For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Good morning everyone! It’s a cloudy, cool and snowy morning here today. There isn’t really a lot of snow, about 1/4 inch (6mm). And the snow continues to fall, but it’s small flakes and very light, yet a sure reminder that winter isn’t far away. Oh well, that’s okay, winter will be a little shorter this year and that’s fine with me. The birds are busy having fun eating their breakfast this morning. There are now more than 70 evening grosbeaks out there each morning, well, they stay all day until about 3pm. Then only a few remain for about another hour, then it’s quiet except for the chickadees and nuthatches, plus a few blue jays, usually 4 of them.
Those grosbeaks are such a beautiful, bright and cheery colored bird to have around. And their constant chirping sounds cheerful as well, like they are really enjoying themselves. The purple finches are still here too. Hmm, something just scared all the birds away again. I couldn’t see anything, but I used the opportunity to put out more seeds. The birds are now back and filling up every feeder out there! The blue jays are busy too taking away peanuts to hide for later use. One of them likes to hide his fairly close by, which is not a good choice.
I watch Jasper every day out there going around and finding all these “hidden” peanuts and carrying them off to hide in his secret places. One day I watched him do that and he carefully chose a nice hiding spot and covered it with leaves. Then he came back to look for more. After he left a blue jay came down and found the peanut that Jasper had hidden and off he flew with it. It started with a blue jay and ended up back with a blue jay. It was really kind of funny watching all of this happen.
It might have even been the blue jay that hid it the first time, I don’t know, but that would make it even more funny. Jasper could save a lot of time and energy if he would just come here and get his peanuts. But maybe he enjoys doing it his way. It feels cold out there this morning, 30F (-1C), but with the wind it feels more like 20F (-7C). Hmm, the birds must be out of food, they’re just sitting in the trees, waiting for me to come out with more. Have a wonderful day everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
Β©2021 Steve McLeod.
Lovely photos but thatβs so chilly π₯Ά
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Thanks Sheree! Yes, definitely cooling off, but it’s going to warm up again for another week which is very nice, shortens the winter some more!
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Indeed
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Jasper needs more to do during the day…πππ
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I think he’s doing this to get out of the house and all that nest cleaning!πππΈ
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Smarter than he looks!π€£π€£π€£
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Yep, that’s for sure! Jasmine has lots of things for him to do, so if he stays out looking for food it’s better.πππΉπΉ
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At least he’s not chasing her through the trees anymore.ππ
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Good thing, he’s really putting on the ounces!
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Oooooo…. poor Jasper!π
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He claims it’s his new winter fur coat, but it sure sticks out around the middle!π
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He’s working on his dad bod!πππ€£π€£π€£π€£
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I better not tell him that, he’ll probably faint again.π³πππΉπΉ
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You just can’t fight mother nature!!!π€£π€£π€£π€£π€£
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sounds like you need to have another talk with Jasper…
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So true but it’s getting kind of chilly to sit out there with him.π€
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Our blue jays follow the squirrels around…they easily scoop up the seeds and peanuts which were hidden by the squirrels…great pics ! Sleep well ! ππ»π΄
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Yep, the blue jays do that here too, but the squirrel gets back at them by finding theirs! Thanks!π Have a good night!ππ»ππ΄
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Steve, I enjoy your photos. As I read this post, I picture “bird feeder” traffic control being overwhelmed with the volume of bird traffic.
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Yes indeed, it gets wild out there at times! Many near misses every day! Thanks so much!
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Your comment about “near misses” fits right into my vision.
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Yep, it’s amazing watching them sometime coming and going!
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