Happy New Year
Here at Fiddler’s Reach, it is ridiculously cold this morning! At 6:40 a.m., when we saw our FOY bird (Mourning Dove), it was -1° F. with a windchill of -26° F. The landscape is frozen, as is the Kennebec River.
We have a fire going in the fireplace. Sauerkraut and Pork is in the crock pot. (A Pennsylvania tradition is to have sauerkraut on New Years Day. Supposed to bring good luck.) We didn’t see pork roasts and sauerkraut flying off the shelves at Shaw’s Market, so I don’t know if it’s a tradition here in Maine or not.
Never-the-less, the birds are cold and hungry this morning. High energy food is a must to keep them warm. We made sure that all feeders were full before dark last night. Deer made sure that they cleaned out the ground feeders last night, so we bundled up at 5 a.m. and went out and refilled them.
The following are birds that visited our feeders this morning just after sunrise.
FOY (First of Year) 2009 Birds
DE Juncos: 16
American Goldfinches: 6
Tree Sparrows: 4
Pine Siskins: 11
Cardinals: 2
Chickadees: 7
Hairy Woodpecker: 1
Downy Woodpecker: 2
Blue Jays: 6
Titmouse: 5
Red-Breasted Nuthatch: 2
White-Breasted Nuthatch: 2
American Crows: 5
Red-Tailed Hawk: 1 (Chased by Crows)
a single Song Sparrow
a seemingly out of place White-Throated Sparrow
Click photos for a larger view.
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Happy New Year and happy birding!
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Ah, yes, the pork and sauerkraut.
You have some really great pictures of birds. I only managed to fill up one feeder late yesterday. The birds have been picking away at the seeds and the suet.
The birds that visit are mostly chickadees, junkos, cardinals, gold finches, tit mouse, nuthatches, several different woodpeckers and two different kinds of wrens. No hawks, at the moment. And I haven’t seen any squirrels lately.
John Briggs Reply:
January 1st, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Thanks for stopping by! At this hour I am stuffed with sauerkraut. Don’t even know if I can move now.
You have an interesting site. Although my views differ from yours, it a very good read.
The sun has set here at Fiddler’s Reach. So it has begun… 2009. What will it bring?
Looks like you have a wondeful family of birds to keep you immersed in Nature. Good Birding in 2009 to You.
John Briggs Reply:
January 1st, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Thanks for visiting! I love nature in all her glory, especially birds. I guess I could say that they keep me from going insane with the problems in the world these days.
You have a beautiful site. I particularly love the Bald Eagle photo.
Happy birding to you and yours in ‘09!
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