Bird Feeder News (not fake)

Oh yes. This was yesterday's morning, marked by yet another snow-storm; courtesy of the late January Pacific storm system that sent the humid air over the Coast Mountains all the way to the foothills of the Rockies.


The day after?
Plus 4 Celsius and water dripping everywhere.

Well, it is winter in the Kootenays; 
sometimes dark and depressing (take that vitamin D time, fight the SAD syndrome, make a mug of tea and hibernate).
At other times - drive up to the mountains and ski or soak the bones in the hot springs.

Or watch the birds at the feeder.



The birds are not too fond of the slushy snow either. The heavy avalanches that fall off the branches scare them; they are not sure what's going on. Even the Northern Flickers take a cautious approach before visiting the bird feeder.

And a little Red-breasted Nuthatch just flies in, spends a few seconds 
grabbing a bit of suet and then frantically flies away.

So do the Redpolls. 
Absent last year, they made an appearance in December. There are hundreds of them but surprisingly there are no Pine Siskins with them. Not this year. Not a single one. And the very same applies to American Goldfinches.

Why?

The ever cheerful Black-capped Chickadees
are here but not too many and not every day.













The same applies to the Steller's Jays. They show up nearly every day thanks to their supply of peanuts but again, once in a while they disappear into the woods without a trace.


So do the Juncos and the lonely Song Sparrow.

What's happening?
Could it be that all the wildfires changed the established rules and travel routes?
















Could it be that this hunter, who snuck about until the end of November scared them away? Possibly. The Sharp-shinned Hawk can do that. But November is already 2 months away. We have not seen him since.

So how about this one? The Northern Pygmy Owl was here only once (as far as I know) but the birds simply disappeared for an entire week. No wonder - this is a fierce hunter and it works during the day.

This time the birds were off the hook - the owl heard a mouse squeaking and it was so intent on on locating it that it could not care less about my presence. That is a really neat story - for another time.