Project: One photo a day (but not necessarily every day)

[rwsaunders]

First meaningful snowfall.

[Marvinlungwitz]

Ten.

[j44ke]

[robin3mj]

[rwsaunders]

[open roader]

Just the kind of doldrums we were looking for.

Another lazy Sunday afternoon "messing about in boats".............

Long-Pool-email.jpg

[j44ke]

there's a Jeff Tweedy song I think of when I see my wife carefully raking leaves off moss

[open roader]

Firetail-02-email.jpg

[robin3mj]

Going thru old photos this week. This one was from my very first digital camera, which I won as part of a prize that also included the use of a Pontiac Aztec for the summer in 2000.

Hot Water Beach. Coromandel, NZ 2001
You’d just dig a hole in the sand at the ride line and warm water would bubble up from underground. Natures hot tub.

[rwsaunders]

Snowmageddon is coming tomorrow.

[j44ke]

Mice in the firewood stacks got cold stunned last night.

[Mabouya]

Mice in the firewood stacks got cold stunned last night.

I hope there was no damage their nests...

At least he didn't end up in the fire. A long time ago salamanders were said to come from fire, most likely because they would hibernate in logs, that when brought inside and put in the fire naturally caused the poor critter to wake up and try to GTH out of there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salama...#Medieval_lore

[j44ke]

I hope there was no damage their nests...

At least he didn't end up in the fire. A long time ago salamanders were said to come from fire, most likely because they would hibernate in logs, that when brought inside and put in the fire naturally caused the poor critter to wake up and try to GTH out of there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salama...#Medieval_lore

Took the tarp off and half a dozen mice fell out onto the snow. I put the mice in a paint can and took them over to a brush pile. 30 minutes later 4 were dead and two had disappeared. I put a feeder out two days ago and no one touched it until this morning when it was totally empty. Went out to refill the feeder and a chickadee came and waited on my hat as I poured the seed. Weather has been tough on the little guys.

[Mabouya]

Like you, I live out in the woods, so I have to fight a continuous battle with mice who want to come inside, especially in cold weather. The cats, of course, keep them out of the areas they can access and patrol, but there are some places in the basement where I don't let them go, so of course that's where the mice tend to hang out. I feel particularly bad when I trap them when it's really cold out, especially if there's snow on the ground, so lately I've only gone after them when the weather isn't too harsh.

Edit: Re feeders

I have two feeders out year-round, which I fill with black oil sunflower seeds. The birds love it, but I'm sure the mice also benefit from what falls to the ground. I used to have a big squirrel problem, but switched to Brome squirrel-proof feeders, which has fixed that problem completely.

[monadnocky]

Took the tarp off and half a dozen mice fell out onto the snow. I put the mice in a paint can and took them over to a brush pile. 30 minutes later 4 were dead and two had disappeared. I put a feeder out two days ago and no one touched it until this morning when it was totally empty. Went out to refill the feeder and a chickadee came and waited on my hat as I poured the seed. Weather has been tough on the little guys.

Jorn, I'd be interested in your opinion overall on bird feeding. Obviously, you do it, to some extent. I know that the birder community is pretty split on it, exacerbated recently by that passerine virus (some kind of finch pox?)... we don't do it her for mouse control, but I've been thinking of setting out a feeder because it's been a tough winter in the northeast (not a lot of snow, but what there is hasn't melted in weeks). Thoughts, if you'd care to share them?

Perhaps not the thread for it, I realize....

[rwsaunders]

Jorn’s the bird pro for sure and feeding certainly is an important topic. We live a few doors down from the local Audubon Society HQ and the folks there preach for people to be seasonal feeders, for one of the reasons that you stated. 8” of snow here so far and a flock of 20 or so cardinals and other birds are on the ground and on our seed and suet feeders…I even shovel the patio for those squawkers. Come Spring and the only feeders that we use are hummingbird feeders.

https://www.audubon.org/news/to-feed-or-not-feed

http://www.aswp.org/pages/beechwood

[j44ke]

I used to do feeders all winter. But now I just try to anticipate serious weather and put it out then. So maybe a week or so, a few days on either side of a storm. Severe low temps and ice like we’ve had this winter are the worst for small birds. Once the melt commences I let the feeders go empty and bring them in. Just means less squirrel circus. Birds figure it out.

I’ve not seen much evidence that feeders are the cause of the bird illnesses. More likely that feeders lead to proximity and thus to spread of disease among birds. Feeders are also where sick birds end up due to easy food source. At any rate, intermittent feeding based on weather events shouldn’t be too harmful.

[j44ke]

[Rich Beaudoin]

09B1EBEC-93A6-4D29-B0A1-BA7DD5313660.jpg
Moody clouds on the Oregon coast

[j44ke]