It’s a Time to Care For Friends
We’ve been having a roller coaster weather this year and December temperature around here rages from 60º F to 18º F which is a pretty wide gap. We had icy rain yesterday and snow today, haven’t seen the sun in the last couple of days. Weather like this raise my concern for my avian friends in the neighborhood. As much as they are descendants of Dinosaurs but they probably have a hard time adapt to drastically changes of the environment; evolution takes time. One day is so warm, the next day everything freeze. Food are harder find at this time of year and even harder when the weather is unpredictable.
I put all the birdhouses up this year so they can have warm places to roost during the frigid cold nights. Neighborhood pet food store loves us during this time of year because we buy a variety of twenty five or fifty pound-bags of bird food monthly, plus a case or two of suet cakes. We just want to make sure that our feathered neighbors are well cared for. I think the Tufted Titmouse and Chickadee keep their eyes on us since they’re always the first two groups that get to the feeders every time we refill them.
So far I’ve seen just the neighborhood birds that stay here year round like Northern Cardinal, Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Blue Jay, Red-bellied woodpecker, Downy woodpecker, American Goldfinch, House Finch, Nuthatch and the pesky House Sparrow. I haven’t seen any visitors like Pine Siskin (Carduelis pinus) or Common Redpoll (Carduelis flammea) yet. The neighborhood population control officer, a Cooper’s Hawk and a Red-tailed Hawk, are also on regular patrol this time of year.
Today, the population is more condensed in the garden as the snow has been falling since early morning. They have learned that we are dependable at this time of year for food and water, so our garden becomes a gathering place during harsh weather. Here are some of them….
Petals and Wings 
Really nice photographs of your feathered visitors. You have most of the same birds as we do. That blue jay looks like he can’t believe his luck–where to start.
I think you have more where you are because it is warmer than here, and the Eastern Bluebirds have probably moved down there now. We didn’t like the Blue Jays at first because of their bullying. But after we saw them give a warning when a hawk is around, we let them be.
It’s lovely that you give them a heated bird bath 🙂
I just want to make life easier for them in winter since I depend on them for insect control in summer. It’s only fair.
Beautiful photography! The birds look so happy in your lovely garden even in harsh winter.
Thank you. Well, they have food, fresh water and shelters; the only thing they have to be concerned about is the hawks.
Sometimes they sit outside our big glass door and wait for us, tilting their heads as they look inside..waiting until we get up and move. They have us trained-lol..We have the same beautiful friends you do to:-)
Yes, I know that act especially the Chickadees and Titmice. They actually wait only a few feet away for me to finish filling the feeders. Like; “can’t you do it a little bit faster?” They have been known to jump on the patio doorjamb and peer inside. I suspect they are really just trying to see the reflection, but I prefer to think they are lobbying me for more seed.
The cardinals are the worst here, they actually do make you feel they are looking inside. They stop by the ‘same time” every day…and peer into are picture windows…lol..you may be right it is them looking at their reflection, but some how them connecting to us makes us feel needed-:-)