Tag Archives: Squirrels

Freezing, Thawing, Snowing…

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I miss the peace and quiet of the field and want to go birding, but so far I have only been able to watch the birds in the yard. And for the most part I was only able to take photographs from the porch, as it was not only too cold to go out during the extreme cold last week, but I also did not want to interfere at all with the birds that were relying on my food offering.

When it’s really cold the little heated birdbath can’t hack it…
    • One day ice storm…
    • The “polar bear” club

    Only saw the Cooper’s Hawk briefly and even though it was sunny, I couldn’t get a clear picture of him…

    The goldfinches are holding their own and even getting a little feisty.

    There hasn’t been much going on at the river either, which has kept me indoors. No large flocks of Red-Breasted Mergansers like last year. There were some a couple days ago but I haven’t seen them since. Most of the ice in the river is from the lake…

    The day or two we have had brief but significant warm-ups, the birds must have gotten spring fever because judging from the full feeders they stayed out of the yard entirely.

    Tomorrow I am attending the 18th Annual Gull Frolic. I am curious to see the lake, which was quite frozen throughout the polar vortex and the aftermath, in addition to whatever gulls the frolic attracts. If past years are any indication, the worse the weather for humans, the better it will be for gulls. We shall see.

    Snowshine

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    American Goldfinch

    I thought I’d pay tribute to the past weekend’s snow which is still with us, along with ice and freezing temperatures. It was a busy weekend, but a relatively quiet break from swimming, hiking and my weekly chore which involves going up and down the basement stairs swapping dirty cages for clean ones. I had the opportunity to monitor visitors to my yard.

    We are promised more snow this weekend and if the forecast holds out, a few days next week as well, so I may as well memorialize the last accumulation, which I find easier to judge from how it piles up on the feeders.

    I tried standing outside to try for clearer photographs on Sunday after the snow had stopped and it was sunny, but the birds were having none of it, so I did most of my observation through the porch windows and screens rather than interrupt their feeding.

    American Goldfinches and one visible Pine Siskin

    While I was outside, though, a male Downy Woodpecker was in the yard for a minute or two. He prefers to avoid the crowd.

    The House Sparrows were having a great time in the bird baths. Living it up at the spa.

    I wish I knew what my indoor birds think of the outdoor ones and vice versa. There must be some kind of awareness there.

    On my way back to the doctor’s office last week, walking through Lincoln Park, I noticed one man arriving to feed geese, and then another man walking in front of me who was catering to squirrels. It occurred to me that city dwellers without backyards crave interacting with other creatures. I like to think the feeling is mutual.

    Peter Mayer has a song on his latest CD called “Come Back” which sums up this sentiment perfectly. https://www.thecurrent.org/feature/2018/11/08/peter-mayer-performs-at-radio-heartland

    House Sparrows in a pensive moment

    Years ago I planted trees to attract birds and now I have too many trees to deter the squirrels. They scurry through the yard and across my roof like so many monkeys. I try to keep them happy enough with peanuts.

    Another busy weekend looms. Thanks to all for your well wishes from my previous post! I’m feeling much better already, particularly after swimming Monday night.

    House Finch
    Goldfinch goodbye…

    Birdz Cookies: 1 Week Later

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    AMCR 1-29-16-0446As planned, I got out to Millennium Park again on Friday, with pretty much the same menu options. The Birdz Cookies were one week older, but the Crows didn’t seem to mind. The snow was for the most part gone and the sun poked out from behind the clouds every now and then.

    The squirrels may turn their noses up at hot dogs, but they like the Birdz Cookies.

    There were a lot more birds than last time. See if you can pick out the White-Throated Sparrow among these House Sparrows.

    HOSP 1-29-16-0547

    Visitors included a male Northern Cardinal and a couple Black-Capped Chickadees.

    But what I really wasn’t expecting to see was a Brown Thrasher! They normally start showing up around April.

    I knew this was going to make my list exciting so I was that much more pleased when the Thrasher gave me several good pictures.

    BRTH 1-29-16-0683The photographic data I submitted to ebird was more than sufficient. I found it funny though that the Thrasher was the only sighting on the Rare Bird Alert for the entire county on Friday.

    What I suspect is going on with the Thrasher is that it is expanding its year-round range, which now cuts off at the southern tip of Illinois. This is likely the effect of global warming. So the data is important for that reason alone. This particular bird might be related to the male declaring his territory near the BP Bridge a couple years ago.

    What I didn’t know about Brown Thrashers is that they eat seeds, so that explains why the bird came back to explore the food some more.

    The crows got their fill of hot dogs.

    On the way back I stopped at the Boeing sculpture garden and saw two beautiful female Northern Cardinals and a couple more White-Throated Sparrows.

    So even though I hardly get out during the week, it’s still possible to find something unexpected. This is part of the magical attraction to birding. You can never predict what will happen.

    BRTH 1-29-16-0676