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Current Mood: busy

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Birdfeeding

Today is cloudy and cold with copious snow. This has wiped out our plans to visit a holiday market. :(

I fed the birds. I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, at least one female and four male cardinals, a mourning dove, and a tiny wren clinging to the bathroom window as it probed the edges for hibernating insects.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/13/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/13/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

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Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Birdfeeding

Today is partly cloudy and chilly. Yesterday it snowed.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/12/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/12/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/12/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Birds

It's been a cold week with the exception of Wednesday. We have strong winds and cold temps making it feel more like January or February than December.

I still see a lot of Blue Jays and House Sparrows. I saw a Tufted Titmouse on my camera feeder, beating the squirrel to the seed this morning.

the sock

I used to always put out a sock/sack of thistle/nyjer seeds for the finches. Then, last year, I didn't. I ran out of both seed and sock, and never got around to replacing them. This year, I had the sock, but didn't actually get any seed until after the snow fell. So it's been a week and a half, and nobody has touched it. Normally, the goldfinches love it, with the occasional house finch partaking. This year, I haven't seen a goldfinch in several weeks, and the house finches aren't touching it. I'm wondering if the goldfinches migrated away after finding no food.

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Birdfeeding

Today is cloudy and chilly.

I fed the birds. I haven't seen much activity today though.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/11/25 -- It snowed quite a bit today.

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Birdfeeding

Today is cloudy, windy, and chilly.

I fed the birds. I've see a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/10/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/10/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/10/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Birdfeeding

Today is partly cloudy and cold.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a male cardinal.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/9/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/9/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/9/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/9/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Birdfeeding

Today is sunny and quite cold.

I fed the birds. I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a male cardinal.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/8/25 -- While we were out, we saw a small flock of white birds with long necks. They may have been swans or geese. Trumpeter swans are the largest of those found in Illinois and tend to hold their necks straight, which these were doing, and the juveniles are gray, which I also saw. Tundra swans are similar but smaller. The pictures of geese are stockier with much shorter necks, so I'm thinking we saw swans.

Current Mood: busy

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Christmas Bird Count

Join the Christmas Bird Count from December 14-January 5. This is a popular piece of citizen science. To participate, see a map of active circles to find one near you. If you're inside one, you can also count birds at your own feeders.

Are you taking pictures of birds in your locale? Share them on

birdfeeding and see what other folks have in their areas.

Current Mood: busy

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Birdfeeding

Today is cloudy, chilly, and foggy. Much of the snow is melting or subliming with the water vapor just hanging in the air.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/7/25 -- I bagged up Pink, Johnathan, and Johnagold apple seeds with damp sand to cold-stratify in the kitchen.

EDIT 12/7/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/7/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/7/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a pair of cardinals.

EDIT 12/7/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Entry tags:

oh deer

We had a deer at the feeder last night. First I saw her nosing the feeder, then she seemed to be hoovering up the seed on the ground.

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Birdfeeding

Today is cloudy and cold.

I fed the birds. I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, plus two mourning doves.

I put out water for the birds.

Current Mood: accomplished

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Photos: House Yard

Today I took pictures of icicles and snow, mostly in the house yard, some down the driveway.

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Birdfeeding

Today is sunny and cold. Icicles are forming along the eaves.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a male cardinal, and a mourning dove.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/3/25 -- I took some pictures around the yard.

EDIT 12/3/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I've seen several more mourning doves roosting in the trees, puffed up like little beige softballs. :D

EDIT 12/3/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/3/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Wednesday

Today it was sunny and chilly, but a nice day for birding after a cold rain (and snow just a few miles north of us) on Tuesday.

Quite a few birds today, all flushed by a visiting Coopers Hawk looking for a quick snack.Many Blue Jays, House Sparrows, Mourning Doves and Squirrels plus a Brown headed Cowbird. A Tufted Titmouse and Northern Cardinal were along the nearby trails

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Birdfeeding

Today is cloudy and cold.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a lady cardinal, and two male cardinals.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/3/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I saw several sparrows playing in the snow, splashing around in it as if dustbathing. :D

EDIT 12/3/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/3/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Birdfeeding

Today is cloudy and cold. It snowed a bit yesterday, so everything is white and fluffy again.

I fed the birds. I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, plus a male and a female cardinal separately.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/2/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/2/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen two mourning doves.

EDIT 12/2/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Birdfeeding

Today is cloudy and cold.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a cardinal.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/1/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

It's snowing quite briskly now, falling almost straight down, like one of those animated holiday cards. Pretty. I wound up with snow all over my coat.

EDIT 12/1/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen a mourning dove.

The snow has decreased to a light flurry.

EDIT 12/1/25 -- I've seen one female and two male cardinals plus a dark-eyed junco. I also saw the sparrows on the suet feeder. :D Didn't take them long at all to find that this year. Sometimes it takes a week or more.

EDIT 12/1/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

There was a mourning dove on the porch when I went out.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Entry tags:

snow

It snowed here in southeastern Wisconsin. Much more than is usual for this early in the year. It snowed for nearly 24 hours, and there was no wind, so it came straight down and settled on everything. Here, I think we got around ten inches.

It knocked over our birdfeeders. The pole was slightly bent, but mostly it was just tearing out the ground. I shoveled off the grass and replanted the pole, since the ground wasn't yet frozen underneath the snow.

That's a platform feeder under a clear plastic dome, and on the other side, almost hidden behind the mourning doves, is a squirrel-proof column feeder. I had to bring that one inside to melt the snow off.

After getting everything reset, we had the usual crowd of mourning doves, house finches and dark-eyed juncos. Maybe cardinals, I don't remember, but they were definitely out there yesterday. The downy woodpecker was disappointed that the column feeder wasn't out when she visited.

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Birdfeeding

Today is cloudy and cold. Yesterday it snowed copiously, which wiped out our plans for Small Business Saturday. :( It was pretty for a while though. Then it rained. Then it froze again. O_O Now the snow looks a week old and there is plate ice over the road and parts of the patio.

I fed the birds. I hung up a peanut suet cake. I've seen one female and three male cardinals plus a dark-eyed junco. :D This is the first I've seen of my little snowbirds this year; the juncos are cold-weather birds here and don't appear in summer.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 11/30/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 11/30/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 11/30/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen two female cardinals and the three boys again.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.