Saturday, near dusk I heard honking, looked up and saw that the remaining Canada Geese were heading out of Dodge with a vengeance.
They had been lingering due to the comparatively mild January but when the above happens I know that the weather, in a day or two or three, is going to get nasty.
Then yesterday I began to hear squirrel scolding no matter where I was in the house. I looked out at the feeders, ordinarily very busy in winter at this time of day. Nothing.
And the squirrels kept at it. In fact two were in the oak above the feeding ground sandwiched between the dog run and the twiggy lilac keening their little guts out.
Plus three male cardinals, standing still as plastic ornaments in the cover of the lilac twigs, were looking in that direction as well.
Then I looked out the other side of the house. No birds at the feeders there but no hawk peering into the birdie pile either.
Hmmm.
Then to the bay window, no birds their either but there was another squirrel up in the maple screeching.
I pulled on my boots, grabbed my camera, and headed for the door.
I startle the squirrel out of his keening crouch coming out the door and he almost flees but when I turn away he resumes his position looking at what appears to be either something on the roof or something beyond the roof.
And the cardinals are still there. Ordinarily my presence back here would have flushed them.
No birds at the feeder outside the bay window either but I'm hearing at least one squirrel scolding from that direction.
I head round the house checking the roof as I go. Nothing. And I head towards the East side of the house.
No birds at the feeders here either and none in the birdie pile. NOBODY on the roof visible from this side either. There is squirrel scolding coming from somewhere over here as well.
THERE he is! See him? He's scolding from the broken branch center on the lowest level of the live branches on the Ponderosa Pine. And he's looking at the roof as well!
I pass around toward the south end of the house, scrutinizing the roof. What can they see that I can't?
They do have a higher vantage point.
NOTHING!
A little aside here. See the dark circular patch in the snow, left? Not terribly obvious but there is a feeder pole and feeder in the middle of it.
Next walk up the steps and look right. See the window overlooking the stoop? I had several bird strikes on that window from birds fleeing the feeder area.
Well I have curtains there that are never opened and I'd put decals on the window as well but I still had a couple of bird strikes. (Everyone was fine but still not a good thing.) Then I scavenged that piece of lattice, nailed it between the porch pillars, slapped on some old paint and... Ta da! No more bird strikes.
Back to our story....no hawk in sight on the roof here either!
And nothing with talons in the trees.
The Cardinals are still there....but now looking West, away from the house.
Ahhhh.
Did the hawk come off the roof and head west as I rounded the house from the East?
Happy Hawking!
Donegal Browne
P.S. Thank you, Sally.
Alert: I've published two blogs today so scroll down to the next one as well.
Here is the Dark-eyed Junco (previously named a Slate colored Junco ) who eats raw hamburger. I had no idea they ate meat!
And here is the slightly off hamburger originally served up for the remnant Crow family in the area. Many of their family have died of West Nile Virus so I do what I can for the survivors .
Back to Junco who refused to be photographed dining on his carnivore snack, but I'll keep trying to catch him in the act.
Next up Donald Trump, who really isn't, no matter your political leanings, a nice man at all. In fact he's an enormous bully in speech and behavior. Nothing must stand in the way of his making money, or "marring" the view of his Scottish golf whether it be a few scattered small family farmers or an irreplaceable dune ecosystem.
The conservative friends I've shared this documentary with have immediately chosen a different Republican candidate as their choice for president. As it turns out Mr. Trump lies...a lot.
I actually was on a search engine looking information on some of the United States early presidents of Scottish extraction when a link for the movie appeared.
Take your pick from the list below. And for the frugal you can watch the film, for free with a free introductory offer on Hulu...then just eventually refuse the member offer.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1943873/
Next up...THE EVENING EATING CARDINALS
I'd begun to notice that my three pair of Cardinals were only at the feeders at dawn and dusk and I worried they might not be getting enough to eat in the cold weather.
It became obvious that they were avoiding someone who wasn't up and hunting yet or had already gone to roost.
Like a Cooper's Hawk maybe?
Therefore I began throwing seed onto the snow in a small area sandwiched between the chain link fence of the dog's run and the old very twiggy lilac bush up against the rear wooden fence in the side yard.
The area was a smash hit with the bright Cardinals and the ground feeding Dark-eyed Juncos were sold immediately
Why?
For our own unthinking convenience we tend to place feeders where there is an open view for us to watch the birds at our feeder. Grand for us not so grand for prey birds. Without the barriers
here the hawks could conceal themselves in the eaves of houses, from a tree
in the next block and come in on a straight trajectory and snatch the little
feeding birds.
It isn't a fair fight.
Of course everyone has to eat but allowing your feeding station to become a free for all smorgasbord for accipitors is a bit too easy for the hawks.
Nature rarely has a bountiful birdie feast sitting in the middle of no cover at all like many bird feeders. And then folks freak out that their feeder birds are getting eaten.
When if given the option, they can head for cover at a moments notice. And of course I've got the birdie piles of twigs for the other feeders.
Speaking of which, next up is a visit from a Cooper's Hawk and how the Birdie Piles of twigs work!
Happy hawking!
Donegal Browne
Enter the birdie pile.
There on the front yard Birdie Pile is a Cooper's Hawk.
By the time I spot her all the birds at the feeder have spotted her well before and taken a flying dive for the birdie pile. Yes the Cooper's has perched on it but all the songbirds are sitting tight in the dense areas of the thick overlapping branches below.
According to research study after research study, the meals of Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks are almost always birds who are diseased, or incapacitated in some way.
The upshot is that these hawks cull incapacitated birds from the flock which helps keep flocks healthy.
It is a little gruesome for us humans but better for the birds at large.
After a few minutes, the hawk notices me, sees that none of the little birds are going to break their cover and off she goes.
Now to the next visit.
1:06 pm I see the feeder birds flee to the Birdie Pile and the Cooper's Hawk fly in. I grab my camera and run up the stairs to a second story window. Everybody in the drama is less likely to see me there.
A word of caution....the thing about rushing out when a hawk appears to "save" your feeder birds is that your interference could cause one of the smaller birds to flee as well and the Cooper's Hawk may nab them on the way out.
Coop looks at all the little birds deep in the tangled twigs. They fit but she won't. (Make your birdie pile DENSE.)
Coop squeezes between the outer twigs but can't get close enough as the little guys go for the very dense areas for cover. And they are far more mobile inside the pile than the larger bird is.
See her tail left? She scrambles in hope of flushing and grabbing a smaller bird. No go.
She backs out and starts a circuit.
Slowly....
She stops...stares...cocks her head to listen intently.
Disappears for a moment...
Then back round she comes. Still eyeing the pile and listening intently.
She comes round the pile and peers in. See how low she is looking. The small birds are deep down in the heart of the pile. Also note she has a blood stain on her right foot. It has not been very long since she has last eaten.
Here is the real view from the second floor. She's still in place. Note the frost on the bottom of the window. My house is an old 1850's cream city brick house much larger than I need, so being conservation minded and frugal besides, I don't heat the upstairs in winter. Hence the film of frost.
Cooper's waits for a few more minutes...
Then takes to her wings and appears to be heading for the fence and feeder area.
She brakes for a landing.
And she's down peering into the ground feeding area inside the fence. Note a soul inside the fence either.
Then she may have spied me as she was immediately off again out of my current window's view. I head for another window.
Though I can't see her, I click away hoping to spy her in the photograph later. Can you find her? See the squirrel snugged up to the tree trunk on the left side?
Here's a hint. She's in the top right quadrant of the picture
There she is winging her way south.
In the meantime...the squirrels have been laying low as well. Though Cooper's don't tend toward squirrels as prey they certainly would take one if it weren't too much trouble and could be managed, which appears to be not very often. Squirrels are spunky with sharp teeth and they have very tough skin besides.
And to the East two more squirrels on the Ponderosa Pine have been watching the Cooper's Hawk fly into the distance as well. Though one now appears to be watching me. Speaking of squirrels...
Daughter Samantha who just graduated with honors from Brandeis with a double major of Environmental Science and Theatre and is now working at Brooklyn College to ready herself for the grad school push informs me that this winter's squirrels are the fattest they have been since records have been kept.
Why?
What seems to be the most obvious reason is that with global warming they haven't been sleeping many of their winter days away in their dens or drays living on their accumulated fat.
They just keep eating.
Happy Hawking!
Donegal Browne
And nothing with talons in the trees.
