I spotted a lot of tiny tracks on my porch in the new snow and a lot were around the base of a cream can with decorative bird house sitting on top. I peeked in the opening and sure enough, there is a mouse nest inside it. The sign says all birds are welcome, not little rodents!
Unwanted Guests
The house wren didn’t wait until the first day of winter (according to the calendar) to head south to a warmer climate. They even left before autumn came and with the cold spell that is coming, I bet a lot of the other birds will wish they had headed south too.
Abandoned for the Winter
Since 1776, the Fourth of July or Independence Day, July 4th has been celebrated as the birth of American independence. The holiday activities range from fireworks, parades and concerts to more casual family gatherings and barbecues.
Independence isn’t always very easy, and when the initial battles in the Revolutionary War broke out in early 1775, few colonists desired complete independence from Great Britain but soon the sentiments changed for independence. The young birds sitting in the tree branches this morning hollering for food aren’t quite ready for independence as they depend on their parents yet but soon they will venture out in the world on their own.
Gaining Independence
During my repairs of bluebird houses, where the squirrels enlarged the opening, I discovered another rodent in my birdhouses. And apparently this chipmunk didn’t read that they live underground as there was a grass bed inside once I evicted him. And the squatter was also a thief as his cheeks were stuffed full of my bird seed!
Squatter and Thief
Although the wind chill this morning is below freezing, yesterday was abnormally warm so I ventured outside in the afternoon. After watching the bald eagle circling overhead and watching the three geese resting on the edge of my pond, I set out to clean the birdhouses. And while I didn’t have to stand in any snow to clean the houses, I did have to skirt around some snow drifts and you would feel the air temperature change when next to the drifts.
Normally I have to evict some rodents from the houses and at times it is hard to get them to leave, so this time I took my camera to take pictures of the field mice and didn’t find any little four-legged critters in the houses. So halfway on my trek of cleaning the houses, I left my camera behind so of course I did eventually found a pair of ‘cute’ looking mice in one house but probably good I didn’t have my camera then as the deer had rutted up the path so much that in one spot I sank and splashed mud all over me and my clothes.
So after throwing my clothes in the wash and taking a shower, I ate some ice cream on the porch barefoot without a coat or sweatshirt on – something that doesn’t have very often in early March!
Time for Spring Cleaning
The squirrels apparently didn’t like the winter time rain this morning either as this naughty squirrel was enlarging the hole of the bluebird house to get inside out of the cold rain. So now I have more birdhouses to repair in the spring!
Naughty Squirrel
If there was some summer birds who haven’t hurried south yet, they might have needed to find a vacant birdhouse for the night to stay warm. The winter birds are visiting the feeder quite frequently this chilly morning with wind chills below freezing.
Charming Birdhouse
With more snow predicted, the winter time rate might be fairly cheap on the birdhouse cottage, but it might take some shoveling to find the door.
Birdhouse Cottage
Having the sun out and temperatures above 20, it feels like a heat wave even if it is below freezing yet and you feel like kicking up your heels like these goats. They won’t be able to find green grass to chew on this time of year though. And the birdhouse probably is setting empty as the summer residents haven’t returned.
Playful Goats
I didn’t peek inside this birdhouse, which is in the mouth of an old hand planter, to see if occupied or not, especially when I had a cat as an escort in the yard while taking pictures.
Planted Birdhouse
