Friday, November 13, 2009

feeders


It is feeling a lot like snow today, the feeders have been very busy today with the cool weather, 1c with wind chill making it feel like -5c. I spend some time today filling all the seed and Suet feeders because of the increased use. This year we have about 50 Evening Grosbeaks which is exciting as I was just reading an article stating that the Evening Grosbeak population has declined 78% in the last 40 years.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Short-eared Owl

I spotted this little beauty just off our property while driving to town. He was good enough to stay in place until I got my camera. After taking some pictures i turned around and spotted another, sitting on the power line behind me. I suspect it was a family group and this was a youngster and the other an adult.
We generally get them showing up in October and November on the way south, and again in the spring after the snow goes. One year I did discover one here in the middle of summer so I suspect that they could nest around here.
It is looking a lot like winter will soon be here, we have had a few days of snow and I think it will soon be staying.
The seed and suet feeders are all full and I am in a search for a supply of pork fat to nail to the trees as the birds seem to like that the most. Sunflower seeds are getting very expensive, I bought a 18kg bag for $17.99 last week and this week in the same store the same bag was $29.95. We have started to put out the shelled seeds which are costly also but there is much less waste.