STORIES IN THE SNOW

The snow tells stories.  I love a freshly fallen snow (preferably not TOO deep!).  I consider myself to be lucky to have a dog and that dog needs to be walked fairly early in the morning after my morning ablutions.  Anyway, every morning, usually before sunrise in the winter, I am out walking the dog.  If there is new snow, we are often making the first tracks on our driveway and road.  Sometimes, though, other critters have been there before us and I love trying to figure out their tracks and who was doing what.  I am NOT a good tracker, I know only a very little, but I enjoy trying.  Here are some basic hints so that if you've never tried it, you can learn to read the snow.  (If we're going to have this much snow, you might as well get out there and enjoy it!)

Deer Footprint

deer hoof

A deer print is a relatively easy one to figure out around here as we don't have a lot of different wild critters with the cloven hoof.  What is a cloven hoof?  A hoof that is split in two parts, the toes (see picture on the right). 

Notice in the picture above that there is a space between the marks of the two toes. The part that looks connected is the back of the hoof and the weight of the animal as she places her foot in the snow, makes it look like it connects.

Deer Tracks, Going From Right to Left

One morning we went out to MANY deer tracks in the driveway!  It looked like they had a party!  Upon closer examination, my supposition was that they were walking down the drive (3 or 4 of them?), hoping to find a place to cut through the yard (not a chance!  Our banks are too high!).  Upon not finding any cut-through, turned around and went back out.  I wondered if they were being chased, but the exiting footprints looked as relaxed as the goes-into prints.



Deer really struggle in deep snow; their feet are small and their legs skinny and they sink.  They can get stuck in the deep snow, so just after a big snowfall, you aren't likely to see their tracks.  We had four dining on our yew bush (which needs pruning anyway) and below is the entrance track of one of them.

Deer Walked in Deep Snow

In deep snow, sometimes you'll see a series of large holes where the deer jumped from one place to the next.  Sometimes, it is possible to identify deer tracks by the small holes that go way down (see below).

Deep Deer Track

And of course, a pile of scat is always a good indication the deer were there!  This pile was under our feeder -- probably the deer was feasting on the cracked corn that we put out for the jays and mourning doves.

Deer Scat

The dog, fox, coyote, and wolf tracks are all similar in that canine tracks show four toes and a pad behind the toes.  The toes include claw marks.  Size, the shape of the pads, the distance between the marks, and how the back feet land near or on the spot where the front feet landed, indicate the type of canine.  

If you see four toes and a pad, but no claw marks, it could be a feline animal because they retract their claws when they walk.

Below are Blake's trotting tracks.  The top one is clear.  When he walks or trots, his tracks are in a straight line and his back feet land almost exactly on top of where the front one was.  When he runs, his back feet are close and move together, as if they were connected by a short rod, but his front feet are a bit wider, so his running track looks different than the one below.

Blake's Trotting Tracks

Squirrels are interesting!  They show large feet in the back and smaller feet in the front.  If the track is clear, you can see the toes with claws and the imprint of the back part of the foot.  The squirrel below was standing still here, or had jumped and landed in this spot.

Squirrel

Squirrels can also be assumed if the track starts or ends at a tree with a little space between the tree and the first track - the squirrel jumped to or from the tree. In the picture below, the black spot near the top is the trunk of a tree and this squirrel was headed toward our bird feeders.

Squirrel from the Tree, top left

Birds tracks are cute!  The ones below were under my truck.  The birds seem to congregate under the vehicles; I'm not sure why (anyone know??).  We have many overgrown bushes for better roosting places and we don't put food under the vehicles, although I suppose it makes a decent resting place out of the wind and snow.  Each bird type has a different foot pattern.  Most are three toes in the front and a fourth behind. (Woodpeckers have a two and two arrangement to better cling to the tree, but you aren't likely to find them on the ground.)

Bird Tracks

So here is a quiz.  (But be aware, the following story in the snow is happier for one participant than the other.)  Look at the picture below and see if you can piece together what happened and who was involved.  The story begins in the top left corner of the picture.

 
Yes, that is blood in the center of the picture; the dark spots are grey fur.  Notice the tracks leading to the disruption in the snow from the upper left corner?  The squirrel jumped off the tree (it was heading toward the bird feeders for breakfast) and was intercepted by a red-tailed hawk looking for her breakfast.  If you look carefully around the center hole, you can see feather marks:  to the left of the bloody hole are flat & pointed marks made by her spread tail, perhaps as the hawk landed to capture the squirrel.  To the right are wing tip marks - looking a lot like fingers.  I am guessing that those were made as I disrupted breakfast by coming to fill the feeders; at that moment, the hawk lifted up out of the snow, carrying her meal to some place safer for dining, thus the wingtip prints in the snow. 

Below, the tracks on the pond tell more benign stories, most of which we can't see clearly from the bank.  One of my suppositions, though, is that the dark spot, right center, with a well worn path next to it and footsteps coming closer to it at this end, show the watering hole.  Whose tracks?  Hard to tell without being close, but it is obviously a busy thoroughfare.  The pond has been frozen for several weeks, so parts are very solid.  The hole could very well be made by the muskrats coming up and then used by the land animals.  Suzanne saw a large coyote on the pond several days ago (and we saw a coyote chasing deer last year), the fishers use the pond road, and we frequently see fox (although our local fox has been very sick with mange.  It was looking better this fall, but did not have the usual thick and shiny fur.  We have not seen it all winter; it may not have survived this cold weather.)  Deer likely drink from closer to shore (there are several open holes there), as their feet are so small and bodies so heavy, they know they would likely break through the ice.  Some tracks could also be squirrels or birds or other smaller critters.  

Much goes on near our houses that we never see, and can only be surmised by the stories in the snow.

Stearns Mill Pond

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE STRIPES

What is that little brown stripey bird??  

How many times have you asked that question?!  (We often call them an "LBJ" - "Little Brown Job".)  Frequently identifying these birds is all about the stripes.  Start with, are there any stripes?  For example, you may recognize the winter goldfinches at your feeder, small, greenish-brown, dull, but striking black wings - with white wing bars (stripes)!  (See picture below - the goldfinch is on the left, be aware that some of the goldfinch is behind the black bar.)

American Goldfinch and Pine Siskin

But if you are looking carefully at that flock of goldfinches at your feeder, you might notice a stripey bird that is the same size (see bird on the right in above picture).  In this picture, that is a Pine Siskin.  They are not always around here, but sometimes will show up in the winter.  Let's zero in on the siskin.  (Sorry about the fuzziness of the pictures - they were taken through a window from about 70' away)

Pine Siskin

First, we notice - STRIPES!  The bird is on the nyjer (thistle) feeder, but isn't a goldfinch!  OK, is it a pine siskin or a house finch or a sparrow or...  Well, it is hanging out with the goldfinch, it is winter, so let's check for siskin markings.  Lots of stripes and some yellow highlights near the tail and under the wings.  (Just to make the ID more difficult, though, there is a lot of variation in the siskins' coloration.)  Look for the yellow; if you see that, look at the tail shape - forked.  Now note the bold black or dark brown streaking on the wings, edged with buff or white and sometimes yellow (not in the bird above).  The stripes on the back/shoulder area are more muted and less distinct than the wings. If you see the belly, it too will be striped.  Now, check the beak - small and sharply pointed!

The beak can be a good distinguishing field mark.  Notice the beak of the bird below and compare it to the siskin.  Don't be confused by the white thing - that is a safflower seed, not his beak or tongue.  But notice that his beak is chunkier.

House Finch with seed in his mouth

This gent is easy to ID with his chunky beak and the red on his head and breast.  He is a house finch.  (Now it is often quite difficult to tell a house finch from a purple finch, but we aren't going into that here today!)  Be aware that the amount and placement of the red varies from bird to bird, but there is usually some on the head, breast and rump. (See picture below with the red showing between the wings as they lie on his rump.  This bird also has some reddish tinge on his back.)  The wings are boldly striped in black or dark brown with white trim.  The male house finch does have stripes on his body, but they are muted.  Notice in the picture above, you can kind of see the stripes on his breast and in the picture below, the muted stripes are visible on his back and in the shoulder region.

Male House Finch

Let's go to the female house finch (below).  Definitely an LBJ...  although, the house finch is a bit larger than the sparrows, goldfinch and pine siskin.

Female House Finch

This is the bird with which we started this post - but now you can almost see her head and beak.  If you could see her beak, it would be much easier to ID her as a house finch.  Both male and female have the blurry streaking - you can see it well in the picture above. Tail is slightly notched, but may appear squared (look at the picture of the male above this one to see the notched effect).  The female house finch is one of the most common unknown feeder birds.  Oddly enough, the most distinguishing feature (other than the beak) is the blurry, indistinct stripes.


Then there are the sparrows.  Arggg...  We have three around here in the winter that I can usually ID correctly, the White-throated Sparrow, the American Tree Sparrow, and the Song Sparrow.  The bird on top of the feeder in the picture below is an American Tree Sparrow.  A distinguishing feature of the tree sparrow is the grey head with chestnut colored cap and eye stripe.  It has a buff breast with a faint breast spot (not visible in the picture). Check the bill, too, as the American Tree Sparrow has a bi-colored bill (dark top mandible and yellow bottom mandible.  The tree sparrow is easily confused with both the field sparrow and the chipping sparrow, as all three have a chestnut cap, but only the tree sparrow has a breast spot.  

Beware, though, you can't go by breast spot alone.  A Song Sparrow has a breast spot (darker and more obvious), but it has an obviously stripey breast -- no stripes on the tree sparrow's breast.  The song sparrow also has chestnut or brown on its head, but frequently shows a buff stripe through the cap.  

Can you ID the bird on the bottom part of the feeder?

American Tree Sparrow on top and a Male House Finch with his head in the feeder

Last one for today is the White-throated Sparrow (see below)

White-throated Sparrow

The White-throated sparrow has a stripey back and some faint spots or stripes on the sides, but the belly is white or buff, sometimes with very indistinct spots or stripes.  Yes, it has a white throat, trimmed in black (not visible on the bird above), but one of the real distinguishing features is the yellow lore (the area between the bill and the eye).  If you see that on an LBJ around here, with a white throat and black head stripes, you can be pretty sure it is a White-throated Sparrow.  The WTSP also comes in a less obvious tan stripe version, where the white throat, stripes and belly you see on the bird above are less obvious because they are tan.  

(Uh, oh!  I forgot about the house sparrow - an invasive species, introduced in 1850, that actually is a finch, not a sparrow.  They are usually the only sparrow in urban areas.  We don't have any here in the woods at our house (thankfully!), so it didn't cross my mind.  Wing stripes & bars, but no belly stripes. Black under the beak and in breeding season, the black extends into the breast on the male.  Grey cap.) 

So, don't overlook all of those stripey LBJs on your feeder - look more closely, grab your field guide and start with the stripey birds in this post.

Left feeder, American Goldfinch & Pine Siskin.
Right feeder top, Black-capped Chickadee, bottom two are male House Finch

WAITING FOR THE STORM

(Written Jan 26 as Winter Storm Juno was approaching)

It is funny how upset and discombobulated one can be when waiting for a storm to arrive.  The critters are upset, too (both our indoor critters and the ones outside).  Around lunch time, Blake was a mess!!!  He just kept barking at any little thing, driving us crazy!  I checked later, and that was just about the time when the pressure started heading down.  Was it that, or did he sense our discombobulation, or did he just need to go out to do his business? 

We like to stay home and hunker down before a storm.  The "battening down the hatches" and readying the house feel like something useful to do while the wait goes on.  We always try to hit the grocery store a couple days ahead (if we have warning!), as grocery stores and gas stations before a storm seem to create crabby people.  

Our birds get crabby at their "grocery store", too!  I filled the domed platform feeder with sunflower seed, peanuts, a peanut butter and suet mix, and also some of the bird store’s bugberry suet pellets.  I wanted it to be easy for the birds to swoop in, get what they want and leave quickly so others could come in.  The feeders were filled with birds this morning (just like the human grocery stores!)  Every port of the tube feeder had a goldfinch on it and there were another 6 on the nyger feeder.  A dapper titmouse darted in, scattering the goldfinches, grabbed a peanut and went to the tree to hide it in a crack behind the bark.  In came a nuthatch and a chickadee to do the same (all were grocery shopping and putting away food for the storm).  Four bluebirds were sitting in the feeder, taking up all the space as they filled their gullets, when a goldfinch landed to pick up a seed - not a chance!  That was one aggressive bluebird!

I can provide for the feeder birds, but the ground eaters are harder because the snow covers the seed on the ground.  With a light snow, the feathery ones can scratch down to the seed, but not with the 24-36 inches that is forecast for tomorrow!  I put down millet for the juncos as well as some corn and safflower seed for whomever.  The jays, sparrows and mourning doves are now jostling for position to fill up their bellies.

(Morning, January 27)
The waiting is over; Juno has arrived and dumped over a foot and a half of snow so far!  We were up at 6AM with the snowblower and shovel, determined to get rid of the first foot of snow before the wind came up.  Our snowblower is small and we weren't sure if it could handle two or three feet of snow.  One foot, yes, but more is questionable!  Thankfully the snow is light and fluffy (and quite beautiful!).  Coffee and breakfast was well appreciated when we came back in almost two hours later!  I cleared the porch, too (although we opted to sit inside this morning...) and within about 45 minutes, there was a good two inches back on the railing!

While out, I sprinkled some millet under the overgrown yew bush just outside one of the windows downstairs, and all morning have been treated to closeups of juncos, bluejays and American Tree Sparrows eating in the shelter of the yew.  I thought the birds might stay in their roosting places longer this morning, but by sunrise they were chowing down!

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Hmmm... Blake is asking to go out.  I guess it is time to re-shovel a place for him to do his business!  He is a small guy and can't even be seen on the path to the bird feeder!

May you all stay safe and warm and be able to see the beauty in the day rather than just thinking cold & dreary.

PATHS ON THE POND ICE

"Linda! Look at the pond! It is covered with paths!"  What an odd sight greeted us on the pond yesterday morning (Jan. 8, 2015).  It was -5º, a light coat of snow on the pond ice, but there were these paths all over, going from one side of the pond to the other and back, crisscrossing, dead-ending, and near the shore, starting out very thin, then growing to the typical four to six feet across.  The paths looked like someone had been out there with a broom, but that clearly wasn't the case.  They almost looked like the wind had made them, but the wind wouldn't have blown the snow in different directions, in straight lines!  The paths weren't following the track of the brook and there were LOTS of them!  So what's up??

We speculated that perhaps the muskrats were swimming close enough to the ice that the water movement melted it some and then it refroze, disrupting the thin dusting of snow.  Dunno exactly, but I sent a picture (the second one) and note to Massachusetts Wildlife.  In just a couple hours I received the response below:

Paths on the pond

Notice how narrow the path is as it comes into shore (or leaves from the shore!)

"You’re probably correct in thinking these trails are left by muskrats and water movement.  Muskrats are active all winter long and typically don’t store a large amount of food, so they’re always looking for food.  This time of year they’re eating crayfish, clams, fish, and turtles, as animal matter is more important in their diet during the winter when vegetation is not as available. I’m sure there are multiple muskrats living in this pond that all have their own bank den, so that’s why the are trails all over. "   ("Wildlife, Mass (FWE)" <mass.wildlife@state.ma.us>)

She is right about the multiple muskrat dens in our pond!  And these paths were all up and down the pond as far as I could see.

This morning there were even more paths and even some round circles with clearly disturbed ice in the center.  It is snowing now, so all are covered.  It must have been just the right conditions over the last two days, because we've never seen this happen before (either that or we didn't see it because before retirement, when we were both heading off to work, we'd leave before sunrise and get home after sunset!).  

I'm glad to have seen this sight!

DECEMBER POND BIRDS

Yesterday was the annual Christmas Bird Count and we had some fun sightings on the pond!  Before we get to that, some Christmas Bird Count history for those who don't know about it.  I'm going to quote directly from the National Audubon site, because it is the most accurate and succinct description: 

Prior to the turn of the century, people engaged in a holiday tradition known as the Christmas "Side Hunt": They would choose sides and go afield with their guns; whoever brought in the biggest pile of feathered (and furred) quarry won.

Conservation was in its beginning stages around the turn of the 20th century, and many observers and scientists were becoming concerned about declining bird populations. Beginning on Christmas Day 1900, ornithologist Frank Chapman, an early officer in the then budding Audubon Society, proposed a new holiday tradition-a "Christmas Bird Census"-that would count birds in the holidays rather than hunt them.

So began the Christmas Bird Count. Thanks to the inspiration of Frank M. Chapman and the enthusiasm of twenty-seven dedicated birders, twenty-five Christmas Bird Counts were held that day. The locations ranged from Toronto, Ontario to Pacific Grove, California with most counts in or near the population centers of northeastern North America. Those original 27 Christmas Bird Counters tallied around 90 species on all the counts combined.    http://birds.audubon.org/history-christmas-bird-count

I recommend that you go to the page linked above - there are some other interesting links, like cumulative bird count for that first Christmas Bird Count - of course, the names of many of the birds will be unfamiliar as so many have been change over the years.  This year was the 115th CBC (Christmas Bird Count)!

 Back to our sightings!  It was a slow day at the feeder with none of our usual sparrows and very few blue jays, goldfinch and even mourning doves!  Woodpeckers were well represented, although we haven't see the pileated recently (the neighbors across the street took down the pileated restaurant tree and we haven't seen him since).  We also had quite a few juncos and a lovely cardinal pair.  Bluebirds were not around, although Carol says she has seen them recently.

On the pond we had a large flock of Canada Geese (for those of you who are not birders, note that it is Canada Geese, not Canadian Geese - the Canada was a person's name, not the country).  Then Carol alerted us to a large flock of Common Mergansers and we saw 4 females & 6 males.  There were more than that, as Carol had a different count, seeing 8 with more females than males.  Mergansers are hard to count; they keep diving!!  :-)
Today we had a nice flock of Hooded Mergansers, but they didn't show up yesterday.

Hooded Mergansers - three males and a female in front of the bird on the left - look for the fuzzy brown head

But the truly fun sighting was the Belted Kingfisher!  Linda & I had been hearing it on the pond as we sat on the porch watching the dawn birds.  We kept saying, "It sounds like a kingfisher, but what is it doing here NOW, at this time of year??"  Turns out that it is a year round bird (as long as the water is open), but we have just never seen it or heard it because our morning sits were short (and way before sunrise) in order to get to work on time.  Now that we are retired, the porch sit time is more like a half hour!  (but much shorter the day it was only 22º out!)  We heard the kingfisher yesterday AM, but then while I was watching and counting the mergansers, something flew through my binocular vision - it was about kingfisher size, so I zeroed in on it and YES!!!  It WAS a kingfisher! Woo Hoo!!

A BIRDING VIEW FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY

Added a link at the bottom of entry (Oct 16)

We've just returned from a trip to the midwest and then through northern Ontario and had a few great times with birds!  So, although this blog is supposed to be about Stearns Mill Pond and environs, I am going to take the liberty to digress and share a few cool bird moments.  We were not "birding" per se, but we did do some bird WATCHING as we traveled and sat in our campsites.

I think the first cool moment happened along one of the main roads in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  This may be a main drag, but it goes for miles and miles with no towns and nothing but trees along the road.  Gorgeous and not much traffic!  We were seeing a lot of crows on the road, not eating carrion, but perhaps picking up sand for their mineral content?  I don't know, but it was common.  So I wasn't surprised to see a large group of black birds on the road ahead and wasn't really looking too closely at them, but suddenly a bald eagle flew up out of the center, leaving the roadkill behind!  Instantly, the ravens moved in to get a bite of the prize while the eagle was gone.  Oddly, on the other side of the road, appearing to be watching this bird bash, was a doe.  I quickly glanced at the carrion, but it didn't seem to be a deer, so I don't know what she was looking at.  I was telling Linda about the sighting and she had just finished writing it in the journal when it happened again, not 6 minutes later down the road!!  No deer this time, though.  

We had many sightings and hearings of the ravens on this trip; I do enjoy them!  I think we saw them at almost all of our Canadian campsites, and some elsewhere.

Probably the most memorable bird watching event came at Finlayson Point Provincial Park in Temagami, Ontario.  This is an interesting park, in that it is the jumping off point for wilderness canoe trips into the Temagami region, but at the same time, it is very much "urban camping"!  One of the fun things to do is to canoe from the Park into the little village of Temagami and have breakfast or go grocery shopping.  (We canoe wilderness all the time!  This bit of shopping by canoe tickles us in a different way!)

Being fall, we had our choice of many great campsites (like almost all of them!).  We settled into one that was right on the water so that we could canoe easily.  First bird we spotted was a yellow-bellied sapsucker!  Next, we saw and heard some ravens.  Then a ruffed grouse walked through our campsite.  But the following morning was the most fun bird event...

Red-Breasted Nuthatch having breakfast of a peanut

 (OK, the picture is your teaser!)

We had planned on canoeing into town to have breakfast, but the fog was so thick you couldn't see the other end of the canoe, so we built a campfire and watched the sunrise. We were sitting by the fire, enjoying a cup of camp coffee (coffee always tastes better at a campfire!).  There was motion in the tree and we looked up to find a beautiful little Red-breasted Nuthatch!  He wasn't sitting there quietly, he was looking right at us and yelling!!!  Suddenly he left the branch and flew right at my face, veering off when he was about 8 inches from me!  YIKES!  I hadn't seen him leave the branch, but I did have a vivid view of the red breast and black eye-stripe.  Then he did it again!

Well, obviously this bird was not afraid of people and he obviously was trying to tell us something.  It occurred to me that our white-breasted nuthatches, who are year-round callers at our feeder at home, are particularly attracted to peanuts.  We only occasionally see the red-breasted nuthatches in the winter, so just seeing one here was a treat, but this little guy was getting quite demanding!  Then, I remembered that when we took the 6th graders to Camp Chiwonki, up in Maine, they had an area where there was a stuffed shirt type figure, made to look like a person, where the birds landed on its hand to feed from the seed there.  Then when students were there, the child would wear the hat, sit really still in the same place and hold out his/her hand with seed, and the bird would land and take the seed.  Hmmm...  I put a peanut in my hand and stuck it out.  Instantly, the nuthatch landed on my finger and took the peanut!  

He took many peanuts from both Linda & I and then his mate showed up.  Now we had two nuthatches joining us for breakfast!  Pretty soon there were also six Black-capped Chickadees!  The chickadees were more shy and cautious, but they too were happy to eat our peanuts.  After a while three crows showed up.  Now I love crows and the crow is my totem, but this was too much!  We closed the restaurant.  

Next morning, the nuthatches showed up early, demanding breakfast.  We obliged until it was time to fix our own breakfast.  They walked all over the picnic table, but after shooing them a way a few times, they left.  We had our breakfast, cleaned up, took a canoe ride and packed up the van to leave.

Nuthatch landing and taking a peanut from my hand (3 times - one slow-motion)

Linda was standing by the open van when our friend came back.  We said goodbye to him and he promptly flew into the van!!  Now earlier, I had invited him to come to Massachusetts this winter and promised that there would be a feeder full of peanuts, but I also told him he had to fly there...  He came out of the van, took the peanut we held out for him and flew away with it.  We left one more peanut on the picnic table and drove away.

Great fun!
======

I am studying French in my retirement, and while we were on vacation, I wrote this story in French (it was written in French before I wrote it out in English!).  I've decided to include the French version here.  Thanks to Debbie for correcting my errors...  French bird names are from a David Sibley website of North American bird names in French.  
http://www.sibleyguides.com/bird-info/french-bird-names/

LES OISEAUX
Nous faisions de camping au Parc Provincial Finlayson Point. C'est un parc qui est camp de base pour les canoteurs dans la region sauvage de Temagami.  Il est aussi près de le village de Temagami et on peut faire de canoë au village pour le petit dejeuner or pour aller à l'epicerie.  C'est un bon parc, mais c'est un parc urbain!  Nous y sommes restées deux nuits.  

Pendant notre premier matin, nous nous asseyions près du feu de camp quand un oiseau s'est posé sur la branche et nous a parlé.  Puis, l'oiseau s'est envolé et a volé vers mon visage!  Il s'est détourné de moi et est retourné à la branche.  Il l'a fait deux fois.  Nous avons pensé qu'il était très confortable avec les gens et n'avait pas peur.  L'oiseau était une settelle à poitrine rousse (Red-breasted nuthatch).  À notre maison, nous avons les sittelles à poitrine blanche (White-breasted nuthatch) toute l'année, mais nous ne voyons que une sittelles à poitrine rousse qu'occasionnellement en hiver.  

Cet oiseau était très demandant!  Nous avons pensé que peut-être il aimerait les arachides, parce que nos sittelles les aiment.  Je me suis souvenue que quand nous étions au Chewonki avec les étudiants, il y avait un endroit des oiseaux oú les étudiants s'asseyaient et les oiseux mangaient de leurs mains.

J'ai tenu un archide dans ma main et immédiatement l'oiseau a volé et s'est posé sur mon doigt et a pris l'arachide!  Plusieurs fois l'oiseau prenait les arachides de nos mains.  

Bientôt, il y avait deux sittelles.  Puis, il y avait aussi six mésanges à tête noire!  (Black-capped chickadee)  Tous les oiseaux mangaient de nos mains, mais les mésanges étaient plus timides.  J'aime beaucoup les corneilles d'Amérique (American crow), mais quand trois corneilles sont arrivées, nous avons fermé le restaurant!

Le matin suivant, les oiseaux sont revenus chercher leur petit dejeuner.  Encore, ils prenaient les archides de nos mains.  Quand nous avons preparé notre petit dejeuner, nous les avons chassé.  Nous avons mangé notre petit dejeuner, avons fait du canoë, et avons preparé à sortir.  Avant de partir, Linda était debout près de le camping-car et les portes était ouvertes.  Une sittelle a volé vers nous et s'est posée près de nous.  Nous avons dit au revoir, mais elle a volé dans ll camping-car!  Je l'ai invitée de venir au Massachusetts pendant l'hiver, mais je lui ai dit qu'elle doit y voler!  Elle est sortie du camping-car, a pris un arachide de ma main, et s'est envolée.  Nous avons mis encore une arachide de plus sur la table de pique-nique et nous sommes parties.

 

Temagami Sunrise

ADDED (10/16) a link to a cool video from Alaska with hummingbirds eating from hands!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUEZkwJulBY#t=222

IT'S BEEN A WHILE! SO MUCH IS HAPPENING!!

It has been a while since I've had a chance to write and so much is going on around here!  We have juvenile birds everywhere: downy woodpecker, tufted titmouse, about five blue jay, hairy woodpecker, chickadee, grackle, four nuthatch, two rose-breasted grosbeak and Suzanne just texted and said that their bluebirds just fledged!!!

Now that is an interesting story!  Suzanne & Michael have a plexiglass sided bird house and they had been seeing both bluebirds and chickadees going into the bird house.  The two sets of birds were clearly arguing about who was going to get this prime real estate.  They fought over it for quite a while, including throwing out eggs and rebuilding the nest!  Finally the bluebirds won and they pulled out some of the moss the chickadees had used and built their nest on top.  The bluebirds started hatching a couple weeks ago and today, they fledged!  

Our neighborhood is just NOT bluebird territory!  They like more open fields, but I guess they like that Suzanne/Michael, Carol/Joe and we have been feeding them mealworms and they definitely like our bird bath.  Below is a picture Suzanne took on July 15.

Bluebird Hatchlings  --Photo by S. Groet

Meanwhile, the pond is in bad shape - I tried to paddle a couple weeks ago and could hardly move.  The DPW has put up the dam extension in preparation for harvesting (which will happen sometime early August) so there is more water in the pond now; it might be better paddling, but I haven't tried.  Many great volunteers helped do some hand harvesting again this spring and the harvester machine is currently on Carding Mill Pond and is due here soon.

Linda & I were out paddling on Willis Lake last week and found a patch of water chestnuts.  We contacted Debbie Dineen (Sudbury Conservation Coordinator), who contacted Mark Sevier.  Mark and his wife went out and hand harvested most of them on Sunday.  Linda & I did more today and will go back with the rakes tomorrow to try to get the rest that we can reach in the bushes.  Our goal is to keep Willis Lake from looking like the ponds in the Hop Brook system!!

What's happening in your area of Sudbury?  Let us hear from you.