The White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)
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This morning, as soon as the sun rose enough to see, there was a lovely Maine mist filling the trees. I had to wait for enough light to take a picture, but you can still see the mist cloaking the top branches of the trees. You can also see last year’s squirrel nest (sometimes called a dray).
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There are two species of squirrels pillaging the bird feeders. The Eastern Gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis/i>) and the American Red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). The Red squirrel is generally viewed as a pest by local home owners because they’re notorious for invading homes and feasting on insulation (which they also use for nest materials) and the coating on wires (which often results in destroying home wiring systems).
The Eastern gray is the one that’s particularly greedy about bird seed; there are at least six individuals who regularly patrol, and I’ve seen as many as six at a time attempting to raid the feeders. They can’t really reach the seeds effectively because of the nature of the tube feeders.
But they’re perfectly willing to try.
There’s also a single American Red squirrel visiting the feeders, though it usually spends most of its time on the ground, gleaning, it’s not above attempting the suet.
There are, by the way, mutated Gray squirrels, that, via a mutation, exhibit melanism and appear black, in other parts of Maine. They have black squirrels in Lincoln county, ME. We have black squirrels in Western Washington too.
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Well, there was moar snow. And it wasn’t followed by rain, so it’s lovely everywhere I look.
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It started snowing last week, and continued, off and on, since. It got serious on Monday night and continued to snow on the Tuesday the 14th. Snow has accumulated, steadily, despite gusts of wind and occasional spats of rain. By last night there were two feet of new show. We had more snow in the wee hours of the morning, though right now the sun is shining.
I haven’t seen this kind of snow in years; it’s already more than I’ve ever seen in the PNW, in eight years. I can’t reach the bird feeders because there’’s so much snow blocking the patio doors that sliding them open would create a mini avalanche.
Fortunately, the birds have plenty of seed and suet. The squirrels are frustrated though, since they can’t reach the sunflower feeder or the suet, and they don’t care for Niger / finch seed.
I took this picture of a male Downy Woodpecker on Saturday as the snow started to pick up.
Male Downy Woodpecker
And there’s a White-breasted Nuthatch on the top of the tube feeder. He was pretty dedicated about feeding during Sunday’s slowdown in terms of snowfall.
I can’t say I miss the squirrels. Not that they’re gone; they’re just less of a nuisance without their favorite feeder being available.
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