Nature Journal

Notes about birds, mammals, wildflowers, insects, and more




Sunday, January 12, 2003

There is so much beauty here in the woods. I wish I was better at taking photos, so you could see more of it. Something struck me about this scene. The trees have a reddish glow that I often see during the winter. And, after all these cloudy
days, it was wonderful to see some blue sky.


Saturday, January 11, 2003

Have been hearing the blue jays a lot lately. One came to the feeder today, but it didn't stay long. In the fall, blue jays store nuts and seeds in the ground. Those that are not retrieved will have a good chance to sprout and grow into a tree. So blue jays play an important part in forest regeneration.


Friday, January 10, 2003

One of the gray squirrels and a red squirrel were competing for the seeds under the bird feeder today. The photo on the right is the gray one. And here's a photo of the red one. Today, they were both doing equally well at chasing the other away. So first one was under the feeder, then it was driven off by the other one. And on it went...


Thursday, January 9, 2003

With their dull winter plumage, the goldfinches aren't quite as pretty as they are in the summer. But they still remind me of a day last summer when I saw a beautiful yellow bird at the top of a tall tree - singing its heart out. It was, of course, a goldfinch.


Wednesday, January 8, 2003

The temperature has remained cold since the last storm, so the snow has stayed on the trees - as you can see in this photo. The deer were within sight of the house all morning. They were even at the bird feeder, eating seeds that
had fallen on the ground. It was clear they were having trouble getting around in the deep snow. They would walk a few steps and then fall through the crust. I guess they must be really hungry to be looking for food in areas where the snow is so deep.


Tuesday, January 7, 2003

This morning, I saw deer tracks across the clearing below my house. I'm surprised the deer can still get around with so much snow on the ground. To conserve energy, they usually stay close to the deer yards when the snow gets this deep. However, they may be able to walk on top of the crust which is just under the last 22 inches of snow we had.


Monday, January 6, 2003

The white-breasted nuthatches have been coming to the feeder more frequently in the past week or so. It's fun to watch their upside-down antics on the trees near the feeder. These birds remain on the same territory year-round and are thought to mate for life. The male and female nuthatch each have their own separate roost hole - usually a tree cavity - where they return at night.
The best way to locate the roost hole is to follow a nuthatch at sundown.


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