Woke to find a great deal of snow. Measured with a ruler and found 16 cm had fallen on the patio railing. I swept it off to make a platform for the juncos who happily munched on the thistle and crushed sunflower seeds.
I was just leaving my block on a walk when I heard birds making calls I did not recognize. It turned out to be Cedar Waxwings flocking up ( okay, maybe only five) in my neighbour's tree. I couldn't believe it as I hadn't seen any for a few years. I hurried back to my house and grabbed the binoculars and saw, sure enough, that they were, indeed, Cedar Waxwings. One of them obligingly showed me his white undertail so I could properly ID the Waxwing as a Cedar and not a Bohemian, which has a rusty coloured undertail.
Took the bird call to the woods today and squeaked it for around 40 seconds. Nothing happened. No birds came all curious to see what the noise was about. Although a juvenile Bald Eagle flew over my head about twenty-five fee up and did a circle around and then flew off. Then a second one launched itself out of the top of a Western Hemlock and followed the first. Could be coincidence though, since Bald Eagles hang around that part of the forest. I have seen them before.
Spotted a Downy at the suet feeder today. ( No, unfortunately not Robert Downy Jr.) He didn't stay long even though he could ft very comfortably through the cage bars like the juncos do and could sit and eat at his leisure. For a moment I couldn't figure out if he was a Downy woodpecker or a Hairy woodpecker as they are so close in markings and colouring. Then I remembered "DD". "Downy" is "Diminutive" and so, therefore much smaller than the Hairy. That can also be tricky to figure out if you don't have the two birds side-by-side to compare sizes. Am I right? I figure though, that if he can fit easy as kiss-the-back-of-my-hand (to quote Jack Aubrey) into the feeder cage, then it must be the Downy.
The Steller's Jays are very clever you know. They now come to the fig tree and look into the art room. They can clearly see me and wait patiently for me to go into the kitchen and get their peanuts. (Yeah, patiently, without screeching... amazing.) They then follow with a short flutter to the patio and await their handout.
Snow is slowly melting around the neighbourhood under the relentless drizzle of rain. Further up the hill, one can see snowfall fresh on the slopes.
How quickly the days pass, Dec 5th being the last entry. Weather has been for the most part sunnier and drier than the previous December. Christmas Day turned out to be a white Christmas after all. Morning drizzle changed to snow as we chatted, drank coffee and looked out of the living room window. It started to slowly melt on Boxing Day but then, when we awoke this morning found that another snowfall had coated everything in white once again.
While I was watching out the window, doing my bird count for the week, I saw a crow playing mid-air. He had a piece of food or maybe a twig and would fly quite high and let it drop. He would then plummet to catch it. He repeated this manouver until I lost sight of him behind the fir tree. How cool is that?
It's always the way, you think nothing is happening outside and a quick glance out of the window seems to confirm this. I find though, that after a small interval of time quietly watching, something new is always seen.
A very snowy weekend. The snow stayed on the ground long enough for the park and Boulevard to be filled with people making snowmen and forts by the dozen. Teenagers, normally too cool to be amazed by anything, had fallen to their knees and were scraping snow into their arms, and with a lurching run, would deposit it in piles some ways over to facilitate in whatever structure they were making. By around three in the afternoon the next day, it began to rain and that was that. It warmed up to +4 and then to +12 by Monday. Heary rain followed unfortunately and caused a lot of flooding in the valley.
This annoying because I find myself making journal entries in two different books, so any days missing need to be checked for in the large black book... no, not the one with the heavier paper, but the other one, with the lighter-weight paper... and not the square black, lighter-weight paper one either, but the rectangular-shaped one. Yeesh.
Okay. So. I went down to Maplewood Flats which is a nice little bird conservation area. Not much happening today, but I gather, from the long bird list on the side of the cabin, it can be a busy place.
Today we saw pine siskins for the first time. It was helpful that an older fellow mentioned they were around because to me they just looked like streaky sparrows. It was hard to make out the yellow in the wings and tail as indicated by the book. So if the kind birder hadn't mentioned it, it would haven been frustrating to say the least.
Also seen: An American Widgeon hanging out with a flock of mallards
Two female Buffleheads ( no males nearby)
Red-winged Blackbirds
Black-capped Chickadees
Green-winged Teal
Numerous gulls ( too complicated to sort out)
Great Blue Heron
Horned Grebe ( small and energetic!)
A loon that was too far away to make out what kind.