The Birds Trained Us

And how well they have done so.

Each time we step out of the lower level, whether to shovel snow, head out to town, or to take out garbage, the chickadees and blue jays arrive. The chickadees arrive right beside us; literally a couple of feet away. They expectantly eye us, waiting for the next doling out of fresh suet and seed. The blue jays arrive in the Big Leaf maple and watch and wait as well.

It is clear that the chickadees just know that more food will be forthcoming. The nuthatches have also started following me between the feeders as I am now putting out small quantities of sunflower seeds daily, and the blue jays hop down the first chance they get to seize the suet and the seeds.

In the end, everybody gets fed. Feeding chickadees in winter increases their survival rate by 67%. I'm all for helping those odds. We now have four chickadees that will show up on the cat cage outside and wait for me to drop fresh suet into the cage. The jays were also getting into the cage but one got trapped frantically trying to get through a small opening too small for it to fit through and I had to free it by opening the big door. Now the corvids are much less likely to hop into the cage itself. However, they still come down if I go inside so that leaves me standing by after I drop a bunch of suet blobs so that the chickadees absolutely get fed first.

The daily temperatures have warmed up as well but we are still in full blown winter with daily snowfall. I'm hoping that the plow comes by today as our driveway is a mess and it's very hard to get in and out of our parking area. I'm going to have to go out and dig out a much wider space after work today to help us get in and out of the space.

We took a drive through Suncadia yesterday to see if we could start up our daily walks after work. The forest itself is too deep in snow for us to walk. I've done enough post holing already this winter. But the road is very well cleared, with packed snow and ice and I should have no trouble at all walking with my Yaktrax. I have two pairs put away, somewhere either in the garage or in the closet here but I have been unable to find them. The latest pair cost over $50 in the local hardware store. However, a fall on ice is likely to end up costing a great deal more. And slipping and sliding hurts my back and knees as well.

That said, the snow-covered Ponderosa forest was silent and quite beautiful, with red bark showing in patches beneath the wind-blown snow sticking to their trunks.

We currently have what I hope is not going to be freezing rain. I've already been out to check and will do so again because freezing rain will prevent us going out at all.