Phenology Update
Hello Time Change!
While my body might not enjoy adjusting to the time changes, my spirit usually soars with them. It shifts my schedule to different light that, in this case, signals the time to shift into summer gear. We still have a ways to go, but now is a time to take all sorts of phenology notes. Even here in Cody I can’t help but notice the changes happening all around here.
Rabbits are leaping and chasing all over. | Mule deer Bucks are starting to drop their antlers here in town. | Crocuses and Iris are sending up leaves in Mom’s garden and I keep checking them for blooms. | Bison up North Fork are more active. | Aspen trees outside of BBHC are starting to send out catkins. | The first Grizzly bear has been seen in Midway Geyser Basin in Yellowstone. | Pairs of Ravens are seen flying their courtship dance. | And a report came in of Wild Turkeys strutting their stuff along South Fork.
Catkins just beginning to show on the aspen trees outside of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center on 12 March 2013
At home Mike said he spent some time watching a pair of woodpeckers testing out various trees – house hunting – and the snows we are finally receiving melt rather quickly with warmer days and a stronger sun.
If you’ve not kept notes about all the changes going on in nature – think about starting a phenology notebook this year. Paying closer attention – being more mindful to the world around you brings a joy and a grounding that modern society often misses because it hides in plain sight. Start this year. Start now. Get outside and enjoy!
Friday Phenology – Week 37
We are quickly closing in on the heart of fall. Today is another one of those nearly cloudless blue-sky days here. Last week the night time temperatures just touched into the 30′s on occasion, but it drops more solidly now when it does decide to go into the 30′s. That makes for great sleeping weather with the windows open, but leaves the house in need of a quick fire to take off the chill in the mornings. And we’re not quite yet flirting with the first frost, here at the house, but we know it’s not far away.
It seems every time I walk outside, or even look down into our valley, the aspen trees are less green and more yellow with a few oranges mixed in. There won’t be the heavy amounts of reds this year like last, but there are still a few trees sporting more of a yellow orange with some true orange mixed in. but a majority of the trees are still mostly green. You can even see the difference in the trail cam photos a bit farther down in the post.
The big news this week was the good dumping of snow Pikes Peak received. I had heard a report that Pikes Peak received its first dusting of snow last Friday, but I never did confirm that. However, on Wednesday of this week, it rained ALL day here (much to our Corgi’s disgust – he does NOT like the raindrops on his ears). And while at this altitude (9100 ft) we had rain, not much higher, it was all snow. Thursday was my errand day this week and I pulled over to take a photo with my new iphone:
Yes, I finally have made it into instagram – which may soon show up here as a stream feed. I’ve taken at least one photo each day so far, so it may turn into a P365 thing – or not. Not sure yet. We’ll see.
I’m still seeing at least one female hummingbird a day these days as well as 7 or 8 robins hanging around. The robins are all sticking together now as a flock rather than individuals or small family groups and they will soon by leaving. Our next forecast for a cooler night is on Monday when the forecast looks like it will start to flirt with frost. It wouldn’t surprise me to see them gone after that – or right before it.
The winter flock that will stay with us through the snow and the cold is forming and asking for food at the feeder more demandingly. I’m still not giving them more than they’ll eat as a group during the day so it stays empty at night to help the bears continue to know this house doesn’t feed them. The other day when I put out the morning ration, a mountain chickadee didn’t leave the far corner of the feeder until the feed started to come out the bottom, but was back the instant the lid was down and I took one step back.
The Trail Cam is FINALLY in a location that’s picking up wildlife. Well, that and a chat with our neighbors with noisy dogs helped. Though one day it did pick their dogs leaping around and sniffing the ground in front of the camera, but that’s not the norm. This week we’ve had rabbits, deer, Cat (the cat), fox and coyotes. I need to carve out some time to make a video of what all this week held as there is a doe with twin fawns and one that has only one. And they’re all changing coats right now – even a few days apart you can see the difference. I think this is the same doe because of the dark patch that shed on her withers. This first photo is from 10 September.
This second one is from 4 days later at almost the same time in the morning. Probably fairly close to the same light in the morning would be my guess. You can also see the aspen sporting a slightly lighter shade of green.
September is a glorious time here in the Colorado mountains, and soon the roads on the weekends will be packed with people up to see the changing aspen. So thankful to at least have our little patch to wander and watch the trees change on an almost hourly basis.
Oh – and about last week, week 36, sorry about not getting that one posted – life was amazingly fully packed with other tasks and it just didn’t make it to the ‘ta done!’ list.
2012 Friday Phenology – Week 23
My apologies for the delay in getting this report out. My only reason is that summer is here, and with that comes much busy-ness.
Summer IS here – heralded in this week with pollen from the Ponderosa Pine trees. Wednesday was the first day we noticed that all too familiar layer of yellow dust on the cars. The bird bath in the garden has a ring of yellow on it as well. And the heat and wind have been with us much of the week. That heat builds some rather amazing clouds right around us, and then moves them out east. What we see is amazingly gorgeous, but we also know that it means someone out there is getting pounded with that storm.
And that was the case this week with the hail and tremendous downpours that destroyed so much in Parker and Colorado Springs. I didn’t bring out the camera for the mammantus clouds, though they were gorgeous and many people in the Springs got to see them. They say they’re rare, but actually up here we see them quite often on the back ends of storms. I really should start making notes when we see them, but usually it’s when someone is really getting hammered from the storm. At sunset, they can be quite spectacular.
Mammantus Clouds at Sunset, July 2009
Birds
The main story this week was about the failure of the nest with the White Breasted Nuthatches. I now only occasionally hear a White Breasted Nuthatch around, so I think that pair may have gone their separate ways. The Violet-Green Swallows, though, are around often and house hunting. They have been eying the nest box we have on the west side of the house as well as the box the Nuthatches were in. They come in groups of 2, 4 or 6, all careening around in large circles, hovering in front of nest boxes and occasionally landing on top of them.
The bird box on the west side of the house has never been used, but it was put there after we sealed up the hole to a nest some tree swallows used a few years back that gave them access to the space above the upstairs bathroom. We’d come home from a June vacation to find them already nesting there, so let them finish. It was interesting to hear the baby birds hopping around on the other side of the drywall in the ceiling, but that really didn’t need to continue. The tree swallows looked at the replacement space and rejected it.
On a drive to town the other day, I saw what I thought were 3 ravens out in a cow pasture, walking along the ground. But on the trip back home, they had walked closer to the road and I could see they were three Turkey Vultures. I’m not sure if they walked all the way over, but I’ve seen them there, close to Divide quite a few times lately.
One evening this week, we sat out by the garden to end our day and while chatting, we started to talk about the various birds we hear around here. There’s been on twittering bird I haven’t been able to place, so I got out the iPad and started playing some bird songs from All About Birds. It turns out that it was a Slate Colored Dark Eyed Junco – who responded instantly to the call on the iPad. I played it again and it swooped down toward the source of the sound, but was obviously confused. Behind us a Band Tailed Pigeon was at the top of a pine tree cooing away, and we nailed down a few others as well that both of us have heard.
Mike had a chance to see a couple of Great Blue Herons out at one of the more remote reservoirs in the area when he was there for work this past week. That remote location would certainly be a desirable nesting area. He said they would fly around and land at the very top of a pine tree – which we’ve seen before, but it’s just an odd sight.
Deer
The deer have been caught on the trail cam a few times this week, but still no fawns. Instead, we have a doe that really looks quite uncomfortable at this point. They should be starting to drop fawns fairly soon.
Botanicals
With the heat we’ve had this week which seemed to trigger the pollen from the pine trees, and the lack of moisture in this area has started to dry up a lot of the plants. The weeds in the dog yard are down right crunchy to walk on. The wild iris are blooming everywhere there’s enough water for them and the showy locoweed is just starting on a decline. One batch I saw along the roadside was a deep, dark magenta. Most are white, to lavender to pink, but this deep magenta was the first I’ve seen so dark. Really lovely.
I’m hoping we can get out this week to a spot we visited last summer not far from here where it’s much more wet and check to see what all is blooming there.
Insects
The wasps and flies as well as the moths and butterflies have absolutely exploded in numbers this week. The first horse flies were bothering the dogs as they enjoyed the cool breeze on the deck which had Taylor snapping at them as they flew around. She actually catches quite a few that way. Rhad, on the other hand, just prefers to head inside.
The day the White Breasted Nuthatches stopped feeding the babies was the day I noticed my first Sphinx Moth of the year, or I’m assuming it’s a Sphinx Moth simply because of the size. It was also on that day that I could resume taking moth photos in the mornings. With the babies growing, they were taking all the moths as quickly as they could each morning and I just gave up for the time being. I timed them one afternoon and they were feeding on average about every 4 minutes, and more often in the mornings, so the wall under the shop light was emptied out quickly. I still need to carve out some time to work on the moth photos taken this week.
I also noticed last weekend the rolled aspen leaves on the trees. Each contained something that was turning into a moth or butterfly. By the end of the week, they dried and fell to the ground, and all of them are empty. If I can find one, I may stick it in a jar to see what emerges. Also, the tent worms are still in their tents on the aspens.
Spruce worms are dangling mid air most everywhere around here. They drop down on thin silvery threads, then climb back up – and all the spruce trees seem to have the tips of the branches wrapped in threads. They are particularly thick this year.
So what’s happening in your neck of the woods? Take a few notes, snap a few photos. If you post to your blog, share a link! I love seeing what’s happening in other corners of this amazing world.
Friday Phenology 25 May 2012
We headed to Yellowstone last week which is why there wasn’t a Friday Phenology report. So there’s lots to talk about this week…
Birds
White Breasted Nuthatches: On the day we left last week, the baby White Breasted Nuthatches sounded stronger almost on an hourly basis. It seemed possible that we would return to find an empty nest, but they’re still there, obviously growing like crazy. The adults bring as many moths as fast as they possibly can. I need to watch to see if there are still three adults around or if it’s down to the breeding pair now. I wouldn’t be surprised if they fledge this weekend. I’ve seen a few heads poking out to look at the world beyond the box, but I still have yet to hear the beating of wings inside there.
Hummingbirds: We mainly have Broad Tailed Hummingbirds up here – and they’re increasing in numbers on almost a daily basis now.
Downy Woodpeckers: They are deep into courtship now. The morning we left, two of them were flirting, checking out various trees and giving their “Queeka Queeka Queeka” call. Mike observed another pair in another part of the county the day before while he was out doing some field work. The books I have say they’ll usually nest successfully if they can agree on a tree in which to excavate a nest. So now is the time to get out and start looking for wood chips around the base of trees.
Mountain Chickadees: A few days before we left, we saw the pairs flirting like crazy and chasing each other through the trees. While taking photos of the tiny insects on the new aspen leaves, I watched a pair scour the leaves, obviously eating these tiny things. They would land on the thin branches and pick away at the leaves, move to the end of another branch and dine almost upside down. In the past, I’ve watched them build their nest using bits of moss from the garden, but I’ve yet to see them with any nest material. We brought back a couple more bird houses from my parents – they were hoping for bluebirds, but only get tree swallows, so gave us a couple of the boxes to add to the trees around here.
Immature Bald Eagles: While driving through North Park – around the Walden area – we saw more immature bald eagles hanging out near the road. That sparked a question for us. Are we seeing all these immature baldies near the roads because there are so many successful nests in that area, or do the immature ones hang out for easier meals – looking for roadkill? We haven’t seen an adult yet this spring in that area. Maybe it’s also just a coincidence.
Redwing Blackbirds: They were thick in North Park – pairing up and groups of them harassing ravens who came too close to their territory.
Sandhill Cranes: We saw, and heard, Sandhill Cranes flying over the Upper Geyser Basin while we were in Yellowstone, and also saw a pair that seem to be nesting farther south at the Sweetwater Ice Slough in Wyoming.
Other Wildlife
The trail cam still just seems to pick up house cats for the most part – and it looks like we may have a new teenager around. But one set of shots show a very pregnant doe walking by. Last year, when we could finally see that the deer were obviously pregnant, the fawns dropped no more than a week later.
The trail cam also picked up rabbits hopping about. I’m still surprised that we haven’t seen a fox or other critter that might thin that population out a bit.
A neighbor called us to let us know he saw the BIG black bear on his deck while we were gone – we had mentioned the ‘dumpster tipper’ to him before, and told him it was a big bear, but he was still amazed at the size. This is likely the same bear who – a few years back – would wait early on trash day for people to put the trash in the dumpster and rather than climb in, he simply pushed the dumpster over and walked in. The neighbor said that while on all four feet, he was taller than his grill. He also said he saw a smaller one moving through his property.
Botanicals
The Showy Locoweed is starting to bloom here – and is lining the roads in places. Also, the Leafy Cinquefoil is starting to bloom, as are the small Asters – that still need to be identified. I picked up a small sketchbook that I need to get out and use to get these plants sketched out for future reference – so I hope to have sketches to share soon. It’s ever so much easier to have a sketch and possibly photos to use in the evenings to identify exactly which varieties are blooming. I hope to also get out and get a good list of “What’s Blooming” on a more regular basis this year.
The various pine trees are getting ready to pollinate and turn the decks – and everything else – yellow. We’re both allergic to it here – and are grateful for the rain that knocks it down to the ground rather quickly. One of my jobs this week is to head out and check the various types of trees here on the property to see which ones are at what stage – it’s not something I’ve tracked before, but would like to add to the yearly checklist.
Your Turn
What’s happening in your neck of the woods? Leave a comment and feel free to link to a blog post you might have. I love hearing what’s happening in other corners of the country/world as well.
Friday Phenology 11 May 2012
Ok, well, yes – it is Saturday. Life just got in the way yesterday, but without further adieu, here’s the phenology seen this last week:
The White-Breasted Nuthatches are still feeding the babies and still competing with me to be the first to get to the moths in the morning. The pace of feeding has picked up considerably this week. I can hear at least one baby in there, and possibly more.
We had snow again this week – bringing wonderful moisture and greening things up at a rapid pace. The spring snows melt at a pace the ground can usually soak up, making them welcome pauses in the speeding up to summer. The power did go out for a few hours – likely a tree or branch fell on the lines somewhere. At least it’s not the days like it used to be when we moved out here in the late 1980s. The aspen leaves continue to open during warm days and pause when it’s cold. The snow hasn’t damaged them at all. In fact, the temperatures hover right around freezing or slightly above. The hummingbirds – mainly male broad tailed hummingbirds – have enjoyed the warm (not hot) fresh food I put out for them on the colder mornings. Their numbers have increased, but not dramatically yet.
We know the Clark’s Nutcrackers (AKA Camp Robbers) successfully nested this year as they brought two fledgelings around that we and the neighbors have chuckled at. The youngsters don’t yet have white rings around their eyes and are comical to say the least – acting helpless when adults are around, begging to be fed and squawking up a storm, yet managing fine on their own when the adults fly off. On Thursday, one of them sat on the deck railing opposite the window I look out while at the computer – just watching me for quite some time. A juvenile squirrel does the same when zooming along the top rail toward the feeder. In both cases, we regard each other for a bit, then get on to the business at hand.
On the warm nights, the frogs can be heard even louder than they were before, and combine with the crickets to make the most delicious white noise to drift off to sleep by. One ridge over is about the perfect distance.
Mike saw a group of four bull elk on the way to work one day this week. He said they were all in velvet, but one had brow tines already almost a foot long and the main antler stems still growing out sideways almost two feet with no sign of being ready to curve upward yet – that’s a big boy! Mike said it’s one of the largest ones he’s seen in this area excluding the herd on the Fossil Beds. One of the other three was also a nice size, with antlers going out about as wide, but his were already starting to curve upward. The other two were quite a bit smaller. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a camera with him at the time. With the deer, nobody in the neighborhood has seen any fawns yet, but all of them look pretty ragged as they shed their winter fur.
Driving up Ute Pass the other day, I noticed the lilacs and chokecherry bushes were all in bloom as high up as Cascade. That’s nice to know that they both bloom around the same time – at least this year – I’ll have to pay attention to that in coming years to see if that combination continues to happen. It’s nice to know when to start scouting for chokecherry bushes to note for harvest later on in the summer. It makes the best jelly!
The Douglas Fir trees are in bloom, sporting either magenta or chartreuse blooms. And the Ponderosa trees have the blooms starting to form – they are the ones that make my hayfever so miserable, but that’s still a few weeks away.
Have a great weekend! No formal link share this week – but do share your observations (and links to any posts you might have made) on what’s happening in your neck of the woods.
Friday Phenology 20 April 2012
Happy Friday! Time for a Friday Phenology report for the Pikes Peak Region:
The White Breasted Nuthatches are definitely on eggs, and there are definitely three of them working on that. The largest of the three, I’m assuming an older male – he’s actually quite a bit larger than the others generally takes up his post on top of the bird box, often dozing there. The other afternoon when Mike drove in the driveway, it caught him napping and he generally acted like someone saying, “I’m awake! I’m awake…where am I? What’s going on?” I’ve also had to rush out in the morning to check what landed overnight under the shop light because he’s out there already. So far this year, not a whole lot of variety of moths, and they all look like the same variety. Some mornings there are one or two, others seven to ten. The nuthatches are also finding some moths in the bark on the trunk of a tree next to that mercury vapor light, but no matter how hard I look, I’m not seeing them. Whatever they find, though, they share with one on the nest.
The insects are increasing in number, so the amount of food consumed at the bird feeder has dropped rather significantly. I’m down to the last of the birdseed and likely will let it be the last bag as the neighbor mentioned one of her dogs reacted the other night with the “I’m going to eat you!” bark she saves for bears. Normally it’s not a big deal for them when she does this in the middle of the night (other than waking them up), but over the winter she’s learned how to open the sliding glass door with her mouth (she’s a BIG dog) and this time they were racing her to the door.
I have put up the hummingbird feeder, but have yet to hear any. I even checked eBird this morning and there hasn’t been one report in Colorado yet. It does seem like the rush to spring this year has slowed its pace a bit. The earliest my phenology records for the first hummingbird heard was last year, on April 21. Next earliest is on April 25 for both 1993 and 2003. First in 2007 was on April 27 and in 2000 the first was heard on April 28. So, we’re definitely in the first part of the window of opportunity to hear the first scouts coming in.
Last weekend we had a good wet, spring snow. On the deck we had about 7″ total, but the ground had less since it’s already warmed up so much. That snow melted through the week working it’s magic like a color wash – as it melts, it leaves behind a slightly deeper green tint to the fields. The moisture has numerous pasque flowers showing up as well as a ton of candy tuft and a couple of flowers I’ve yet to identify – one so very tiny I’m going to have to sketch as a macro shot with the camera won’t show it clearly, though I’ll give it a try. Dandelions opened up all over this week and almost every one had a fly or insect on it. Looking closer, I did find an open bloom of Kinnikinnik as well.
The deer around here are starting to lose their winter coats, not heavily, but they definitely have a rough quality to them with hair starting to stick out at odd angles. But I guess that’s part of the waking up for summer look they have. I’ve also not seen one with antlers this week, but we mainly have a small group of does that hang out here right now. There are some bucks that hang out a few roads over – I’ll have to head over there sometime this week to see if they’ve shed their antlers.
So what’s happening in your neck of the woods? Link to a blog post or leave a comment!
(This post also shared on the Rural Thursday Blog Hop)
Trail Cam March 8-13
It seems to happen to me each February – that’s the month I traditionally take the least photos and just sort of hunker down until signs of spring start to arrive. I now have a long list of things to include in a phenology report to come sometime this week. The most interesting tidbit for us is the at the end of this slideshow (which is not a vimeo video – as a couple of people mentioned to me they were having trouble viewing it). The night before last at 12:10, we were woken up by something on the deck. I wondered if it was too early for bears still – even if they are up and moving, they aren’t voraciously hungry yet, so ruled that out. Maybe it was a dog moving around and we just mistook it for being on the deck. A few more noises and we were up and heading downstairs where we saw a raccoon with his head buried in an empty bucket that used to hold birdseed. Definitely a sign of spring! Remember, you can make the slideshow go faster by clicking on the images. Enjoy!
[portfolio_slideshow id=2306]
Trail Cam Feb 5-8
Here’s what the trail cam caught – you’ll probably notice a set of images that don’t face the shop – that’s because the camera was accidentally left open (oops). Luckily, it still works fine. The fox was also back – more than times that were caught on the camera according to the tracks in the snow. And, the tracks in the snow also show no lack of rabbits in the area. Seems there are just as many as before.
Trail Cam 2 Feb 2012
We’ve moved the webcam back to looking at the shop since it hasn’t picked up much of anything lately. And, on this, you can see the fox mark the area below the bird feeder. They should be breeding about now. Trying this one out through Vimeo simply because it’s 165 images. I haven’t downloaded the images captured since it started snowing (and it’s still snowing as I write this!), but will get to it soon.
Field Journaling .com 2 Feb 2012 Trail Cam from Janet White on Vimeo.
Dec 2 – Phenology and Nature Notes
Right Now: 2 Dec 2011 • 0800
My nose and toes are chilled as the house slowly warms up this morning. The low last night of 7.2°F was the low for the week, and neither of us got up in the middle of the night to stoke the fire, so its in the low 60° where I type. I find myself walking those few steps across the room to stand by the wood stove to warm myself.
The sun is rising on a glittering winter scene – each pine needle is cloaked with a line of frost on the evergreens and each aspen branch looks like a good beginning at rock candy.
Birds are at the feeders which need refilling after yesterday’s crew. There must have been nearly 75 or more birds hanging out here. A majority of them were Evening Grosbeaks and Dark-eyed Juncos. The Grosbeaks were so numerous that the Steller’s Jays, who normally are kings of the roost and able to shoo away any competitors were fighting a losing battle and seemed a little flustered by the whole thing. This morning, already, I’ve seen them try a few different tactics to rid the hopper style feeder of the yellow striped gang. By swooping up high and coming in fast and close, the one manages to clear one side of it, but not long enough to take over.
A teenage squirrel running along the fence in the dog yard catches my eye for every leap sends a shower of incredibly light powdery snow to the ground. The 6” of snow that fell yesterday swept off the deck with delightful ease; I love living in powder country.
Nature Highlights
The deer are in full rut right now. The fork horn – I’m guessing the same one caught on the trail cam has nearly shed all of the velvet on his antlers. He also has a fairly good sized patch of fur missing between his shoulder blades. He still hangs out with a group of 3 or 4 does much of the time, though I have seen them without him as well.
On Tuesday, as I was opening the door to take trash to the dumpster, there was an agitated doe in the driveway, skittering and somewhat spooked. Normally, they just look at me with mild interest. To the left I saw the reason – a barely 4×4 buck was in hot pursuit. Her stop to assess what to do when she saw me and heard the dogs barking behind the storm door broke his attention enough to look around. He saw us and backed down the hill, and I ran back to get the camera. Cautiously, I headed outside and left the annoyed dogs still barking inside which quickly turned into a howl fest.
Behind the shop, I heard antlers crashing and wondered if there might be another buck around. I slowly and quietly moved to where I could see the source of the noise. All I saw, though, was the same buck following no more than a few feet behind her. He must have ‘battled’ some of the aspen down there. Unfortunately, it was too dark in the shadows to get a photo, and she was increasing her pace with him following along with in hot pursuit. They disappeared over the ridge. I watched in case they circled around as deer often do, but no such luck, so it was back to gathering trash for the dumpster.
On my next trip to the curb (if you can call it that when it’s a dirt road), a large bird caught my eye. It landed in a tree on the west side of the house. I went to where I had a view of it on the deck and quickly ran inside to grab the camera. It was a hawk of some sort and I know I had no hope of identifying it without photos. It was a bit far off for the 200mm lens, but at 100% zoom and as steady of a hand as I could, I took a series of photos – especially when it moved in hopes of more details for an accurate identification.
As I took photos, a Clark’s Nutcracker sounded an alarm. It landed at the top of a tree maybe 75 feet away, facing the intruder. It swooped at it once, then landed again in the same tree, still facing the hawk. Moments later, the two ravens in the area flew over and started to diligently harass the juvenile hawk, eventually succeeding. It flew off toward the side road along our property where it landed again, but only for a moment. The ravens continued to chase it out of my line of sight.
Turns out it was a juvenile Northern Goshawk – so nice of it to pose for me and even give a clear shot of the unevenly barred tail feathers. This is a screenshot of the images at 100% – not perfect, but enough to tell the essential details. I sent this to my mom to help verify that it was a Northern Goshawk.
With the warm days early on in the week (nearly 60°F at the end of November just seems wrong), a chipmunk was spotted out and feeding at the bird seed dropped to the ground. No wonder the cats are still coming up on the trailcam.
Trail Cam
As I mentioned above, we just missed the barely 4×4 buck on the trail cam. We did, though, capture domestic cats again (grey long-haired, a black cat and a black and white cat), rabbits, deer, fox and…a German Shepherd. I don’t know of anyone close by with one, so either it came from farther out or possibly was lost – have to keep my eye out for any signs.
Since it’s snowed, I’ll be heading out to look at tracks today and evaluate where to aim the cam. Right now it’s pointing at a not so pretty, but useful and necessary to fix things, pile of scrap metal and lumber. That’s where a host of chipmunks and ground squirrels call home.
This Week at the Bird Feeder
- Mtn Chickadee – mainly our regular quartet, but one day we had a quintet.
- Black Capped Chickadee – just one – seen most days.
- Steller’s Jay – seven at one time this week. They didn’t waste any time in emptying the hopper feeder, each filling their gullet as full as possible as often as possible.
- White Breasted Nuthatch – Two of them seen this week. A chicken feather was hanging near their bird box, obviously airing out before being added in. They still seem to sleep in there at night.
- Red Breasted Nuthatch – just one, and it doesn’t dawdle at the feeders, just takes what it needs and goes.
- Pygmy Nuthatch – 5 one day – they seem to drink from the bird bath more often than the other birds.
- Evening Grosbeak – counted 27, but I think there may have been a few I missed.
- Dark Eyed Junco – in past years we’ve had all varieties here – so far this year I’ve seen pink sided, gray headed and white winged.
- Cassin’s Finch – They seem to be coming around more regularly, but show up pretty reliably in snowy weather
- Magpie – Just one seen this week. Curious thing, though – one road over from ours I often see a dozen or more fly up, but they don’t seem to make it over the ridge between our road and that one very often.
- Hairy Woodpecker – I see a pair of them more often than the Downy pair.
- Downy Woodpecker – I’m getting better at telling them apart more quickly from the Hairy Woodpecker
- Northern Goshawk – a juvenile
- Clark’s Nutcracker - AKA camp robber
- Raven – 2 hang out around here, so I’m guessing a mating pair, but I’ve not located where they nest.
- Tree Squirrel – Has finally figured out how to drink from the bird bath
- Abert’s Squirrel – these are the black ones with the tufts of fur on their ears. I don’t see them as here nearly as often as the neighbor across the street does. Maybe we’re out of their territory? Does the road discourage them?
