NHBabs - to be fair to others - it may be that I'm dumb about the iOS upgrade and don't appreciate its nuances. I have an iPad Air 2 and for a couple of days, it didn't charge. I had read about battery issues with the upgrade, but I restarted it and now it is okay. I don't upgrade my Mac though - chicken that I can be and non-Siri user. If it ain't broke...

Jane

Jane

Thanks, Jane, and may no one in your house or yard, be they human or otherwise, be hungry or cold or thirsty in the New Year, even if it's sometimes nasty outside.

Claire

Does anyone own or have you made a PVC birdhouse? My neighbor-friend got a wooden wren house for Christmas. Her last bird house opening was pecked to a larger opening by woodpeckers. To remedy that situation for her, I screwed in a 2" round metal gasket around the house opening which deterred the peckers. That wood house rotted, so now she has a new house and I screwed the same metal gasket into/around the opening to deter future woodpeckers. However, I was thinking about the natural deterioration of wooden bird houses and wondered about PVC. Resin houses came be a bit pricey, not that PVC is cheap. Anybody have a special birdhouse?

Jane

https://www.pinterest.com/pattyerdos/bird-houses-pvc/?autologin=true

Jane, I've had a terracotta birdhouse for years but the opening is too big for wrens. It must be cold inside, because I've never seen a bird using it.

Claire, I have juncos using my suet and BOSS feeders for the first time ever. I also have them on the ground eating my new White Proso Millet mix. But my visitors are few and far between this Winter. Loss of trees and limbs to our power company have taken a huge toll. Very sad, but with even more snow on the way next week, I should see more birds.

Ah, Pat; utilities are major predators of residential properties! And you can't argue with them and win (except in very rare cases). I hope you see more birds as the winter progresses.

Miserable cold continues here and I'm seeing more birds both at the feeders and at the heated birdbath. A northern flicker has been visiting the suet feeders and the birdbath every day.

A flock of robins came in for the water too. Surprisingly, they haven't finished off the winterberries yet.

Claire

Taking a tip and moving my new heated birdbath to the ground from atop a half whiskey barrel planter where only squirrels go. Thank you maybe.

Did somebody say 'HEATED?" They're so cold out there.

This red-tailed stayed on one foot for more than an hour. Had no luck.

No place to hide when you're red.

If I could heat the suet, I would. That's a wishful junco.

After multiple non-fatal bird strikes on my East-facing office window, I found a tip on a Sibley site somewhere. I have had window alerts stuck to the windows and they smacked right into the middle of them. I hung colored stainless glass pieces on the inside of the windows and that didn't work. Seemed as though they aimed for the object. So, after reading the Sibley suggestion of using Ivory soap, I scribbled soap on the windows. It's been a week of bright sunshine, cloudiness and snow. Nobody has hit the window--yet. Fingers crossed. That blob of a bird strike mark was made before the soap 'art', so I soaped right where they normally hit. And pulling the shade down also hasn't worked. Another test for peaceful coexistence.

Always fun to see the ducks/geese/cormorants in the water no matter what the temps. We did see a pair of red-bellied woodpeckers two days ago, which excited me to no end because I feel that my yard is a bird barren zone. But then this morning we saw a seal off the dock. That's a rare sight in January this far up the side of the peninsula! Of course, he's too selfish about eating to let me get a picture. He was too ADD to stay in one spot long enough for me to get my camera bag, get the camera out, turn it on, find a good spot, and snap a picture. Sheesh!

MADE

MY

WEEK

THANK

YOU!

Ladies, did any of you suffer any damage in last week's terrible East Coast storm? Claire? Jane? Anyone?

Hi Pat,

No, thankfully, no damage. My popularity declined and stopping chapped hands from clapping at squirrels was irksome, but otherwise, we made it through with few memorable moments to relate. :) Michigan was equally toasty, hope all was well at your house.

Jane

We were supposed to get high winds with possible 50 mph gusts but they never got anywhere near that strong. Ended up being a beautiful day of ~1 foot of snow. Power did go out but for less than an hour. The large storm swell coincided with a very high tide to make for significant flooding, though. Several businesses in the harbor had their first floor flooded.

We didn't have any damage despite a bit over a foot of snow and a lot of high wind. Went through quite of bit of the house wood supply. I hope that you weathered the weather in you area as well, Pat.

No damage here in south coastal Plymouth. We were on the rain side of the rain/snow line all morning so most of the precipitation wasn't snow. The wind was nasty but no major branches down and no power outages, at least not close by.

The final snow total was maybe 3 inches at most, but a dense crusty 3 inches. My neighbor said that north Plymouth got 9 inches of snow.

The bitter cold (by coastal standards) was a burden (how many layers of clothes can you put on and still bend your elbows?).

Thanks for thinking of us, Pat.

Claire

My next pair of boots will be a mighty bit higher than my current ones. And if it weren't for my occasional Cardinals and Juncos, I'd have to do some serious housework instead of looking for the others.

Yes, we get single-digit temps here for days, but you guys get so awfully battered. What a hardy lot! Surely Dianne Feinstein has some New England genes somewhere (notice how I got that in? The devil made me do it.)

He swears the baffle fell on its own.

uh-huh

There are 3 BCCs that frequent the feeders, but seldom can I get all 3 together in a clear shot. Today I was lucky to get two.

They all know.

Great story, Jane.

When I was walking along the stream on Monday, a flash of bright robin-red caught my eye; a red tailed hawk was moving from one bare tree to another. I've seen them along the woods edges in winter before, but not along the stream. With the floodplain under water, I wonder if she was having any luck hunting.

I believe this is either a juvenile loon or adult loon in winter plumage enjoying a morning side stroke, and then practicing for his hood ornament modeling session.

And a fine hood ornament indeed! Excellent pics, deannatoby.

Claire

Did you know that today is "Squirrel Appreciation Day"? Neither did I.

Nutty Day

One teenager tries his best...

Almost there...

Oh, NO! I'm on the wrong side!

There but for 180°. Squirrel appreciation day...uh-huh.

A+ for tenacity.

Jane

Jane: Squirrel Appreciation Day? I notice it's not on the USPS Postal Holiday list (yet) but it would be nice to make it a federal holiday. The squirrels owe us a day off after all the birdseed and peanuts we've given them.

I'm seeing Northern flickers every day now at the suet feeders and the heated birdbath. On January 16, I even saw two males together bellied up to the bar.

Naturally a blue jay jumped in and scared one flicker away.

That snow is gone now, five days later.

Claire

Nice flickers, Claire, and the loon is quite ornamental, Deanna. We still have good snow, and tracks that were set yesterday when the temperature softened the crust, were clear this morning. I saw lots of spots where squirrels had dug beneath the snow looking for food, and sometimes the hole was ringed with scales from a pine cone.

In another place it looked like a squirrel had become dinner for a flying predator - tracks led up to a hole dug looking for food beneath the snow, but with a few red sprinkles and a divot where the predator had hit the snow, and no departing squirrel tracks. I have a photo but hesitate to post it if others have more delicate sensibilities. I love the tracks in the snow and the puzzles they leave me to figure out. Last week DH saw several lines of tracks, some turkey wing prints on the snow, and a couple of deep divots when looking through his camera lens zoomed. He thought it might have been a coyote had caught a turkey, but when I stomped out there in the snowshoes, it turned out that the divots were where the turkeys had hit the soft snow in landing.

No blood or feathers, and only turkey tracks. There are coyote tracks in other spots, but I didn't see any evidence that they had found any dinner. I think the crustiness of the snow makes finding food beneath it difficult.

Loons and flickers and jays break up the little brown job monotony. I really enjoy water birds. Oh, all of them. At noon today, I walked out with camera at just the right time. Cedar Waxwings on the Thundercloud Plum trees. Haven't processed all the pictures, but they flew into the tree and I was only 10 feet away!

They came last year on Jan.31 - when we still had chokeberries (below). This year the squirrel ate every chokeberry in December. Why are we having Nat'l Squirrel Appreciation Day? (not my design)

You always get the interesting snow tracks, NHBabs, and you know how to interpret them. I usually only see signs that birds or squirrels were trotting around looking for food.

Wonderful waxwing pics, Jane! such an elegant bird.

Claire

Wow, Jane. Beautiful waxwings. Tell them I still have a lot of crabapples on my harvest gold tree. :) Susan

How to empty a feeder in 10 seconds, lol.

Sometimes Slinkies just don't work....

Claire

Another night of peaceful coexistence outside my window. Bunny and deer.

If you have a suet feeder with a tail prop, would you buy another one? Do your birds prefer it over a regular suet feeder?

I had one and I did buy a second one. I don't recall ever seeing a flicker on my suet feeder before - now they come every day. I posted a video on Dec. 30, 2017 and you can see him using the tail prop.

Claire

Jane, my sympathy about losing Ivy. Somehow these pets never really leave us.

Grateful the power stayed. There is about 3/8" of ice on everything this morning and it only made it easier for squirrel nails to grip everything. But first, I think this is neat-- the same branch photo with 3 exposure settings. An ice covered branch becomes a nighttime city and then a universe (according to my imagination).

And whats-his-name...who left very quickly once I yelled at him. There's enough on the ground for him. I filled it this morning.

The ice shots are magnificent, Jane, particularly the three exposures! I truly love looking at ice coats after a storm, but always have to add the hope that no one was hurt and that any damage was minimal. I had to catch a flight today so no choice about going out this morning, and driving was a bit tricky. Not too much ice at home, but just five miles south and up out of the valley it was treacherous, with interstate speeds at 35 for quite a ways.

I heard it last week. A few notes sung from higher tree branches, those notes only heard in the rite of Spring concertos. Not sure who it was, but I know it when I hear it - Spring is coming earlier according to the music in the trees.

I heard a Carolina wren singing a few days ago, on one of the warmish days that alternate with cold days and nights. I'm so glad the wrens survived the nasty cold period, but I won't believe in announcements of Spring until I hear the redwings sing.

It's raining now and temperatures are in the mid-forties but Monday night and Tuesday are forecast to be back to winter cold.

Claire

Somebody mentioned that they heard it will be a long, cold Spring. I'll wait till mid-March to put out the nesting ball Christmas gift and begin leaving egg shells on the ground at the same time. Come July, we'll know what happened.

He's up.

Not an uncommon sighting in our town, but a visiting bobcat is a first for me. I've posted the other critters caught on the trail cam last night for size comparison. CT DEEP confirmed this morning that it is definitely a bobcat.

raccoon

opossum

bobcat

bobcat

Jane

What a great sighting, Jane! Bobcats are elusive critters. I hope Violet remains elusive too.

Claire

A bobcat is very exciting!

This explains those large footprints I saw in the snow last week.

Technology and nature DO mix. This morning my niece in Florida texted me that she found a hurt owl in the road as she was on her daily run. Sent me a picture of him, I went online and found bird rescuers near her and texted her the phone #s. She used her FB neighborhood page and asked someone to bring her a box to put the owl in. 40 minutes later, she was back home with the owl in a box and a bird rescue person was en route to take the owl to a sanctuary for medical help. It was probably struck by a car and spun off. May have a broken wing, but she stood next to it in the road protecting it from more cars. We are 1400 miles apart, but close to nature - and technology helped!

P.S. - Violet the bunny is still with us after the bobcat visit. I think she lives under the deck.

Good Samaritans still live, and they have better resources to help. Well done, Jane and niece! I hope the owl recovers and Violet stays vigilant.

Claire

Great story, Jane!

I just started a new thread, Birds and other mobile features in the garden 2018 #1 because this one is getting long and slow to load for some.

As always, feel free to continue the discussion here, but please post new items on the new thread.

Claire