puzzler

Well, isn't life exciting! First stalkers and now hackers. My guess is that the two are connected.

marius

Speaking of excitement, it's time for a Missouri Moment. (Okay, stop laughing, this is exciting stuff!)

We are currently experiencing the longest stretch of time with snow-covered ground in twenty years! This is not normal for this part of Missouri, and especially not at this time of year. Think we are all in shock. You can feel the oddness of this weird-weather situation in people around town. Everyone seems to be in a mood. One very affected by this is dear spouse who is VERY tired of the snow, and shoveling. (I've offered to shovel, but he won't hear of it.)

However, the good news is that the 8" snow-pack and single digit temperatures have a pleasant side: all the birds in the neighborhood have been feasting at our feeders! It's most pleasant to sit at the kitchen table, read, pet the cats and gaze out the window. Most days there are 20-40 birds feasting at one time. And here is the real excitement - the species count! (However, if you have a faint heart do not read on because some species visit the feeders to prey on other birds!)

The species list so far today is: blue jay, cardinal, grackle, starling, junco, cowbird, mockingbird, dove, Carolina wren, downy woodpecker, red-bellied woodpecker, house finch, goldfinch, chickadee, Harris's sparrow, tree sparrow, white-throated sparrow, chipping sparrow, song sparrow, house sparrow, grey squirrels ... oh, and the cooper's hawk who came to eat too, except instead of birdseed, the hawk selected a cardinal.

We saw it happen and wished it had been a starling. (The starlings are the most abundant species so it seems they would be a judicious choice, but no matter how often I've expressed this idea to hawk, he still seems to prefer the more brightly colored birds.) Alas, we do love the hawk. He often sits on the fence preening himself and he's beautiful. For those who are not familiar with these small hawks, they are masters at flying through wooded areas. It is startling if you ever happen to be in the woods, see a small bird go tearing by you, closely followed by a cooper's hawk. If you want to know more about the coopers hawk, check out the website below.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Coopers_Hawk/id

Now, that *was* exciting, wasn't it! : )

puzzler

Marius, you are very lucky. Since I moved house, I don't have many birds at all and miss the red squirrel we used to see up north. We are gradually attracting some blackbirds, blue tits and a few house sparrows to the feeders, but that is it. I am hopeful that, like where you are, the persitent cold may attract more.

Baldur

Baldur does have some hawks that keep an eye on our feeders. Whether they be Cooper's Hawks or Sharp-Shinned hawks is yet to be determined.
Until I followed your link I couldn't have gotten that close to identifying them.
Actuall we really need to get a birdbook for reference.
We have several species of sparrows and finch here, but as to their exact name I have no clue. At least the goldfinch can be figured out.
We have morning doves, cardinals, blue jays, starlings, robins, titmice, many small black&white woodpeckers and a much larger redheaded variety.
In the warm weather you can add hummingbirds to the list, some greige in color, others a brilliant metallic green.
Then there is the kingfisher who sometimes makes an appearance, the blue heron who forced us to keep mesh stretched across the goldfish pond, the canada geese who fly in and out seasonally and the mallard ducks.
A pair of mallards nest on the edge of the Widow's pond next door. They will come waddling over when they feel brave and vacuum up the bird seed that falls out of the feeders.

Baldur

All the time I lived in Providence I never once saw a red squirrel, only the larger grey ones.
When I moved to Primrose it was the same, only grey ones until my third year here.
Then I saw a red one in the spring.
At first, with Baldur's limited knowledge of the squirrel world, it seemed that it was an immature grey squirrel. I thought 'Oh cool! a baby squirrel'.
Well over the next couple years there were more and more red ones and they seemed to stay the same size and color all year round.
Finally Baldur decided these were just different squirrels.
Now there are as many red ones as grey ones.

AuntieB

Auntie B has seen more exotic squirrels than my nephew's dull red & gray (Baldur stop spelling it 'grey' , it's much too pretentious) ones.
When I go to my niece Prunella's house for a barbecue in the late summer we will sit out under the hawthorne tree in her very uncomfortable vinyl lawn chairs and sip mojitos. If we are there long enough, by sunset the most delightful little turquoise squirrels will come out and frolic around us.
You may find this odd but I do believe they speak Dutch or German, Auntie B can almost make out what they are singing.

Baldur

Actuall +y =Actually

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It's sad that the red squirrel has been driven out of East Anglia by its grey cousin. I lived there as a child and they were very common then. To hear of it multiplying in RI is heartening, especially as you have greys as well.

Marius and Baldur, you are blessed to have so many species of birds around you. We see a wide variety of common (UK) birds but the most exciting visitors are barn owls and sparrow hawks.

Baldur

Baldur went back in the closet today, my clothes closet that is.
As charming as Chez Baldur may be, there is not much storage space for clothing. I have one closet, whichhas a 5 foot wide hanging bar with a shelf just above it.
All of my clothing, save my socks go in this space.
My one dresser is rather small and can barely hold my socks, one drawer being for the argyles, the other drawer holds the non-argyle.
I might add without trying to sound as this matters one iota that Robert has 3 five foot wide closets with shelving, two huge dressers, storage bins in the attic for seasonal items and a couple smaller armoires in the laundry room.
The armoires and 2 of the closets are in a very damp area, things retrieved from these storage areas are in my opinion unwearable (smell of mold), hence I have not battled for any of these places for my personal storage
needs.
Because of the above circumstances Baldur needs to thin out his possessions periodically.
Today I brutally thinned out my wardrobe.
Nothing will go to waste as Matthew of Shrewsbury can use whatever I am not keeping. Two huge plastic bags full of garments have been removed.
As I did not received all that much clothing for Christmas this makes the closet seem rather spacious.

Baldur

At times I laugh at my circumstances that cause me to keep my boxer briefs in one canvas tote bag on the closet floor and my hankies in another.
Next to those two bags are stacks of shoe boxes and my boots lined up as neatly as space permits.

Baldur

Another benefit of this project is that the items needing mending have been singled out and put aside finally.
Missing buttons will be reunited with shirts, belt loops will no longer dangle freely.

puzzler

I was intrigued to hear that there is an American red squirrel, as it is the introduction of the american grey which has pushed our native species out and only a few habitats remain. So I looked up the two reds and they are separate species. Our european one has tufts on its ears. Here is a link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/species/Red_Squirrel

Baldur

That is adorable, and other than those tufts of hair it does look just like the American version.
Why would they bring the American Grey squirrel there in the first place?
But then they broughty starlings to North America from Australia, causing an ecological disaster, and then we gave Australia rabbits, making a mess down there.

puzzler

I'm not sure how the grey got here, but I think it probably was an illegal immigrant on ships.

Baldur

broughty - y = brought

Dragon

LOL at the UK Red squirrel, he is adorable! He kind of looks like he's in a permanent state of shock.

Here in Red Deer and in Calgary too we have the grey squirrels and a few of the red's (though I can't remember the last time I saw one, I may be imagining things) but by far the most common are large black squirrels. They always looks very plump to me.

As for birds, I'm afraid I've never been very good at knowing the breeds but I know we have sparrows, chickadees and Blue Jays (very pretty but thouroughly irritating) we also have an abundance of magpies which I could do without. I know there are small woodpeckers out in the county where my mom lives and they also have yellow bellied sap-suckers. I've never seen them but they killed several of the largest trees on my moms property so we know they're there. We had one wonderful winter when we had a huge number of red-polls at the feeders but I've never seen them since.

Dragon

I can't say as I've ever seen any of Aunty B's Dutch turquoise squirrels but then I've never been terribly fond of Mojitos.

marius

Think I'm at my three-post limit. (giggle) But Dragon, wanted to say I enjoyed reading about whistles, riding crops and your clients. Made me lol!

Enjoyed reading about nature in folk's yards. Baldur, I have binoculars, otherwise might not know if it was a coopers or sharp-shinned. Am most intrigued by Puzzler's bluetit so ooked it up .... OH HOW ADORABLE. The link below shows a bluetit on someone's hand. Guess they are rather tame. I'd love to see them some day.

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/05_04/BluetitDM_468x359.jpg

PS Wondering if AuntieB's turquoise squirrels have anything to do with the toupee's.

Baldur

I just remembered another bird. We have Red Winged Blackbirds, they have big red spots where their wings meet their bodies, a bit of a misnomer actually as the wings are indeed black

Baldur

Tonight's musical interlude features a brilliant song by the group 'Klaatu'.
One of my favorites of all time.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxFfMqNT0vs