Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Tuesday’s Chatter. #17
Good morning everyone! How are all of you doing on this fine Tuesday? Oh my, it is a chilly morning indeed. The temperature this morning is 14F (-10C), colder if the wind is factored in too. Yesterday we had a daytime high of 23F (-5C), which is very cold for this time of the year. Our daytime high should be 50F (10C) so we are well below normal. Plus, yesterday we received another 3 1/4 inches (8cm) of new snow.
That brings our total snow for the winter to 10 feet, 2 inches. Oddly enough that is still not a record for us, but it is still too much snow for one winter and is well above our normal snowfall. Oh well, these things happen. There are lots of birds around still, even more showed up in that snow yesterday. Mainly blackbirds, both grackles and red-winged blackbirds. I did count 57 red-winged blackbirds, but grackles were tougher to count for some reason, but I am sure there was at least 50, perhaps more, I only managed to get into the 40s counting them before they would fly.
They are a pest at the feeders though, keeping the smaller birds away from the seeds. A few is okay, 100 is much too many. And it is not easy chasing them away. However, the Cooper’s hawk was trying to help with that and scared those big birds away several times. I am sure the hawk finally caught one of the red-winged blackbirds. Their wings are not red, however, but they do have a red shoulder patch which is very bright, mostly when they fly, very seldom when they are just sitting.
I have tried to get a picture of one with that red patch showing, but without success so far. I am showing two pics of them today, both show the light yellow stripe on the wings, that is where the red patch is as well, when it can be seen. They refuse to come down while I am standing out there or I could perhaps get a pic of one flying in. Oh well. It was just starting to snow when I was taking pics yesterday. All the pics today were from yesterday, except the black-capped chickadee which was Sunday evening, very late actually.
It was starting to get dark. I did not think the photo would turn out, but it did. Spring. A beautiful time of the year. Last year at this time our garden centers were open and I was buying flowers for the pots on my deck. I did not need to wear a jacket, or winter boots. Amazing difference. Would you like some more coffee? I am going to get some more. It will be another coffee day. I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin. (Praying for the people of Ukraine)
©2022 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 
Even the birds look fed up with the weather Steve
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Yes, they certainly do! I think everyone wants spring now!
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A coffee day indeed! Hope the weather warms up for you soon!
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Thanks Katie! It is supposed to get back to normal by the end of the week. I hope the forecast is right!
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Hi Steve! I have a question for you. I think I told you that a robin made a nest in the wreath on my front door. Well, the eggs hatched and there are 3 tiny babies. Today something really odd happened. When I walked by the mother bird flew off the nest and landed a few feet away, but another mother was sitting there and she flew away. Two birds were sitting on the nest at the same time! I am guessing they were both females, but I don’t really know. Have you ever heard of anything like that?!!
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Hi Cindy, most likely one was a male, perhaps he came to feed the female which is common so she does not need to leave the nest. Because they likely saw you ahead of time and the male stayed still until you got close, then he flew to distract you. The female would be the last to leave the nest. Sometimes the male is a darker orange than the female, but that is not always true, often they are are same color so difficult to tell them apart. That would be my guess for that one. They also take turns sitting on the nest and they may have been in the process of switching places when you came along. That is interesting to see either way! Nice to know there are 3 babies in there. We still have cold weather and lots of snow and you have robins nesting! It’s going to be a late year for nesting up this way. Nice to have a nest so close to watch like that!😊😺
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Thanks for answering my question. There are definitely two different robins taking care of the nest. I am enjoying watching them so much! I wish I could get some good pics. Maybe when the babies are bigger I can. Blessings, Steve!
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Yes, I’m sure that you will get some great pics as they get bigger. Interesting they came back to the same spot to nest, must be the same female and she liked it there! God bless!
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