winter, birdfeeder, bees, etc.

Saturday January 22 -- Two nights ago it was in the teens after a bitter, windy day. Today, with almost no wind and no clouds at all it got up to sixty! The bees were out in same force. They continue to show up with frequent loads of the mystery orange pollen, as well as the yellow that I suppose is dandelion, and pale yellow/dirty white -- winter honeysuckle? Perhaps the orange is cedar, though those trees i have looked at are not flowering. Hmm, the Illustrated Flora doesn’t give a bloom season for junipers.

Cats went out today for three or four hours and seem to have tired themselves out. I got home an hour and a half ago, and they didn’t move from their napping spot together on the wicker chair; they’re still there.

Sunday morning -- goldfinches dave discovered the feeder! Must refill today. Also the suet cake, nasty-freezer-tasting as it may be, is mostly gone. Carolina wren has a lot to do with that. I bought a couple of new fresh ones.

Chilly cloudy gray day today, unlike yesterday. 2pm and it is barely up to 47°. (Forty-seven! Degrees! Rah! --Pomona College in-joke) That may be why there is much more activity at the feeder today.

Agate had another run-in with the black-and-white tuxie cat that lives around here somewhere. I felt all over him and couldn’t find any sore places. Sure hope there is no hidden bite that will abscess; I feel we have been there, done that.




I didn't even see this cardinal in my viewfinder -- he showed up in the annoying interval between button-push and shutter-click. I put it up on Facebook captioned
Cardinal one: "Outa my way!" Cardinal two: "I'm gone, man."

winter weather!

Saturday was a splendid, cloudless, windless day in the fifties. Eddie and Stephen refilled my woodshed.






I took a walk in the west forty and photographed grasses and tracks by the pond.













Overnight it started raining. Sunday morning was a steady cold drizzle. Feline disgust.

About 11am or so it changed to heavy sleet and then snow, which came pouring down in thick huge flakes. Within half an hour the ground was covered. I refilled the bird-feeder and enjoyed watching much activity.


I think I counted nine male cardinals at once, certainly eight. The two towhees are here, and white-throats and Harris sparrows.








Early Monday morning I saw a kinglet sitting on the top of the fan housing outside the upstairs landing window, fluffed out round. What do they EAT? I put out a suet-cake, but it has been in the freezer for a very long time, and I haven’t seen anyone interested in at.

I have burned up a good deal of the guys’ work.

sleet and cardinals

It sounds like perhaps the sleet is about over. It was quite noisy earlier, but there is only a faint high-pitched clatter now. This is a widespread storm covering almost all of north Texas, with possible accumulations of a half inch forecast; this on top of a glaze of ice. I am out at the Ridge writing this; I called Joy and told her where to find the ash can if they needed to get more traction.


January has had a roller-coaster of temperature. Three times this month the mercury has reached around 80°; each time it then abruptly dives for the thirties or even twenties.


The bird-feeder-watching was really excellent today as the freezing drizzle came down. Alabaster particularly seemed to think so!




My camera is not really built for wildlife photography, especially on a dim day through glass with reflections of the sky through the windows behind me. A long lens, some very fast film or CCD, and a polarized filter might be of help. Still I captured something of the feeling of the excitement of having so many birds coming, including so many of our eponymous red-birds. Several times I counted eight males at once. They are much in evidence in these snapshots, along with the chickadee I caught coming in for a landing, the wren, several goldfinches, and more.
Bluejays, mockingbirds nibbling the yaupon berries, Harris', white-crowned, and white-throated sparrows, a brown thrasher, and a towhee are also around.

Nope, the sleet's not over. The faint background noise just crescendoed back into a dominant motif. In spite of using a good deal of my new firewood (courtesy of Eddie's efforts with the new baby Husqvarna), I am also using up propane. I called today to get the tank refilled tomorrow. Hope that will last till late spring, though I guess it depends on how many cold days I spend out here. But I believe heating this house is more efficient than at 711.