Last snow of Winter?
No guarantees!
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Good news about “our” pretty tree:
It isn’t ours, but we admire it and I constantly fail to get a good photograph as we sail past. It quickly shed the recent ice that bent its branches so cruelly.
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Its leaves dry out in the Fall but remain attached.
They catch the light to create such a pretty image.
But I cannot identify it. Any thoughts?
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Such a relief to see the tree undamaged!
It was when I lost a beautiful old tree of my own that I realised how invested one can become in these magnificent beings. I had always admired trees and despaired over the rate of deforestation, but I had never had a relationship with a tree, as such.
When my old maple came down, I wept.
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Zoomer ended his hibernation a few days ago and popped out to remind me that Spring is a good thing.
Chipmunks must adhere to the same timetable because suddenly they are all awake and very busy.
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Little Red is busy feeding herself…
…and it looks to me as if there may soon be Red babies!
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Unlike the Chipmunks, Groundhogs appear to have individual timetables. We know they are about because we have seen them elsewhere.
There were some new footprints in the snow before it all melted away, so we suspect our gang are awake but having a lie-in.
Last year they emerged on March 16th.
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This morning I was able to put the seed trays back out close to the droopy hedge and a Song Sparrow came for a nibble.
Such a pert, sweet little bird.
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A few afternoons ago, I was throwing peanuts onto the patio.
The lowering sun highlighted a ghostly imprint on the sliding door.
Our windows are festooned with decals that are intended to prevent bird strikes, but alas they are not very effective.
This was most likely a dove. I looked around for the bird but the impact may have happened days ago. One morning recently I found a lot of feathers out there and nothing else. I assumed it had been a hawk attack, but perhaps it was this injured bird.
Undoubtedly it provided a meal for another creature.
Maybe the ghostly image will prevent another collision, at least in that spot. There is a decal a mere inch to the left.
It is a poignant but rather lovely work of art.
As if it captures the very spirit of the bird.
I put decals on my storm door, too, but last week a beautiful Dove flew into the window glass and was killed instantly. It made me sad for the rest of the day. At least it didn’t suffer because it died instantly.
It makes me sad too. The hawks get a lot of doves. They are such sweet little birds.
Thank you, Carolyn, for today’s good news about the beautiful tree. And the pictures of your visiting creatures are very interesting, thank you.
Joanna
We sometimes get perfect impressions of impacted birds. Very pretty, but very sad too!
Unfortunately, I am no tree expert, but it is a beautiful tree. Ah, and it’s so nice to see Little Red again – that little face is way too cute!
I agree that the squirrel looks pregnant. The bird imprint on the glass is quite spooky!
Nice to see the chipmunks out and about.
Best wishes, Pete.
We made some “bird savers”. for our windows. You can buy them or make them yourselves. There are DIY instructions on this website:
https://www.birdsavers.com/
We used paracord, spaced something like 4 inches apart. They seem way too simple to be effective but just a week or so ago my husband commented to me about how few birds now hit our windows. It used to be a regular occurrence. 😢
And thank you for your blog. I enjoy it very much.
Thank you! This sounds like a great idea. (I’ll tell Grant. He is good at making things)
I said “how few birds…” but we think maybe NONE have hit the windows since we put up the birdsavers. We did not add them to all the windows, just the ones that were being hit.
I don’t mind the cords at the windows at all. Some people might not like them, but I thought they might be welcome by a wildlife-loving household such as yours. 🙂