Good morning on this chilly, snowy Friday! Yes, I woke up to that white snow covering everything outside this morning. Not much though, less than an inch (2cm), and most of it has melted now. The birds were here early and digging through the snow to find some seeds leftover from yesterday. They were not doing so good, however, since there really was no leftovers to find.

I must admit to not being very thrilled at seeing snow around this time of the year. However, it was only a reminder of what is coming, not winter itself moving in. And the temperature has already risen to 34F (1C). The evening grosbeaks just took over the bird feeder by chasing all the blue jays away. Several of the grosbeaks now stand up to the blue jays, which is good to see. They are learning.

There are so many juncos around now, they are all over the ground and the deck, and trying to get on the feeders. The grosbeaks do not mind sharing with them. The white-throated sparrows have all gone now it would seem, and I have not seen the fox sparrow since Wednesday. The chickadees and nuthatches keep squeezing in between the other birds to get seeds.

I like to spend a little time out there each day which keeps the bigger birds off the feeder so the chickadees and nuthatches can get seeds more easily for a while. It was a bit cool yesterday though, but I still stayed out there for a little while anyway. I will do the same today. I have lost quite a few chickadees though. There was about a dozen of them, now I only see 4.

Nuthatches are still the same number, but they are more aggressive than the chickadees and do not mind fighting a bit with the other birds to get their seeds. Chickadees are not aggressive type birds, so they give up and move elsewhere if the competition is too much. But I am hoping they will come back once I have things set up properly. They are not far away, they just moved to the neighbors next to me, on either side.

Those people have hanging feeders which the bears leave alone. That is interesting too. They are low enough that the bears could easily reach them, but they do not. Sigh. I am still working on my fall cleaning. It is taking a long time, but I am not doing much each week. Basically, Friday afternoon is devoted to my fall cleaning. So it takes a while.

But it is safer this way, so I do not overdo it and hurt myself. This has nothing to do with my regular cleaning though. Well, it is almost time for the birds to have their lunch. I hope you enjoy the pics today. Have a wonderful Friday everyone and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2022 Steve McLeod.