Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Muffin’s Mewsings #3.
Hi everyone, Muffin here again! Wow, it’s been long time since I last wrote a post. That my human’s fault. I know this last Sunday he have bad toothache, but what about Sunday before that? OOOOOh! So I ask him real nice, how about writing my post today. I use cute kitten eyes, and open mouth wide so he can see all my sharp teeth. He say “good idea” right away! I knew that would work, always does. My human always trying to chase away rock dove birds because they scare other birds. So one day he say he going to wait for grosbeak birds to come before he put out bird seeds.
Suddenly grosbeak birds land in trees, my human jump, grab cup of bird seeds and out the door he goes. I tried to tell him he forgot to put on boots, he wearing slippers. I know why they called slippers, cause that what they do! Anyway, my human step on icy patch on step right outside door and away he goes! It just like he on ski jump thing and fly in air with arms flapping and bird seeds flying in every direction. He land on deck and keep going hitting fence thingy around deck with a big “whump”! He turn around with funniest look on face! It hard not to laugh, oh my. Then he do such strange thing, he sit down in snow! If he tired why he not come inside and sit in comfy chair? Sitting in snow is cold, and wet. He get up and come inside doing his nice human purring, which he still insists is called groaning. Very strange. I think he hit head too many times. Like other night he moving around so much and hit head on wall real hard. That knock little stone bottle off shelf and land on his head. He lay down doing human purring again.
What nice way to go to sleep. He cleaning cupboards the other day so I like to help. He got everything taken out of cupboard so I go in to take look, maybe mouse in there, or spider. But I find nothing, so disappointing. But when I zoomed past his legs into the cupboard my human say I scare him and he fall over and hit head on side of cupboard. Very strange thing to do. He not seem to have good balance. Good thing he not climb on top of shelves like me. He fall off for sure. And then…oops, guess I better leave that one for next time, it getting late, time for after lunch naptime. Have to get that done before afternoon naptime. So I say good bye for now everyone, see you next time!
Muffin. (as meowed to her human)
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Coffee At Steve’s Country #33. The Red-Breasted Nuthatch.
Good morning everyone and Happy Groundhog Day! This is the day our groundhog friends supposedly give their annual spring forecast. We have some high profile groundhogs here and in the US that give their predictions today. Sometimes they do better than the weather forecasters. Really, it’s just some winter fun since by this time of the year people are getting a little tired of our long winters and looking forward to the arrival of spring. It goes like this, if he sees his shadow it means 6 more weeks of winter, if he doesn’t see his shadow it means an early spring. Remember, this is all just some fun. Our first groundhog has forecast an early spring, but there are two more to go. At least those 3 are the most famous. For us up here in the far north, it doesn’t matter if they see their shadow or not, either way it means an early spring for us!
Now for our nuthatch news! Red-breasted nuthatches are common around here, and we also have another one, the white-breasted nuthatch which is a bit bigger. They prefer spruce/fir forests, but will live in mixed forests as well. They are a welcome bird in orchards as they eat so many pest insects. They are often called the upside-down bird since they seem to prefer being upside down most of the time.
Most birds move up the trunk of a tree looking for insects behind the bark, these nuthatches go down head first finding insects that other birds miss. They have large hind toes that help them in their ability to hold on going downwards. They are often heard in the forest long before they are seen. Unlike the chickadee which holds a sunflower seed and hammers it open, the nuthatch is unable to do that, so it stuffs the seed into the bark of trees and hammers it open.
It’s natural food would be seeds of spruce and balsam cones, plus insects/eggs overwintering behind the bark of trees. They are easily attracted to feeders with nuts, sunflower seeds and suet. I think they eat more suet than anything, while the white-breasted nuthatch never seems to go after the suet, only sunflower seeds or chopped nuts. They can become quite tame with people, but can be aggressive with other birds, even chasing birds larger than themselves. Both parents work hard in nest building and raising the young.
Their nest is a hole in a tree about 8 inches (20cm) deep and lined with small pieces of bark, grasses and whatever else they can find. The female lays 4 to 7 eggs about 2cm long, which is actually quite large considering the size of the bird. Incubation takes 12 days and the young leave the nest in about 2 to 3 weeks. As the young get older in the nest the parents can make over 300 trips per day bringing food!
They live right across Canada, into southern Alaska and down to California and Arizona, plus to Tennessee and N. Carolina. They can sometimes move further south in winter. Guess I should stop, this is getting long. I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 