Good morning on this very wet Tuesday! We had some rain overnight again, another inch (2.5cm). Not much really, I guess, but we have had a lot of rain the last 3 weeks. Reminds me of 2019 when we had so much rain in the fall, starting mid August and into October. I don’t think we are getting quite so much this year, but it’s still a lot for autumn. Another long range forecast is telling us to expect an earlier than normal winter, but not as early as the other 2 forecasts. I still say early and lots of snow. The chipmunks and blue jays have sure been busy this morning. Due to the heavy clouds it has been a rather dark morning so far, and all my visitors were late getting here.

But once they showed up, they have been going steady, like they are in a race. It’s amazing how fast those chipmunks can pick up the sunflower seeds. Just like a vacuum cleaner. Once cheeks are full, then they will grab a peanut, if there are any left, and off they go to their dens and come right back as fast as they can! At one point a chipmunk was chasing another chipmunk, then a third came along and joined the chase, then a fourth joined in. So there was a row of 4 chipmunks running around the deck, looked more like playing “follow the leader” than a real chase. Then a fifth joined in, now things are really getting interesting. I wonder if he even knew what was going on?

Then Skamper showed up and he scattered the whole bunch of them. At times there were 4 together picking up seeds, but usually it’s only 2 or 3. Plus the blue jays next to them picking up their peanuts. Some of them get along quite well with the chipmunks, others try to boss the chipmunks. That works for the younger chipmunks, but Skamper, Pocket and Coffee don’t put up with that and will then chase the blue jays. For a while there was two chipmunks in a chase and they were really flying around the deck!

The blue jays would come down for peanuts and these two chipmunks would run across the step scaring the blue jays away. This happened 5 times in a row, so the blue jays gave up and just sat on the railing watching those two chipmunks until they finally stopped. By that time the other chipmunks had taken all the peanuts. So I put more out and the blue jays were then in a hurried panic to get them before the chipmunks got back, and they managed to do it.

Then there’s the grackles. One or two is okay, but there was over 50 of them this morning, so I had to stand watching to keep them away from the food. They are the same size as blue jays, well, a bit smaller actually, but they are a mean bird, and tough, so they chase away the blue jays. So large numbers of them are not welcome here, but it happens every migration time, spring and fall. It’s worse in the fall however, they are around longer then. Chilly this morning too, it’s a good morning for coffee. And more coffee. I hope you have a wonderful day and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2021 Steve McLeod.