Cardinals and juncos are the first to arrive at the feeders. They fly in before first light. They are also the last to leave for their night roosts in the early evening, well after sunset. Late afternoon yesterday, it was a cardinal convention at the feeders: 7 male and 5 female cardinals. These were mixed in with many of our winter resident songbirds. The ten turkeys passed through mid-afternoon.
About 4:00 in the afternoon yesterday, while I was watching the bird feeder birds, a red-shouldered hawk landed on a tall white pine tree in our neighbor's yard, across from our house. It scooched over about a foot until it was pressed up against the tree trunk. We watched til it got too dark to see. As soon as it was light enough to see this solstice morning, I looked across at the white pine, and the hawk was still leaning against the trunk. It got a good 14 to 15 hours sleep, as it didn't budge until 7 AM, when it fluffed its feathers and scooched over about a foot from the trunk.
Two male cardinals tried to harass the red-shouldered from a distance, but it didn't move from its perch, about 35 feet up in the pine. Around 7:15 I saw a pileated woodpecker fly to the same tree trunk and then the hawk was gone. I missed its movements while I was looking down at a white-throated sparrow and the woodpecker distracted me. The birds in our yard at the time -- downy woodpeckers, finches, juncos, chickadees, titmice -- were not bothered by having a red-shouldered hawk (a mostly mammal and amphibian predator) nearby. If it were an accipiter all hell would break loose: small birds scattering and woodpeckers going stock-still for ten minutes or more.
After a few very cold weeks this December, last week ended with several warm days and nights, melting away the snow in the sunny areas. A fresh opossum track is printed in the remaining snow, heading toward the cover beneath an old shed. They aren't well-adapted for the cold with thin ears and a bare tail, but they persist. Rabbit tracks and pellets are every in our yard: beneath bushes, atop the snow, on exposed, green lawn. Our grass should be well-fertilized.
Seven gray squirrels joined the birds beneath our feeders. Most them seem content picking at fallen seeds. But one or two are quite athletic and determined to reach the feeders. We watch as they fling themselves from the nearby crabapple tree or make a running leap from a garden fence post. They miss 5 out of 6 times, but manage to nail the landing enough that they try again and again after we shoo them off.
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