Monday, January 6, 2025

When we walk in our nearby conservation areas, we see and hear very few birds. And hardly any sign or sightings of mammals. In contrast, the the sunflower seed and suet feeders, shriveled crabapples in the tree, perennials and shrubs in our front yard are attracting a lot of birds. Mammals are still lean in diversity, but we’ve beed getting 5-7 gray squirrels and we see one to two cottontails before dawn.

This morning we had 7 downy woodpeckers waiting their turn at the suet feeders. I don’t recall seeing that many at once before. The number and diversity of birds in our yard seems higher than I recall in previous winters. Some stay for long periods, but all come and go at some point. I wonder where they go since we see so few when we wander the woods. Do the groups of each species  — the 7 downy woodpeckers, the 8 blue jays, the 2 dozen juncos — cozy up together at night, in a cavity, or boughs of a pine, or thick shrub?

Some of the gray squirrels are chasing each other. This is the breeding season, Males are noting females in estrus and the females are deciding if their pursuers are fit to be fathers.