Ten Cardinals

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We’ve gotten another dusting of snow and some rain recently…more on the way tomorrow.  The woods that we walk are silent, but the cold and damp air are bringing birds to the feeders.

Nearly two dozen juncos visit daily. Mostly moving about on the ground, pecking at seeds under our perennials and shrubs with occasional forays to open ground under the feeders. A couple blue jays fly in for a brief feed and a loud call. A handful of white-throated sparrows forage on the ground with the juncos, under cover of tall perennials. This afternoon four downy woodpeckers traded places on the suet feeders.

Darkness is coming early today under solid gray skies, with rain on the way. Cardinals started arriving. As we watched three male cardinals, four more darted in along with three females. Ten in all, just for a few minutes. The females were particularly feisty, chasing each other away. Seems like a lot of wasted energy. But there was one especially stunning male in brilliant red facial feathers. Maybe that is why the females were in a tizzy.

Goldfinches (in their drab winter feathering), chickadees, tufted titmice, and white-breasted nuthatches, visit the feeders during the day. Male and female house finches have also been regular visitors the last few weeks. In just the past 2-3 days we’ve welcomed three beautiful male purple finches. We’ve got a red-gray theme going with our bird community so far this early winter.

First Snow

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Saturday, November 30, 2024

When Henna and I headed outside for our daily pre-dawn walk this morning, I was surprised to see a light snow covering. I had not expected precipitation overnight. This seems like the fall to winter transition day. We’ve had spectacularly nice fall temps and sun, although too dry and unseasonable, but hard to deny that we’ve all enjoyed this stretch of weather. Over the next 10 days, daytime and night time temperatures will drift downward, until the ground is frozen, perhaps until Springtime. In recent years, though, periodic warm-ups have left the ground soft.

This first dusting of snow looks like a sprinkling of powdered sugar. It will disappear as sunshine reaches each corner of our yard on this last day of November. Yesterday my niece helped me fill and hang four bird feeders filled with black oil sunflower seeds. Given the forecast, I think bears are more likely getting cozy in a winter den rather than thinking about a night raid on bird feeders.

First snowfall on goldenrod

A mixed flock of birds found the feeders around 10 AM today…not quite 24 hours after we put them up yesterday afternoon. The first arrivals included a few juncos, a downy woodpecker, one goldfinch, and a handful of bluebirds.

Onward to winter.

Mice in the Attic

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Saturday, November 23, 2024

Sometimes a simple mouse trap and some steel wool solves the problem.

A few weeks ago, I started hearing soft chewing and scratching noises in the ceiling above our bed. This continued for several nights in a row, getting a bit louder each time. On two occasions I heard an acorn rolling along the floor above my head. Obviously a mouse or flying squirrel (hopefully not more than one) had entered our house and was going about their nocturnal activities in the cozy confirms of the attic.

Srini is away so I carried a step ladder upstairs and set it under the small (2-foot x 2-foot) scuttle to our attic. Two problems. Our attic has no floor and we have 16 inches of blown-in cellulose insulation. I managed to push open the scuttle with a sledge hammer (it is tight) and climb up to look-about. It was cool and clean. The rafters, roof vent, gable end vents, and soffit vents all looked intact and untouched. At the level of the attic floor, the scuttle opening is boxed in with 2-foot high plywood to keep the cellulose contained. Climbing over this barricade and onto the rafters seemed dicey. Especially by myself. I thought I needed some help.

First, I set a live trap outside near a rack of firewood and that evening I caught a mouse. That night I was kept awake as an animal was still in the attic, specifically in corner of the attic right above my head, and the farthest corner from the scuttle. This was the third night in a row and I wasn’t catching any more mice outside. I really needed to get into the corner of the attic so I called a Wildlife Control company.

Chris arrived promptly to assess the situation and provide a quote. He doesn’t go inside the house. He caulks all possible openings with non-expanding foam and sets a couple one-way doors to allow animals to escape but not re-enter. He adds screening to the outside of gable end vents. This for $1,500. He thought it might be bats. I was sure it wasn’t.

I almost thought I would have him do the work as he could set tall ladders and get to places that I couldn’t and I was losing sleep. But several issues came to mind. First, he wouldn’t be dealing with the immediate issue of the animal in the attic. It might not leave. We didn’t need additional hardware cloth as I was sure the gable end vents were secure. And he was expensive.

So, I proceeded to tackle the problem myself. I bought more Victor snap traps; the old fashion wooden ones and the newer black plastic type that are much easier to set without accidentally snapping your thumb. I set one at the same wood rack noted above and several around the house. I bought #1 steel wool and stuffed it into each corner of the house where the vinyl corner covers the plywood sheathing as I thought these could be entry points. I also moved a rack of firewood that was against the house and provided a convenient ladder for mice to reach the corner. I found mouse droppings and acorns among the wood as I moved it to another location.

I caught a mouse in the snap. All quiet for two nights. Such peaceful sleeping. In the wee hours of the third night, I heard soft scratchings. Aargh! Back outside in daylight, I checked traps and looked for more potential mouse openings. I noticed a 2×4 post next to one corner (why it was still there I don’t know) that led to a nice mouse-sized opening in the corner of the house. I stuffed more steel wool in the gap.

I dare say all has been quiet for four nights. I had borrowed a friends squirrel-sized live trap and rat-sized snap traps. None were needed.

Now, my theory is that the first mouse in the attic was one of the two that I trapped by the stack of wood. A few days earlier, before Srini left on his trip, he brought out the snow blower and over to the garage door to make sure it ran well. Mice always build a nest in the top so we proceeded to pull out nest material. One mouse popped out. Srini got the shop-vac to blow out material from hard to reach places and another mouse popped out. Both scurried over to the wood rack (remember the one by the house that provided the perfect ladder to the house corner). The mouse noises in the attic started a few days after this incident.

A few lessons. Install a plywood floor in your attic so you can walk around when necessary. Do this before you add the blown-in insulation. Maybe make your scuttle opening bigger than 2×2. Seal up potential openings with steel wool (additionally, I may also add non-expanding foam). And set some traps. I love woodland mice when they are in the woods not in our attic.