There really isn’t much to say about January. The days were in the 20’s & the nights in the single digits. The weather was gray & gloomy. Typical. Except for the lack of snow. All the precipitation went south of us, WAY south into Maryland. The skiers & sledders are none-too-pleased, that is for [...]]]>

January 2010:

There really isn’t much to say about January. The days were in the 20’s & the nights in the single digits. The weather was gray & gloomy. Typical. Except for the lack of snow. All the precipitation went south of us, WAY south into Maryland. The skiers & sledders are none-too-pleased, that is for sure. We have seen more sleds for sale in people’s icy-muddy-snow-less yards.

Every-time we would get snow, it would be gone within a couple days. But, only after you had to roof-rake. Not to say there is NO snow. There is. That icy-crusted snow that crunches under your feet when you try & navigate to the mailbox. Just enough to surprise you when you aren’t paying attention, as you get to the divet in the yard & plummet a foot down, loosing your shoe while soaking your sock.

The critters knew this too. The squirrels kept to the trees. The Turkeys came about every once & awhile. Abe disapeared for some time. Even the barn cats kept to the paths.

Food usage was minimal. Sunflower was the most used. Next suet.

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February 2010:

This month, Mud Season started early. The sun is much warmer than usual & the ground proved it. The tire tracks in the driveway are sure signs of what is to come. Granted the days were in the 30sF & the nights in the 20sF.

The freeze-thaw effect is incredible. When the trucks with plows on them go by, all one hears is the loud “clack-clang-thump” of the plow against the frost heaves. Now, I am happy to think of how slow people will need to go this summer, so as not to bottom out there cars. We did get some heavy snowfall this month. And, the WIND was Amazing! It took the top off our chimney cage just to deposited it on the other side of the barn.

The Crows & Ravens know spring is near by. They are around more often then not. 2 Crows have decided that our area is theirs. I believe it may be Abe & a mate. The limp is gone, but the mannerisms are similar. I would like to think he made it through the winter & healed.

We have seen a significant change in the critter-life here .. from the 2nd week of Feb. on. Flocks of dozens of goldfinches have been bombarding the feeders. I am thinking that getting a bag of thistle may be a good idea. It sure wouldn’t be wasted. Pine Grosbeaks have also made an appearance. Finn has seen Waxwings a little south of us, in the Lakes region. Raccoons are more active again. AND there has been a Huge increase in the squirrel population.

Spring is in the air … I don’t care what furry “Phil” said.

Trying to Remember November is like waking from a night’s sleep, stiff from dreaming too much, with only vague images indicating that you were dreaming at all. Good thing I took pictures. That puts some of it together [...]]]>

The Problem with the Holidays, is that everything is put off until time allows & time dost-not-often allow.

Trying to Remember November is like waking from a night’s sleep, stiff from dreaming too much, with only vague images indicating that you were dreaming at all. Good thing I took pictures. That puts some of it together again. Not too far afield from Humpty Dumpty.

Finn Hanging with our Turkey Family

There were Turkeys. 5 in all. They got pretty comfortable with Finn. Allowing him to passively crouch down under the feeders, while they pecked & scratched around him. He could have touched them, if he dared. Instead he tossed sunflower seeds, lots of sunflower seeds.

While working on the computer, I saw something interesting. The turkeys were in the neighbors yard taking turns trying to push each other’s heads down. They would entangle their necks, walk around in circles & wrestle the other’s neck/head as far to the ground as possible, until they disengaged. Finally 1 would dominate all the others. I saw that 2 didn’t play this game. Everyone moved to our yard to feed. Then they started the game again. Luckily the drivers were cautious & caring for these birds, for the turkeys wound on & off the road amongst the trees & bushes. I grabbed my camera & burst out the door.

Head-Honcho Turkey courts the Babe

I followed them a ways up the road. That is when I caught the most dominant male fanned out, courting the largest of the females. The other female, who I named Gray-Head was happily scratching at the ground & finding food. I let them go about their business. I have not seen them since.

Who I have seen is Abe. Abe is the only crow who came back from the Corvid-Thing. He/She has claimed out little spot on the mountain as His/Her territory. He/She is taken care of by us & our neighbor. He/She hangs around through-out the day. Sometimes He/She chases Ravens away & other times He/She announces the presence of the cats. The cats are at quite a disadvantage because of the snow. Until recently it has been soft & high enough that they fall through with each step. Starting today (12/16) the weather will remain below 32F … 20F’s in the day & 0F-ish at night. Still with the height of the snow, I don’t suspect that they will be able to sneak up on anything.

Abe Crowfoot

I will be writing about Abe as a stand alone/regular piece. Abe is special. Abe is Handy-Capable. Crows grow so rapidly, that it is not easy to tell how old they are, except by their learning-curve. Abe is a large, healthy, beautiful crow … with a bum leg. I don’t k now if Abe hurt himself or if he was born that way. It doesn’t appear to bother him much, except when he tries to perch. He hops. He hobbles when he tries to apply weight to his leg. Thus the name Abe & I will always wonder about the Great White Whale that did this to him. Was it a windy day, a bad landing, a predator, another crow during a battle, perhaps mom sat on him too long when he hatched.

Ahh well .. look for the Adventures of Abe. I will post whenever I have something to write about.

Have a Happy Yule & Solstice !!!

Food Consumption: Sunflower Seeds is the big winner this month, with the cold weather & the Blue-Jays. This should be pretty consistent going forward. Next is Mixed-Seed., due to a large flock of Mourning Doves. Suet is at a steady pace, with only woodpeckers & the smaller birds (chickadees, titmice, etc.).

In Order of Quantity (unless noted otherwise) …

Nov.:

Birds: Turkeys (well, 5 that are here all the time), Black-Capped Chickadees, Hairy & Downy Woodpeckers, Mourning Doves, Nuthatches, Tufted Titmice, Female American Goldfinches, Ravens, Dark-Eyed Juncos, Northern Cardinals, Crows, Pileated Woodpeckers

Animals: Red & Gray Squirrels, Chipmunks

The mornings start of with a chorus of mockingbirds and woodpeckers, singing praises to the sun. [...]]]>

July went by pretty quickly. It was so much like June. The rain was the same. The nights a bit chillier, the days slightly warmer. Except for the last week of the month. The days have hit the 80’s (F).

The mornings start of with a chorus of mockingbirds and woodpeckers, singing praises to the sun. Shortly there-after they are joined by the chickadees & nuthatches, whilst the crows caw in the distance (they nest somewhere up the mountain). Finn hears the calls & gets out of bed to put out the feeders. He even mentioned that he heard someone trying to mimic his “Mess Call” whistles.

The chickadees are the first to greet him. Followed by the hummingbirds. Often times each species will sit upon the feeder before he even gets it on the hook. It isn’t that we want them used to humans .. they just appear to know who he is & what he is doing for them. They appreciate the help. We even have a “Super-Soaker” for the local cats who think bird feeders are also cat feeders.

The grosbeak clan are the ones I see gathering on the North side from the Living room picture window, as I drink my coffee. The Rosebreasts precede the Evenings. We have 3 distinct, feeding areas – Back, North & Front, which stay up year-round. The only things that change are the food groups available, this completely depends upon the needs of the guests.

The crows begin to gather. Sometimes only one or 2, other times the whole family is perched in a nearby tree. They LOVE mixed seed, and Finn puts out plenty for them. We have a family of 10 that have called our home “Theirs”. Our neighbor feeds them as well … so they know they are quite welcome. Our neighbor’s cats are not to pleased about it though … the crows will chase them from one side of the house to the next … bellowing & swooping. Nothing comes of it. Everyone has found their space here.

The grackles which were so prevalent in June moved on for the middle part of July. They came back on the 29th. What used to be up to 50 or 60, are now great mobs of up to 200 … blackening all 3 sides of the house. Did you know that up to 5 grackles can feed off 1 suet block at a time? I didn’t , until the other day.

The last week on July has seen a couple wonderful things though … There are breeding colored female evening grosbeaks, and the hummingbirds are showing off with their acrobatics. Perhaps August will be the time we put out the other hummingbird stations.

A NOTE ON HUMMINGBIRDS: Please DO NOT buy food which has the red dye in it for them. It really is not very healthy.

RECIPE: Just use a mixture of 1 cup of granulated sugar to 4 cups boiled tap or bottled water (depending on if you have city water or not – city water has too many additives, such as fluoride & chlorine). Boiling the water will get rid of anything “Live”, which would feed of the sugar. “And” change the water every week … more, if it is quite hot. Bacteria love sugar water, I bet you don’t want to get them sick.

Food Consumption: Suet has slowed some, with the absence of the grackles, sunflower seeds are about the same, hummingbird food hasn’t changed, mixed seed is also unchanged & thistle is “STILL” too expensive to purchase (poor finches)

In Order of Quantity (unless noted otherwise) …

July:

Birds: Common Grackles (from the last week of the month), Grosbeaks – Evening, Red-Breasted & Pine, Black-Capped Chickadees, American Goldfinches, Hairy & Downy Woodpeckers, Crows, Purple Finches, Blue Jays, Nuthatches, Tufted Titmice, Ruby Throated Hummingbirds, Catbirds, Mockingbirds, Sharp-Shinned Hawks (our population supervisors), Indigo Buntings, House Sparrows, Field Sparrows, Grasshopper Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, Ravens, Dark-Eyed Juncos, Northern Cardinals, Brown Headed Cowbirds, Baltimore Oriels, Robins, Starlings, Sharp-Shinned Hawks (our population supervisors), Northern Goshawks, Black & Turkey Vultures

Animals: Red & Gray Squirrels, Chipmunks, Mice, Raccoons, Moose with babies

Crowhill is a location near Plymouth, which is used by a bird-counter for the NH Audubon society.  So in a way, we are officially on the map

What I will be posting here is what we have been seeing lately … both in birds and animals.

Being this blog was [...]]]>

One quick thing to note …

Crowhill is a location near Plymouth, which is used by a bird-counter for the NH Audubon society.  So in a way, we are officially on the map

What I will be posting here is what we have been seeing lately … both in birds and animals.

Being this blog was just started, I will need to do a recap for the earlier portion of this year. Some things have changed quite a bit from previous years.

Pine Grosbeaks are summering here, they started to come last winter, due to the number of berries available to them from the trees & bushes. The number of Crow fledges are up. I have even seen an increase in Raven fledges. I don’t believe it is because of tourism … which is actually down due to the rain. The Peregrines are nesting are nesting now & have closed down several rock climbing areas (fingers crossed for a good year)!

The number of Bard Owls are down from last year (2 years of very rough winters, I suspect). The number of hummingbirds are also down. We haven’t had to put up the additional 4 feeders. This may also be weather related … too much rain, cool temps & the lack of flower growth. We haven’t seen the Turkeys yet, either. This time last year there were quite a few.

Raccoons and Foxes are doing quite well. And so are the Rodents. Several people I know have seen specific wild cats in the area … which is a blessing, thus the species shall not be named. Moose have been seen feeding in the town green & at the library (Ours, not Plymouth’s). The Black Bears have been really quiet. Plenty of food in the woods .. which is wonderful.

Food Consumption: Suet is up, sunflower seeds are up, hummingbird food down, mixed seed down & thistle is too expensive to purchase.

In Order of Quantity (unless noted otherwise) …

Jan – April:

Birds: Black-Capped Chickadees, Hairy & Downy Woodpeckers, American Goldfinches, Robins, Crows, Ravens, Turkey, Blue Jays, Northern Cardinals,

Animals: Raccoons, Red & Gray Squirrels, Fox

May – June:

Birds: Grosbeaks – Evening, Red-Breasted, Pine & yes, a couple Blue’s, Black-Capped Chickadees, American Goldfinches, Robin’s, Hairy & Downy Woodpeckers, Common Grackles, Crows, Purple Finches, Blue Jays, Nuthatches, Tufted Titmice, Ruby Throated Hummingbirds, Catbirds, Mockingbirds, Sharp-Shinned Hawks (our population supervisors), Indigo Buntings, Starlings, House Sparrows, Field Sparrows, Grasshopper Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, Ravens, Dark-Eyed Juncos, Northern Cardinals, Brown Headed Cowbirds, Baltimore Oriels, Sharp-Shinned Hawks (our population supervisors), Peregrine Falcons, Northern Goshawks, Black & Turkey Vultures, American Kestrels, Bald Eagles

Animals: Red & Gray Squirrels, Chipmunks, Mice, Raccoons, Gray Fox, Moose, 1-Star-Nosed Mole