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August 2008
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Archive for 'Wild birds'

Blizzard

It was really hard to motivate myself to get out there and do morning chores this morning. At 7 a.m., it was 11°F with 18 mph winds, steady snow, at about an inch an hour rate. But we bundled up, long johns and double socks underneath my ski suit, and Frank put on

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wang wong

The Start of Spring Chores

I pruned the ornamental crabs and gave the branches to the sheep. They nibbled a little, but weren’t really interested. Checked the hives. Mine buzzed audibly and I saw one flying bee. No sound from Lisa’s. Many dead bees in the feeder, none moving. Took the feeder off to bring in and clean. Saw a

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wang wong

First Snow of the winter

I guess having the first snowfall of the year on November 9th really isn’t early. It feels like it, though, because we are so not ready for snow to fly. They’d been telling us were were going to get hammered here in the Monadnock region, four or five inches, which would have been a lot

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wang wong

Wild Turkeys

We have wild turkeys in the yard all the time. It’s almost normal. But today, Frank spotted them in the crab apple trees. At first, because of the way they were positioned, it looked like they were in the dogwood trees, but really, they are in the crab apple trees behind the dogwood, happily eating the crab apples. I knew crap apple trees attracted birds, but I didn’t know it would attract wild turkeys. It was hard to believe that those little ornamental trees could support such big birds. Who knew?

wang wong

Snow & Birds

Winter showed up with a bang today. Blustery and cold, and it snowed hard for much of the morning. Brr. It didn’t take that long to shovel, though, so maybe it was only four inches or so. When we left to play bridge tonight, the car thermometer showed a cold eight degrees. I wonder if this will be the snow that sticks through the rest of the winter? Our new bird feeders have been doing quite the brisk business. We knew a storm was coming with all of the increased traffic out there. We think this little guy is either a hairy or a downy woodpecker. There have been three or four very similar guys hanging around lately. Isn’t he beautiful?

wang wong

The Grosbeaks Visit

The flocks of birds at the feeders today was so varied! It was really colorful out there today, and I couldn’t stop taking pictures. We’ve had Grosbeaks before, but not very often. Today we got both Evening Grosbeaks (the yellow ones) and Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks. We probably had six or seven pair of each, which

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wang wong

Bogged Down

The snow is melting so fast that the yard is almost a pond itself. The driveway, too. Even with all that gravel, it’s not draining near fast enough. There are ruts along the edges from the cars going off of the driveway, too, which is bad. We need to come up with some sort of

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wang wong

The Purple Finches are Back

Usually, we have gold and purple finches all winter long, and they segregate themselves when eating the thistle feed at our feeders. But we haven’t seen a purple finch since last fall, and we missed them! But they are back. A flock landed in our yard today, and have been eating sunflower seeds rather than thistle, which is a bit strange for them. The ground has gotten so bare in just a couple of days that I can see daffodil foliage already. Amazing. The crocus shoots are out as well, though we still don’t have any actual blossoms. The pond is still frozen solid, however. But you can see the ice that covers it, rather than just the snow. Soon we’ll see if the fish survived the long winter.

wang wong

Another ice storm

The snow and ice storm is gorgeous, but better viewed from inside than out. Um, I think it’s time to take down the fall flag! The bird feeders are starting to get attention, especially the suet, which has been largely ignored all summer and fall. We haven’t seen the wild turkey flocks yet this year. I wonder where they are? I love the way the pergola looks with the ice all over it. The pond is now frozen solid.

wang wong

The Frog Bar

We need to name our pond something like Heron’s Hang-out or Marlow’s Frog Bar or something. We’re down to three fish left, from the eight we started the year with. Poor things. The frogs seem to be hanging in there, but several times I’ve found wading birds of different flavors in the edges of the

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wang wong