The year started with a beautiful blue sky and minus 16°F. The blue jay and chickadee say it all, sitting with their feathers fluffed.
Hairy woodpeckers were busy today eating sunflower seed hearts. Unlike chickadees that fly to a branch and hold a seed against the branch with their feet as they peck tiny pieces from the seed to swallow, this male hairy with the clear red patch on the back of his head frequently flew to the dead white pine to put the seed into a hole to peck pieces from it. The female hairy had her special hole in a wooden feeder that she used over and over. Two other males might have their own routines that I’ll watch for. They each have dark stripes down the middle of their red patches—one narrow, the other wide.
No mink or fox visits today.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center