We have more than a few feeders at our place. We do something for the birds and they do something for us in return by showing up. Our most popular feeder is what is termed a platform feeder. Friend Jim makes his by putting a slab of 4 by 8 chipboard on his picnic table and sprinkling sunflower seeds on it. We use a similar size piece of wood and support it on the deck railing. Birds love it. We also have a saucer feeder, hanging tube-style feeders and another smaller platform feeder.
It has been more than ten years since the first nature column appeared in the local newspaper and this week we continue summarizing our experiences over the last decade.
This week we are looking back at ten years of experiences that have contributed to our collective knowledge of nature in our corner of the boreal forest.
It has been more than ten years since the first nature column appeared in the local newspaper and this week we continue summarizing our experiences over the last decade. The more I delved into the nature surrounding us, the more exciting the journey became.
As the days lengthen imperceptibly, we find ourselves locked in the dead of winter, a long way from the rebirth that begins in April on a good year and during some fortuitous years, as early as March. What will January and February hold this year? To answer this we have to look back to previous years and for this we turn to the journals, and in particular to the observations made last year.
As the old year disappears like morning mist on a winter river, and the year sweeps in like an eagle over a heron colony, let us once again test ourselves with a little nature trivia. This test is best done in pairs with a reward for she or he who gains the best score.
As a result of red squirrel feeding on a white pine cone, a seed was loosened and drifted to the ground far from the parent tree. It germinated in a fertile area shared by a quaking aspen, a balsam fir and a white spruce. A deer destroyed the aspen during the rut early one winter.....
Many decades earlier in the early fall a red squirrel, scampering across a pine bough more than two hundred metres away had carried a pine cone to its cache. It stopped on the branch and gnawed at the cone, taking an afternoon snack. A seed loosened and fluttered from between the cone scales, spinning in the wind to the ground in its dizzying flight.
This year the bird count will take place in Kenora on Saturday, December 16. There is a two-week window during which the bird count may take place, but only one 24-hour period may be selected during that fourteen day period. The event is going to be a big day for birds and those who call themselves birders, birdwatchers, nature lovers and interested observers. This is the day volunteers with a vast range of experience and skill are being asked to spend a few hours counting birds.