for small things. We didn't get a foot of snow. I don't think the faucets have frozen. It's sunny outside, and no matter what the weather, I get to go OUT tomorrow. I think cabin fever is already setting in! *G*
Comments (4)
Things are thawing out here in westcliffe and now we have a pipe in jeopardy of freezing. Leave the water trickling a little till SRC can dig it up. It's an outside pipe, down 4 feet.
Posted by janet | February 14, 2007 1:32 PM
Posted on February 14, 2007 13:32
They say we only got 11 inches, but I lost the beagle-butt yesterday after she wondered a few inches from the sidewalk. The drifts on the deck looked like peaks of meringue on one of Daddy's lemon meringue pies - nearly hip high on Becca in places!
Ben trekked out yesterday to work some realty issues and stopped for bird seed on the way home. We had an interesting guest that I can't identify. It was nearly 9 inches long, solid grey brown on the body with an orangey red spot on its back just below the head. Didn't look like any woodpecker I've seen - wrong color and huge!
Posted by Nan | February 15, 2007 2:39 PM
Posted on February 15, 2007 14:39
Oh boy, Janet! I hope the pipe is still open. Run HOT water through it.
Nan, no wonder school was closed most of this week! I'm surprised the dog COULD move off the path....she's so short there's no way for her to walk over 11 inches of snow. I remember the year Defer couldn't walk the path because the snow was hip high. He couldn't even hop or lope through it.
I'll browse the bird book later to see if I can find your visitor. Elegante Mother was talking about ROBINS.....she said that she had heard someone say that they'd seen robins. It seems really early. What the heck are they going to eat??
Posted by buffy | February 16, 2007 1:36 PM
Posted on February 16, 2007 13:36
Unfortunately, Janet's bird sound far from anything I know of. The first thing that came to mind was a flicker; but, I'm sure that she knows a woodpecker when she sees one! Robins, as most thrushes do, eat berries in the winter, mostly. We even have bluebirds, now, eating berries.
Posted by Cop Car | February 17, 2007 6:19 PM
Posted on February 17, 2007 18:19