Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Coffee At Steve’s Country #17.
Good morning to everyone on this beautiful Sunday! Grab yourself a cup of coffee and relax with Muffin and I for a few minutes. It’s another cloudy morning with just a little light snow. And there is a lot of bird activity today, including that shrike that just arrived again. The blue jays sounded the alarm and all the small birds disappeared while the jays went after the shrike. It doesn’t take long, that shrike knows better than to try and fight a bunch of blue jays, even if there is only 2 or 3. Blue jays know how to fight that shrike and they are not afraid to do so. I’m sure they have saved a lot of birds at my feeder by chasing that shrike away. It’s all clear now and the little birds are back at the feeders, well, all except the evening grosbeaks. They flew quite a distance when that shrike appeared.
Shrikes generally want the smaller birds though and even the grosbeaks are a bit big and hard to catch. However, if the shrike hasn’t eaten for awhile it will go after just about anything. Normally it’s chickadees, nuthatches and redpolls that are on their menu, the smallest and easiest to catch birds, the ones that can’t fight back. Even redpolls are not often on their list since they also fly fast and erratic, though the shrike can too. Theodore was here this morning so I went out to get some pics and talk to him a bit. He likes to come early so it’s not very good light for pics, but I tried anyway.
“Hey, your tail is looking a lot better now Theodore.” Gerbil, gerbil. “You’re sitting in bigger trees now that have bigger branches, smart idea, easier on the tail feathers.” Gerbil, gerbil. “It’s cold this morning? Why it’s only -12C (10F), it’s going to get colder this week.” Gerbil, gerbil? “Yes, it gets colder than this.” Gerbil, gerbil. “No, you won’t die, you have good warm feathers.” Gerbil, gerbil. “Well, yes, you do have long legs with no feathers on them, you have to sit on your legs.” Gerbil, gerbil. “True, that does make it hard to walk around in the snow, and the snow is cold.” Gerbil, gerbil? “At least 3 more months of winter, maybe more.” Gerbil, gerbil. “No, you won’t die, you’re tough. Have a nice day.” Gerbil, gerbil. Poor Theodore. Well, I hope you enjoy the bright sunny flower pics, have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Coffee At Steve’s Country #16.
Good morning on this beautiful Saturday! Coffee is ready, so just help yourself and join us for a few minutes of calm and quiet. Muffin is eagerly, um, Muffin is, uh…sleeping. Hmm, how strange, she doesn’t usually go back to bed so early. She must have been awake a lot last night. The evening grosbeaks were here earlier than normal this morning, about 2 dozen of them, then they suddenly flew away like they usually do and haven’t been back since. It’s a bit cooler today with a temp of 12F (-11C) but it should warm up to 21F (-6C). It’s going to get a bit colder this week and stay that way until the end of the month. More normal winter temps. And it’s supposed to stay cloudy from today until next weekend. We have had a lot of cloud this winter, which does help to keep things milder at least.
But a lack of sunshine in a northern climate like this can be hard on people. It has to do with the short days and long nights. I think I mentioned that before. Anyway, Jasper hasn’t been here yet this morning. That ‘other’ squirrel hasn’t been around either. But there has been a lot of birds here this morning, so that’s nice. Hmm, there’s not a bird around at the moment, but that happens too. It could also mean a shrike is here again, but then the blue jays would be after it. I see the blue jays and redpolls have returned now. Sometimes the birds just disappear for unknown reasons, but usually the don’t stay away long.
Speaking of staying away, I likely won’t get back to the river until Monday and that’s supposed to be a cool day. Might see a lot more ice on the river at that time. Speaking of ice, since it’s Saturday that means it’s time for scenery pics and I decided it must be time for some summer scenery. So I have chosen a couple pictures of lakes east of where I live here. They are smaller lakes than the one here where our town is located. There are a lot of smaller lakes around, actually they abound in every direction, always surrounded by rocky hills and beautiful forest. I am going to do a post about more of these lakes soon. It will be in Steve’s Journal and will be coming soon. I hope you will like these pics today. Have a beautiful Saturday and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
© 2021 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 