I'd join the thousands of fellow New Englanders today and decide to take the day off instead of battling traffic to get to and from work. As the day progressed I'd be happy with my decision, not only due to road conditions but bird activity which was the heaviest I've seen it all year including a bonus visit from a Cooper's since the food was a plenty!! Not sure if the coops ever scored a meal, but the small birds scattered before I even saw it land on the tree so I'm guessing no.
The most numerous birds continue to be the Northern Cardinals, American Goldfinches and yes the House Sparrows which I don't mind as much as they bring with them a bunch of American Tree Sparrows and I'd have 10 of them at my feeders this afternoon which was nice.
Looking as disgusted with the snow as many of us are! I use the temporary chicken wire fence only during winter feeding for the birds to give them protection from the neighbors cats which has worked well in the three years I've been doing it. It also gives the birds nice resting spots of perching as they contemplate the day.
The one above is my favorite as I watched it for a good 10 minutes where it attempted to eas thistle from the tube feeder as well as suet which it really seemed to enjoy.
I'd put out thistle feeder number two last evening in anticipation of the storm and both the goldfinches and I were happy with that decision as there was room for all and a temporary end to the goldfinch fighting! I keep my eyes on there birds in hopes to see them turn brighter which is one of my first signs and hopes of spring.
Northern Cardinal "Walking like an Egyptian".
The cardinals are also starting to come in pairs which gives me hope the snow will soon be gone and gone for the rest of the season!
Yes I'm taking a picture of you. The least you can do is pose considering how much $ I spend to feed you and the fact I will be out there tomorrow morning shoveling 2 feet of snow to make a path to keep you nourished!
Black-capped Chickadee eating the freeze dried meal worms as if they were valentines candy. Yum!
The highlight of my day but would be lying if I said I didn't dread getting out there in the morning to shovel a path and clear off the feeders. I will be doing it though as I know how dependent these birds are on human handouts with weather like this.
And besides that birding has been close to null the past couple of weeks as I'd be housebound all last weekend. My wisdom tooth decided to come in a little more which caused me to spike a fever which caused me another shingles outbreak. This happened the same time last year so my Dr wanted me to pay him a visit for some tests. He doesn't think it's anything too earth shattering but agrees with me that's it's bizarre that I'd have problems with my wisdom teeth (a problem most people under 25 have) coupled with shingles (a problem most people over 55 have), but then hey, I'm pretty unique! ;-) It's given me plenty of time to perfect my bread which gets better each loaf.
One from today as I watched the birds. Didn't come out as well as it should have and I'm guessing it's because I steam baked it for 10 minutes and baked the bread in cast iron and the two don't mix. Who would have thought baking bread would be as scientific as it's turned out to be.
But my handsdown favorite flour concoction of the month is my pie crust. Pardon how primitive it looks but it's still a work in progress for me. While it looks sloppy I have to say it was the best pie crust I ever had and owe it to the fact I used two sticks of butter and 1/4 cup coconut oil. The coconut oil gave it an incredible flavor and was so good I could have just eaten the crust and nothing else.
With that said, I've been feeling better the past couple of days and the shingles are starting to dry out so hoping that's the last of it for the year as I'm getting some serious cabin fever and it's still only the beginning of February.
Take care all.
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