The rat I called “Oscar” was very cautious. He lived under our concrete porch. I would watch for him from our large living room window. He would dash out five feet and feed on the spilled sunflower seed from our feeder overhead. He would only spend a few seconds feeding and immediately dash back to the safety of his entrance.
He would sometimes share the space with the squirrels. Once he actually briefly rubbed noses with a squirrel and then there was a brief tousle and both creatures fled the scene. Sometimes he chases the squirrels away. I never watched a rat so closely. I have seen mice before but this is the first I have ever seen a rat. I am concerned where he will go if we block his openings.
Tags: bird feeder, I never saw a rat before so close up, mice, rat, rat fed on birdseed, rat lived under our porch, squirrels, sunflower seed
Posted in animals, local, nature |
In the week I was gone my goldfinch stopped coming to my feeders. That happens every year. The goldfinch come in a steady stream to my feeders in the early spring. Then they stop. I sometimes wonder what they feed on later on but, obviously, it is something other the sunflower seed I put out for them. It is always a mystery to me.
Tags: bird-feeders, bird-watching, birds, God, goldfinch, spring, sunflower seed
Posted in beauty, birds, God, knowledge&learning, local, nature, time |
The squirrel found a way to outwit me. I have a “squirrel proof” bird feeder now damaged after squirrels managed at least twice to dump it on the ground. Finally I hung it attached by wire at the top of a nail. It was partially exposed to the elements and I was concerned when it rained moisture would get into the feeder and the sunflower seed would mold. A squirrel was on it this morning totally extended from the top eagerly feeding through the hole. If he put his whole weight on the rest of the feeder, the carriage would go down and shut the openings and he could no longer get at the birdseed. I realized that was the only way he could outwit me and my squirrel proof feeder was no longer squirrel proof. Outwitted by a squirrel. How disgusting.
Tags: bird feeder, bird feeding, birds, birdseed, my squirrel proof bird feeder, outwitted by a squirrel, squirrels, sunflower seed
Posted in animals, humor, local, nature, time |
Hopefully the black bear will stay away. He visited us twice and wrecked our gate to get over our five foot fence. Then he tore down all our bird feeders and got into the container of sunflower seed. My wife actually saw him. I am guessing his sex. I never did find the bird feeder we kept sunflower seed in. I bought another inexpensive one. The birds are slowly coming back. It had been a few days we had no feed for them. My wife was sound asleep in the living room which has a large front window. He came to our property at night. It just so happened I was away when this occurred. Yesterday a carpenter built us a sturdy gate. Let us see if that keeps the bear from entering our property. My wife is terrified of the bear and stopped sleeping in the living room. She wants nothing to do with this “critter”. This is the first time we had a bear on our property since we built a fence around part of it.
Tags: a visit from a black bear, bear climbed five foot fence, bird-feeders, birds, dogs were all asleep, my wife, our birdseed and the bear, our torn down gate, sunflower seed, the bear and our front gate
Posted in animals, birds, local, marriage, nature, time |
I put out all my birdseed. I was out of all my different kinds–regular, sunflower, suet and thistle. A nuthatch immediately found the birdseed (regular) on the platform I laid seed on. I put fresh thistle for the goldfinch. My wife said they all migrated away. I suspected the thistle (which I had bought months ago) had gone stale. I will see who is right. I almost never run out of feed for them. It was only a day so they were not out of feed too long. Anyway, I now will continue to watch the visitors that come to my feeders.
Tags: bird feeding, bird-watching, birds, birdseed, goldfinch, my wife, nuthatch, suet, sunflower seed, thistle, watching the birds out my window
Posted in birds, local, nature, time |
It has been snowing for awhile and everything is white. The snow is a wet, heavy one. I have never seen our lilac bush so bent. I am not going anywhere so I might as well enjoy the scenery viewed from my back and front window. The branches of trees are all bent by the weight of the snow. It is only an half a dozen times a year I might see the white landscape. I made sure my bird feeder was full this morning with sunflower seed. I know the birds have to forage a little harder in the snow but they have to eat, too.
Tags: autumn, bird feeder, bird feeding, birds, lilac bush, snow, snowfall, sunflower seed, trees, weight of the snow, white, white landscape, window
Posted in beauty, birds, local, nature, seasons, time |
I am glad the tufted titmice are back–as common as they are. There was seed that was not picked over and the birds returned. I even saw black-capped chickadees again. And today saw a house wren. Even birds are particular what they eat. I was really glad to see a steady stream of titmouse again. For that matter I never remembered seeing them before I put out sunflower seed. I appreciated them a little more.
Tags: bird feeding, bird seed, bird-watching, birds, black capped chickadee, house wren, sunflower seed, tufted titmouse
Posted in beauty, birds, knowledge&learning, local, nature, seasons, time |
Twice in the last week I have seen a female cardinal feed another one. I believe she was feeding on sunflower seed. This was unusual behavior. The two were adult females. And neither appeared to be hurt or injured in any way. Once they were on the ground. And another time on the bird feeder that had mostly sunflower seed on it. One fed the other directly beak to beak. This behavior had me stumped.
Tags: bird beak, bird feeder, bird-watching, birds, cardinal, feeding birds, female cardinal feeding another one, sunflower seed
Posted in beauty, birds, God, knowledge&learning, local, nature, relationships, time |
A chickadee came to visit yesterday. I had repacked the feeder with clean sunflower seed. The birds had stopped coming to it. I was thrilled when I saw my first chickadee visit the feeder. They are one of my favorite birds to watch. I always love watching their antics. I had not seen one in a long time. Or any bird come to this feeder. Now I will await the next visitors.
Tags: bird feeder, bird feeding, bird-watching, birds, chickadee, sunflower seed
Posted in beauty, birds, local, nature, time |
We have a large white pine tree outside our living room window. Three large branches lay under it plus one small one. The weight of the ice from the storm ripped them off the tree. Today is the second morning after the freezing rain and there they lay. I don’t want to keep them there. Somehow I think it is bad karma to do so but the birds don’t mind: they keep coming feeding on the sunflower seed I put out. I still want to do something about it.
Tags: bird feeding, bird-watching, birds, freezing rain, icestorm, pine tree, sunflower seed, winter
Posted in birds, local, seasons, time |
The storm left all the trees with a coat of ice. This only happens once or twice a year. The trees were beautiful as they glistened in the sunlight. I glanced out my bedroom and the large mulberry tree was completely covered with ice. Outside my large living room door (???) were three branches of my white pine snapped off by the weight of the ice. It was a day to stay in and watch the birds come to the sunflower seed. Things could be worse: the whole town of Liverpool lost their electrical power in the storm. We still had it.
Tags: beautiful, bird feeding, bird-watching, birds, ice, ice storm, mulberry tree, pine tree, sunflower seed, trees coated with ice
Posted in beauty, birds, local, nature, seasons, time |
It is a day to stay in. No doctors appointments. Nothing I need to buy. There is plenty of food in the house. There is no reason to go out. I am enjoying the flurries and the swarms of birds I can see out my large dining room window. The first thing I did after dressing was put out more sunflower seed.
I am almost finished with my morning coffee. The hour, though, is late morning. I am about to start the coal stove. Everything is set: there is wood I collected and coal in buckets. I just have to play with it.
Last night I was up in the wee hours (1:20AM) reading a book I could not put down (“The Soloist”). It was made into a movie I wanted to see and could not find. I happened to be in the library and was looking for the movie to rent but they did not have it.
It never occurred to me until then to read the book. The prose was scintillating. I was riveted by the writing and could not put it down last night until I finished it. Now my wife is also reading “The Soloist”.
Tags: "The Soloist", bird feeding, bird-watching, birds, book, coal stove, firewood, large window, library, morning coffee, movie, plenty of food, reading, snow flurries, stay indoors, sunflower seed
Posted in beauty, birds, local, mental health, relationships, time |