What is your weather today?
- Thread starter RicinYakima
- Start date
L Ross
Well-Known Member
Minus 6 here in Southwest Wisconsin's Driftless Area. Clear sky, no wind, and raining. Raining you say? Raining Blue Jays! First come the crepuscular species, the Cardinals and Juncoes in the pre dawn grey, then Mourning Doves. But as the light brightens here come the Jays, they fall on the peanuts and shelled corn like a horde of Mongols on a peasant village. They intimidate all the other seed eaters save one, the Red Bellied Woodpecker with that big black dagger of a beak. And the RB knows he has a beak too!
All of them explode for safety when the Sharp Shinned Hawk arrives. If pandemonium had a video, that would be it. Even the squirrels tend to freeze on the side of the Maple and I know they are too big and too mean for a Sharp Shinned, but instinct is instinct.
The high price of feed I fear will curtail some folks from feeding, but we will just muddle through as the sheer pleasure the bird give us out weighs the costs. We do have a mean trick with the suet feeder. We have this log with holes bored in it about an inch deep and an inch in diameter that we pack with a mixture of ground venison fat and peanut butter. It is very popular with the birds, nearly all of them. Even Cardinals will peck at it when the temperatures drop this low. If we put it out there with the suet mix unfrozen, the birds will empty it in an hour or so. The Jays grab big globs and fly off. But, if we refill the holes and put it out after dark, the mix freezes so hard they peck on it until late afternoon. We have gone through two 5 qt. ice cream pails of ground suet and about 3 lbs. of peanut butter since late November.
All of them explode for safety when the Sharp Shinned Hawk arrives. If pandemonium had a video, that would be it. Even the squirrels tend to freeze on the side of the Maple and I know they are too big and too mean for a Sharp Shinned, but instinct is instinct.
The high price of feed I fear will curtail some folks from feeding, but we will just muddle through as the sheer pleasure the bird give us out weighs the costs. We do have a mean trick with the suet feeder. We have this log with holes bored in it about an inch deep and an inch in diameter that we pack with a mixture of ground venison fat and peanut butter. It is very popular with the birds, nearly all of them. Even Cardinals will peck at it when the temperatures drop this low. If we put it out there with the suet mix unfrozen, the birds will empty it in an hour or so. The Jays grab big globs and fly off. But, if we refill the holes and put it out after dark, the mix freezes so hard they peck on it until late afternoon. We have gone through two 5 qt. ice cream pails of ground suet and about 3 lbs. of peanut butter since late November.
Winelover
North Central Arkansas
Keep two black oiler sunflower feeders out all year round. Just put our suet and peanut feeder out yesterday. Birds found it in nothing flat. The Pileated woodpeckers were on the suet in less than an hour. We have at least one pair but hear them more than we see them.......until the suet goes out. No jays yet, they've been intermittent all year, they will find the peanuts soon. Bluebirds have been scarce this year.
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L Ross
Well-Known Member
We are only hogging about 13 Jays as near as I can tell. Perhaps 100 individual birds of all species over all. That will increase as Winter progresses, if past Winters are any indication. Last year we could only estimate the Juncoes as they covered the ground feeding area by January's end. We also have the prairie and Sue's extensive wild flower beds and both are alive with small birds for both the natural seed and the cover they provide.
Winelover
North Central Arkansas
We know winter has arrived in the Ozarks, when the juncos arrive. 
We get a lot of different birds, passing though. Either, heading south for winter or north for the summer. Most commonly seen, year round residents, are Cardinals, titmice, chickadees, Carolina wrens, goldfinches, nuthatches, mourning doves, house and purple finches. Woodpeckers are the pileated, red bellied, downy, hairy, yellow bellied sapsucker and the Flicker. Occasionally, a red headed will show but the red bellied runs it off. None mess with the large pileated. Hawks include the Red tailed, Broad-winged, Red-shouldered, Sharp-Shinned, Coopers, and the tiny Kestrel. An occasional bald eagle flies over, on it's way to the nearby lake.
On News Year's Eve we briefly saw a Yellow-Rumped Warbler. Didn't sit still long enough for Cindy to get a picture. Days before that, flock of cedar waxwings passed though. I have plenty of cedar trees scattered among the oaks, on the acreage, but the waxwings never stay for long.
We get a lot of different birds, passing though. Either, heading south for winter or north for the summer. Most commonly seen, year round residents, are Cardinals, titmice, chickadees, Carolina wrens, goldfinches, nuthatches, mourning doves, house and purple finches. Woodpeckers are the pileated, red bellied, downy, hairy, yellow bellied sapsucker and the Flicker. Occasionally, a red headed will show but the red bellied runs it off. None mess with the large pileated. Hawks include the Red tailed, Broad-winged, Red-shouldered, Sharp-Shinned, Coopers, and the tiny Kestrel. An occasional bald eagle flies over, on it's way to the nearby lake.On News Year's Eve we briefly saw a Yellow-Rumped Warbler. Didn't sit still long enough for Cindy to get a picture. Days before that, flock of cedar waxwings passed though. I have plenty of cedar trees scattered among the oaks, on the acreage, but the waxwings never stay for long.
RicinYakima
High Steppes of Eastern Washington
Six inches of fresh powder snow since midnight and going to keep up for most of the day. All of the passes over the mountains are closed. NOAA says it will warmup when the snow quits for the day.
smokeywolf
Well-Known Member
26 degrees here this morning. Calm and still, sun shining. Really beautiful. Schlepped the trash out to the road. Had to use the butane torch on the gate lock as pins were frozen and I couldn't get the key in.
Winelover
North Central Arkansas
Common occurrence when temps dip below freezing, after a little liquid moisture. Spray some WD 40 in the lock, afterwards.
Winelover
North Central Arkansas
Ross, yesterday afternoon the Sharp-shinned hawk, buzzed the feeders on three different occasions. Cindy managed to get a couple of pictures but they weren't up to her standards and didn't post them on FB. Hawk landed briefly, in a tree 40 yards away, but it's back was facing us.
smokeywolf
Well-Known Member
Waterfurnace (geothermal heat pump company) has a lead time of about a month and we had to wait until the new year to do some money shuffling.How come?
Winelover
North Central Arkansas
Thirty eight, currently, 42* at 5 AM. Brisk NW winds, today. Going down to the mid 20's tonight, middle teens by Thursday morning. Special Weather Statement out for tomorrow, morning. Minor accumulations expected for parts of North Central Arkansas........ glancing blow from Missouri's snowy forecast. Rain for the weekend.
Glaciers
Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
Blues sky! I do have a vague memory of them. Well hopefully by Friday I’ll get to see some first hand.
Awesome sunset pictures for sure.
CWLONGSHOT
Well-Known Member
Snow overnight but just dusting changer to sleet and ice on all surfaces untreated.
Now its about 33/34 and drizzling.
Now its about 33/34 and drizzling.