During the past winter, with all of the single digit temperatures and more snow than usual, I was very diligent about keeping bird seed and water available for my little feathered neighbors.
Some of them live in the trees and evergreens in the yard and quite a few visit from around the immediate neighborhood.
In the back yard is a large, about 40 ft. tall, pine tree and I have no idea what species of pine it is as we didn't plant it. We've trimmed the lower branches up to about 5 feet off the ground and lost one of the large branches on the north side to an ice storm 4 years ago.
The pine tree is a community within itself. In the mornings I sit at the kitchen table and watch all the activity in the yard and the pine tree especially. A couple of doves live there, as do a couple of chickadees. At this point it isn't known what other critters live in that big tree, but it is visited all day long by dozens of birds; blue jays, wrens, robins, woodpeckers, black birds, sparrows, black-eyed juncos, cardinals, finches, a flicker, a coopers hawk, and that's just in the winter. In the summer we can add hummingbirds and orioles.
The robins gather during the winter to search for food as a group.
By using a heated dog bowl, I can offer fresh water all winter during all kinds of weather. At times there are 10-12 birds wanting to quench their thirst. The coopers hawk has visited the water bowl only one time and it sat on the railing for a full 10 min. I was so sorry I couldn't move to get a picture but I knew it would fly away the instant I tried to move.
The hawk has taken a respite in the big pine tree and devoured it's dinner. I worry that while feeding and watering the songbirds, I am furnishing a buffet for the hawk. While I know that's the natural order of things, I would rather it took place out at the park or off in the woods.
The biggest annoyance for me are the squirrels. I know that many people think they are cute little things with a scatter-brain activity level, however, I just consider them to be the rodent that they are and wish they would move on. The squirrels do, however, feel that they should be able to partake in the fresh water as well and there just isn't a lot I can do about that. The squirrel even had the audacity to move his nest from the top of the neighbors huge maple tree to the top of a juniper at the back of my yard! The nerve!
In about two weeks I'll get out the hummingbird feeder and set it all up for some visitors. Mark and Marcey gave us an oriole feeder that will hold jelly and a piece of fruit, so we will be putting that out also. More about them as spring progresses. Have a joyful, Blessed Spring!
No comments:
Post a Comment