Snowy Day (Hooray!)

Blurry chickadee photo

We put out bird feeders (5 so far including the suet).   They came.

We were supposed to get 1 - 3 " last night, and more than a foot today.  The forecast has been downgraded to 8" - 1 ft today.   Sigh.   Oh well.  This is almost perfect "try out the snow blower" weather, once the wind slows down.

In the last two days we got groceries, gasoline (for the snow blower and for the generator, in case), and another bird seed bucket.   It is Sunday, and we don't have to go anywhere.   First serious snow falls don't get much better.

Sparrows showed up at the feeders for the first time today, in the storm.

Birds and cats

We are into that bleak, gray, damp, December period.   George always starts mentioning Miami fondly this time of year.  We decided to put out some bird feeders.

We put separate feeders out with mixed seed, black sunflower seed and niger seed (for the finches).  There is also some suet hanging under the porch roof.   We've seen the following types of birds eating this past week:  chickadee, white-breasted nuthatch, tufted titmouse, goldfinch, hairy woodpecker, cardinal, bluejay, and morning dove.    We are going through seed much faster than I planned.

    Later edit:  12/5/13:  downy woodpecker.

It occurred to us, after the crowds started arriving, that none of our neighbors seem to have bird feeders out, and there is a lot of open acreage around us.  Maybe our neighbors know something we do not.

Our two older cats have been glued to the windows.  Even when Percy can't actually get a comfortable perch to see the feeders, he sits on the floor and watches the fly by action for hours.

We are keeping an eye out the window (and on tracks in the snow) for the neighbor's barn cats.   We may have to adjust the feeders if we see increased mortality nearby.

Our neighbor has good reason to need the barn cats, and outside cats wander.   When we had sheep, we appreciated the free mousing services the cats provided around the sheep barn. 

Wandering cats are extremely hard on bird populations.    But, I view wandering (and working) barn cats differently than wandering pet cats.

During the past week, with a dusting of snow, we are seeing lots of bird and squirrel tracks, but without a mix of cat tracks.   We'll keep watching.  I am the official worrier in the family, and gray Decembers are good practice time.

Geese

I saw a very high-flying and large formation of Canada Geese heading south/south-west this week.   As usual, I heard them before I saw them.

This afternoon, a low-flying and much smaller formation of geese came in from the north but turned abruptly west, just before reaching the house.   There were about forty birds.  At first, I wondered if they were a local population.   But, I hardly ever see geese around here.

I watched them fly out the length of the hayfield, to the far end near the woods.   Then they banked left, and came in for a landing.   It is between a quarter and half a mile from the house to the back of the field, so they had a good, long, run way.  

I have to add another use for the hayfield to my list:  "sleeping accommodations for south bound Canada Geese".

Bobolinks

I was walking home from the back of the hayfield this afternoon, and flushed several birds along the way. Several looked like they were the young from one nest. I was a bit concerned, especially since they headed way over to some woods. I walked a bit away and stayed and watched. Those few were joined by a few more, and a few more - maybe 25 to 35 eventually. They weren't very organized, but seemed to be working on getting things together as a flock. Based on a couple of adults that swooped closer to me, I think this group may be the Bobolink young from several nests. Perhaps they are getting in shape and practicing before taking off for South America. I wonder if the adults lead the young down the first time, for this species. If anyone knows, please let me know. I thought the Bobolinks left by mid July, so I'm not sure if the birds I saw were Bobolinks. In any case, they were a lot of fun to watch, learning to fly together.

There would never have been so many Bobolinks, or any Bobolink young, surviving in a normal year on the hay field, because their nests would have been destroyed when haying. Bobolinks are one of the few ground nesting birds that will not try to re-nest if a nest is destroyed. They just head for their winter home in South America. Because of all the rain this year, haying is very late and it seems to be a very good year for Boblinks. Bobolink populations have been declining rapidly over all, so as much as I'm worried about winter feed, I have to be happy for the Bobolinks.

Friday

We now have a little bit of very green hay in the barn, requiring lots of monitoring. Lost most of the hay we cut to rain. Things we learned: (1) hyraulics can do a lot of damage quickly; (2) we need a fourth day to get the hay cured to where we want it, or we need more sun, or we need to ted or flip with rake again or something; (3) we can get about X many bales from a doubled windrow Y long; (4) shouldn't cut more than can reasonably bale under given conditions; (5) the bobolinks won't make it, because we need to cut more hay. They seem to be using the driest part of the hayfield for nest(s), which makes sense, and that is where we need to cut more hay. Lovely, musical, amazing flyers, which I don't want to run over with a mower. Wonder if they will come back next year.

Thursday morning

The picture is from part of the hayfield this morning. I raked it yesterday, and my husband cut it the day before. Will it get baled? It depends, on lots of things. A good try will certainly be made.

We tried to leave a particular part of the front field for a pair of nesting Bobolinks. Their population numbers are diving. We don't have enough storage for all the hay, and were planning to leave part of the field fallow each year in any case (cut but not bale) to reduce fertilizer needs. But, we hadn't initially planned on a "Bobolink-avoidance" cutting pattern. I'm hoping we didn't hit the nest, but since they hide it well to avoid predators, we're not sure.