Wednesday, January 20, 2016

A Second Look--January 20, 2016

Well, the big excitement this week was that the hanging wire on the bird feeder broke sending the feeder to the ground and spilling a lot of seed. This made the squirrels very happy. Even the deer have shown up for a snack or two.

Ward said that it's not an easy fix, so it may be some time before it is repaired. In the meantime, we've hung up another feeder that we had in the garage. I got the feeder from someone who no longer used it and I was going to sand and paint some of the rusty places it had. However, our first real snow of the season is coming on Friday and we want the birds to be able to find something to eat. So, we hung the new-to-us feeder. They seemed to be adapting to it just fine.

Here are a few things I saw this week
 during a Second Look.

The squirrel found the downed feeder right away.


He was still quite happy with the sunflower seed left when the feeder was picked up. We decided to leave the seed where it was. (You may notice some snow in the squirrels tail. We ended up with a dusting that day.)


The deer have been by a few times for a sunflower seed snack.


The birds seem to like the different feeder. Here a tufted titmouse and black-capped chickadee are visiting.


Our regular downy woodpecker visitors were joined this week by a red-bellied woodpecker.


The dark-eyed juncos like to stay a little closer to the ground. They are rarely seen on the hanging feeders.


Flocks of crows (otherwise know as murders) visit the yard a couple times a day now. They've been doing this for about a week.


14 comments:

  1. I envy your feeder, but as long as the cat next door is allowed to be outside all the time I will continue to leave mine unfilled.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have two neighborhood cats that roam around, but they seem to leave the birds alone--at least in our yard. Maybe you can set up a cat-proof feeder like we try to set up a squirrel proof feeder. Or maybe you can just watch the birds as the fly by or land in the trees. That's fun too.

      Delete
  2. I was wondering what the green stuff in your pictures was. :) Our lake effect snow has kicked in (speaking of which, I need to go shovel!). I'm guessing we now have around 2 feet on the ground. Today's snow was the picturesque light, fluffy stuff. Enjoy your snow this weekend.

    You do get a lot of fun critters!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We might get two feet of snow this weekend which is a lot for us. And the complicating factor is that it's going to be a blizzard with very high winds. Loss of electricity is the biggest concern. We'll see how it all plays out. All we know is that there definitely will be snow.

      Delete
    2. We had a couple of weather systems go through during the past few days, with lake-enhanced snow. It's typical for us to get one or two blizzards during the winter--I always worry about losing power--we have a generator, but it isn't the greatest. I don't like to be cold. :) I hope you get to enjoy the fun of a snowstorm (I kinda like the hunkering-down aspect--with tea and a good book, of course) and can avoid the not-so-fun stuff.

      Delete
    3. That's what I'm hoping for also. I tried to get gas on my way home from work and they were out. I'm not sure how much we have for the generator. Need to check that out and go out looking again.

      Delete
  3. I like that new feeder!
    I bet the squirrels were happy as can be with the spilled seed. They do provide a lot of entertainment!
    Is that shoots of something I spy around the bird feeder that fell? Have you had a mild winter, so far?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The new feeder is pretty, but it doesn't hold as much as the old one and has to be filled a lot more often.

      Overall, we have had a very mild winter this year and those are shoots of day lilies you see. However, the deer have been in the bed recently eating them. :(

      Delete
  4. Sounds like big excitement! Sunflower seeds are everybody's favorite around here!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is just the kind of excitement I like. :) There's been too much of the other kind recently.

      Delete
  5. I love to watch squirrels. They're some cute little creatures. How sweet it is to be able to see the type of wild life you in your yard!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm happy you left the seed down for those squirrels. I love that new feeder you have up. It's artistic and beautiful. And makes for good bird photos too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This used to be my fathers feeder. He was an outdoorsman his whole life and when his health got so he couldn't go out any more, he liked watching the birds at this feeder. It is pretty, but doesn't hold much.

      Delete

What do you think?