One Cold Morning at the Lodge

[Bill Babler]

This is our 16th. year coming up and this morning I had a balmy 6 degree.  That is one of the coldest days we have had here in the last 16 years.  Might have been colder in other locations around the area, but that is just as cold as we have seen it for Valentines Day.

According to the records I could find for Blue Eye, the last time it was colder on this date was on Feb. 14, 1981.

Bundle Up.

[skeeter]

Our two local Pileated's are hitting the suet feeder hard.  Are you still getting your flock of them ? Robins seem to be gone. 

[Quillback]

It hit 13 here, which is cold enough.  

[snagged in outlet 3]

5 here this morning.  Had 3 deer huddled up under our bushes in the back yard.  Lake St Louis Froze over last night too.  625 acres.

 

[Bill Babler]

Wood Peckers are still here.  Robins have vacated.  Had an accident yesterday with one of the Peckers, as he hit the french door at full tilt.  Somewhat stunned but he took back off after about 30 minutes of head clearing time.  I simply cannot keep the feeders full.

Going to have to get a part time job at TSC to keep in bird feed.

[skeeter]

13 hours ago, Bill Babler said:

Wood Peckers are still here.  Robins have vacated.  Had an accident yesterday with one of the Peckers, as he hit the french door at full tilt.  Somewhat stunned but he took back off after about 30 minutes of head clearing time.  I simply cannot keep the feeders full.

Going to have to get a part time job at TSC to keep in bird feed.

We have had good success with avoiding the frequent bird deaths caused by collisions with glass doors and windows by putting these decal-type things on the glass window and door areas where they have had repeated mid-air collisions.  They are not adhesive and you can kinda'/sorta' see through them but they warn the birds off almost 100%.

https://www.amazon.com/WINDOWALERT-WA-LEAF-WindowAlert-Medley-Decals/dp/B0096UUSPC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=YT7E31XAMKJC&keywords=bird+warning+window+decals&qid=1581778312&sprefix=bird+warning%2Caps%2C447&sr=8-1

Somehow they catch ulraviolet light that we can't see but the birds can. 

 

 

[Bill Babler]

We have close to 3000 sq. ft. of windows that stretch up to 30 ft. in one section on the East side of the Lodge, just impossible to put stickers on them.

[Bill Babler]

We had an Eastern Blue Bird on the suet feeder this morning, first time I have ever seen this.  Has anyone else seen Blue Birds on suet?

[Ryan Miloshewski]

19 minutes ago, Bill Babler said:

We had an Eastern Blue Bird on the suet feeder this morning, first time I have ever seen this.  Has anyone else seen Blue Birds on suet?

I have but only when it's super cold and snow-covered. I used to feed birds off the trailer where I used to hunt and I would have 2-3 bluebirds that would hammer the suet when it was nasty out. I'll dig for a picture.

[skeeter]

51 minutes ago, Bill Babler said:

We had an Eastern Blue Bird on the suet feeder this morning, first time I have ever seen this.  Has anyone else seen Blue Birds on suet?

Nope, never.  We see them hanging around the seed feeders during the Winter watching the other birds dine and tried putting out the dried mealworms for them that they are supposed to like (but ignore). 

Right now, we are seeing a battle between some kind of Sparrows and the Bluebirds over one of the Bluebird nesting boxes.  Last year, the Sparrows won and I wish the Bluebirds would be more aggressive since we went to a lot of trouble to make and set-out a predator-proof Bluebird house ( one of three in the yard ). 

Bluebirds are going into the cedars after something but, since they supposedly don't eat seeds, I have no idea what they are after.  Maybe some early emerging insect ? 

Feb. and March are the two most stressful Months of the year for wildlife survival so maybe the Bluebirds are eating just the suet fat but not the seeds and stuff most of those suet cakes are loaded with.