Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Daily Pics #253.
Good morning everyone! It’s a beautiful, sunny fall morning, the birds are busy, the chipmunks are chipping, Jasper is chasing, things are normal. But I have noticed something. I had 7 chipmunks coming this summer, then it dropped to 6, now it’s down to 5 coming each day. But why? It’s too early for them to hide away for the winter and none of them have to cross the street, so no car problems. Hard to figure why they would stop coming around. Suddenly this morning the crows and blue jays really start squawking. It’s the alarm calls. Muffin wants the door open so she can see better. She knows that alarm call means some interesting action outside. We both look around along the ground, probably a cat, though the birds seemed more excited than usual. A hawk, or owl perhaps? I start looking in the trees.
There it is! It’s a pine marten. I haven’t seen one of those critters for a long time. Beautiful little animals, but…deadly enemies of squirrels and chipmunks, two of the main meals for the pine marten. That’s what happened to the two chipmunks without a doubt. That warning call has come many times and I have not seen what the problem was, because I was not looking in the right spot. Pine marten are kind of like a large weasel, or a small otter, which they are relatives. Marten will go after weasels too. Weasels are another deadly enemy of the squirrels and chipmunks. And because there are a lot of chipmunks here right now, that would attract their enemies. It’s too bad he stayed hidden enough behind branches that I couldn’t get a picture. And it’s another of these critters that doesn’t like to sit still unless it’s after something. I hope it doesn’t stay around too much or I could lose more of my chipmunks. But it would be nice to get a good picture of one.
Today we get the last of the zinnia pics, I hope you will enjoy their bright and colorful beauty, the orange zinnia at the top compliments of Cicco. Have a wonderful Wednesday and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
Daily Pics #252.
Good morning everyone! I hope you are all doing well today! The little birds are certainly busy this morning. Between the purple finches and white throated sparrows they are really going through the bird seed. I haven’t had this many white throated sparrows around the feeders in several years. I think there is more of them than the purple finches. They are busy filling up, getting ready for that long migration to warmer locales. Last evening all the birds were around, including the chickadees, blue jays and a white breasted nuthatch. It was nice to see the nuthatch again, haven’t seen one of them since last fall. Usually they stay all winter, but not last year, though we did have the red breasted nuthatches. Anyway, suddenly the blue jays screamed and everyone scattered as a merlin shot in and caught himself a meal. A merlin is a small falcon, looks very much like the peregrine falcon though much smaller. They are about the size of a blue jay and can come flying in on target amazingly fast. And they don’t often miss.
Even caught the blue jays by surprise. However, he was after a smaller bird. I’m not sure what he caught however as he flew off with it almost as fast as he came in. They will go after blue jays too if hungry enough, but they prefer small birds, mice and insects. It would have been nice to get a picture of it but he was just too fast and flew too far away afterward. Usually a nice peaceful area for the little birds out here with lots of food and lots of places to hide. But occasionally danger arrives too. Hawks and falcons in the summer and the northern shrike in the winter. Fortunately the blue jays will take care of the shrike and chase it away. It wasn’t too long and the little birds were back to eating again. Jasper and the chipmunks are not chasing this morning, too cold I guess, their only thought is getting food.
Hmm, not a bad thought, maybe some more coffee too. Here are a couple more zinnias to enjoy this morning, a light lavender and a nice red one. I hope you all have a great day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 