Winter Bluebirds

These guys have been hanging around lately despite snow and single-digit lows at night.

They aren't crazy enough to eat out of the catbowls like the titmice do, though.

Snow in the Valley

a view of the creek from my window

Kamikaze Titmice

Ever seen a titmouse eating catfood?


Due to a relentlessly hungry gang of acrobatic racoons that have been pillaging our birdfeeders, I've had to give up on having an open buffet to attract all the beautiful birds in our valley to our house. I sorely miss being able to sit on the porch and watch all the titmice, chickadees, nuthatches, goldfinches, carolina wrens, downy and redbellied woodpeckers, and other odd birds that would come hang out at the feeders every day. I have a new appreciation for the agility and intelligence the racoons would display with their ability to pry open metal suet cages and scale the side of the house to access feeders hanging 12 feet off the ground; I have yet to discover any type of birdfeeder or hanging space that they are not able to eventually find and destroy. If only I could remember to bring the feeders in every night before the racoons came out to prowl, but often I would only remember when the sound of racoon claws climbing the siding would wake us up in the middle of the night and we'd peek out the window to see a masked bandit boldly staring back at us.

After a while we noticed that without the birdfeeders up, the crazy titmice were starting to land on the porch and eat directly out of the cat bowls. There were so many titmice eating out of the catbowls that we had to put out an extra bowl of catfood just for the birds, and fill it every morning and evening as the crazy gang of titmice would swoop down and empty out the bowl within minutes. As far as we know, none of the titmice have ended up feeding the cats, though it is not due to a lack of interest or effort on the cats' behalf.

Here is a happy little titmouse hanging out on his foodbowl.

el Cuervo

New Birds for the New Year