The backyard – or perhaps garden and back woods is more appropriate – is teeming on this cold and bright February day. There is still ice up close to the house, making the exit to fill the birdfeeders tricky. But on the patio and in the garden, an abundance of food has brought an abundance of partakers.
Many kinds of finches cover the finch feeder, as though it were a drawing to demonstrate just how many kinds of finches there are. And the goldfinches are re-emerging, going from their drab winter feathers to the green-gold of spring and summer. Black capped chickadees go from the finch food to the regular food, depending on where the crowd is. And they are the quickest of those around right now. Cardinals and mourning doves hang out in separate groups, the cardinals looking around, the slow moving doves with eyes on the ground.
Downy woodpeckers and their larger kin the flickers spend much time on the suet feeder. The squirrels are everywhere, trying for everything, but mostly going after the sunflower seed, and contesting with the blue jays over the peanuts.
The deer have learned to use those long tongues to get food from one feeder, and are disappointed that the salt block on the upper patio is all used up.
And a squirrel has found a way to climb the suet feeder yet again, though I covered the pole with suet to make it slippery for him just a few minutes ago.
So I’ll go bang on the back stormdoor – he’ll disappear for at least a while after that! Talk to you later!