Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Coffee On Tuesday. #25
Hello everyone! It is nice to see you on this chilly Tuesday! That little bit of snow we received Sunday night is still with us. It was not quite an inch of snow, but it kind of froze sort of icy. Fortunately I was more careful than I usually am going out to feed the birds, so I did not slip and slide all over the deck. That part was nice. But it was not really warm enough yesterday to melt this snow completely. It should melt today, however.
We might even get a bit of rain today and tomorrow. I do not really like to see rain this time of the year, it usually ends up freezing and leaving us with icy conditions for a long time. We are supposed to get more snow by the end of the week though, more than this little bit that we have. But most of it is going east of us this time. So, we are being surrounded by big snowstorms, west, north and now, east.
This big lake of ours tends to push storms away from us this time of the year, until it begins to freeze. And lake freezing will be late this year. Which is fine. It helps to shorten the winter a bit. Although really, winter is already here. When temps stay below freezing night and day, then winter has arrived. But that is just me. The birds are hungry this morning.
Those rock doves (pigeons) are also hungry. And they want to come to my feeder this morning. I guess the neighbors have not fed them yet today. They managed to get on the feeder once, and they ate a cup of seeds before I could chase them off. Sigh. I put more seeds out and stood watching out the window. No pigeons. Great. I go sit down at my laptop and I spot one of those birds dropping down from the roof onto the feeder. I had just sat down. I went to the window to chase the bird away and the whole feeder was nearly full of those rock doves!
I chased them away again. Fortunately they had not eaten too much this time. They know when I move away from the window. This happens quite often now. I am trying to scare them away, but it is not easy. There are 52 of them at last count. The number keeps increasing all the time. Word gets around that there is food over this way. But if the neighbors decide to stop feeding, then they come here. I do not want them. They eat too much. They also deliberately scare the other birds away. And they make a big mess.
I think I will just use the hanging feeders for a while and not the platform feeder and see if that will discourage them. Speaking of hanging feeders, I need to make some suet cakes today. The woodpeckers are coming each day now. Fortunately they also will eat sunflower seeds, and the little downy woodpecker will also go to the hanging feeders. But the hairy woodpecker prefers the platform feeder. I put sunflower seeds and peanuts in the suet cakes which the birds love. I also put peanut butter in with the suet cakes too, it gives a little extra boost of energy for the birds in winter.
Hmm, the shrike was just here and scared all the birds away, except for the blue jays. They warned all the other birds right away when they spotted that shrike. The small birds usually just head for the nearest bush or tree and freeze in position when they hear that warning call. All seems to be okay now, the birds are back to eating normally again. Thank you for dropping in today, have a great day everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 
Love those photos ! Especially the gorgeous sunset ! …Your birds are always a delight to see ! None of them around here…only the Blue Jays and chickadees ! They are so cute ! …snow melted here as well…Have a beneficial sleep tonight ! And Muffin too ! 🙂😻😴❤️
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Thanks so much Sharon! Glad you enjoyed them. I did sleep well last night. Have a great day ahead! 😁😻☕☕
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My mother used to make suet cakes too for her birds. She also had countless bird feeders.
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I imagine she had a lot of birds coming around too! 😊😺☕☕
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She did largely because her large garden backed onto a golf course. She loved watching the antics of all the visiting fauna.
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It is definitely fun watching them!
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We have rather more limited interaction with our wildlife but it’s still fun watching their antics
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Yes, that’s why I enjoy feeding them so much, really brightens the winter! But these pigeons are sure a problem this year, I wasn’t counting on that. 🤔😧
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They’re everywhere
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Yep, I should have made my one feeder a bit different to keep them off.
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