Lending A Hand To Avian Friends We have been hit by a brutally cold winter since Christmas that has become much worse in the last couple of days. Yesterday and today the temperature hovering in the single digits, Fahrenheit, during the day and dropping down below 0°F at night. This number does not take windchill into account which would drop it into negative double digits. This … Continue reading A Brutally Cold Week
Three Inches Of Good Spirit We kept checking daily if we’re going to have a white Christmas or not. The weather forecast kept switching between rain and snow. This is what I woke up to on Christmas morning… It was a peaceful and quiet morning. The wind didn’t pick up until close to noon. Then the trees were flayed bare again by the howling wind. … Continue reading White Christmas
And Enjoying Bird Watching Snow is still on the ground, a residue of the snowfall a few days ago. It’s very peaceful watching snow falling and the quietness afterward as the snow absorbs sound pretty well. Though it was too cold to go outside, a joyful moment was still there. We hang bird feeders along the patio roof during winter which makes it much easier … Continue reading House Bound
Enjoying The Hospitality Winter temperature has finally matched the season and there is not much of anything out there. Snow has not yet paid a visit. The birds have picked most of the seeds off the buds I left in intact for them: Echinacea, Black-eyed Susan, Goldenrod… So now they enjoy the additional food we put out for them. On cold days they can enjoy a heated birdbath too. We … Continue reading Birds of Winter
And A Busy Yard Winter hit us very hard this year. We already have more than two feet of snow on the ground and, as I’m writing this blog, it’s snowing outside. The temperature has also dropped down below zero for a couple of nights and hanging below 20ºF most days. As much as it is harsh for us, it’s much more difficult for our winged … Continue reading A Brutally Cold Winter
Crucial For A Harsh Winter I spent most of New Year’s Day watching birds in our garden. It was cold outside so I mostly just watched them through the glass of the patio door. I took the camera out for only half an hour at a time, until I felt numbness creeping into my fingers and toes. Since there wasn’t any snow on the ground, though it was very … Continue reading Birds And Water
And Snow, Right On Schedule Today is the official first day of winter and it has been snowing lightly on and off all day. It’s very peaceful and quiet outside, the only sound the birds singing. The birds are the only bright colors in the garden at this time and without them it’s a plain brown and gray everywhere we look. We couldn’t fill the feeders … Continue reading First Day Of Winter
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. … Continue reading From an Icy Rain To Snow
Old And New Tenants It’s only the second week of May but five bird families have already settled down in our garden, as far as I can see. Two pairs of Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) have decided to build their nests here: one has taken a nest box in the front yard and one at the corner of the vegetable garden. The same spots they … Continue reading Early Nesting
Petals and Wings 