Pine Siskin

I am so excited! I just saw my first Pine Siskin for this year. They did not show up last year at all, so I am so pleased to see that at least one has come back. According to the Big Backyard Birdcount last year was such a mild winter that they stayed further north through the winter, so we didn't see any. This year has been a much colder winter so far, so they have come back! Yea! I do have a thistle feeder out there and I know they love thistle, but it's a very small one and not conveniently located - I will have to change that!

But not today - it is far to windy and blustery and rainy today. According to the weather guys we are in for another wild windstorm. And altough the wind hasn't started yet, the rain sure has. I did go out and fill bird feeders and the squirrel feeder and threw a little corn out. But the only reason I did that was that one of the squirrels was on one of the suet feeders. Those little critters are so smart. I bought these domes to keep the squirrels from climbing down the chains to the suet feeders and that works just fine, but this squirrel was too smart for that, he JUMPED from the fence over to the suet. It swung and swayed like everything, but he hung on and then was eating to his heart's content. The little rascal. So I had to go out and fix that right away.

While I was at it, I also changed the sugar-water in the hummingbird window feeders. I do that from inside, however. I just raise the window and reach out and pull them in. The little hummer came while I was doing that and he just helped himself to the feeder I wasn't taking down. Didn't seem to bother him that I was there at all. Then when I came back, he was still at the feeder, he flew away momentarily while I switched the feeders, but came back and started right in on the freshly filled one. I just love these little guys.

The little wren was also back this morning. He is so cute with his little perky tail. He was digging around in the dirt that I have beneath one of the planters. Right now there is just black plastic and a little dirt there, in the spring I am going to plant something there, not sure what yet, but for right now, it's a catch-all for seeds dropped from the feeder up above.

• Posted at Thursday, December 14, 2006 04:23 PM
• In General Category | Permalink