The Craftiest Workshop

I was reminded this morning that the birds and other creatures we see around our place might change from year to year or season to season. Today we saw two large deer herds competing for control of a field across the road. The group of 16 was ousted by a larger group of 25. My squirrel friend has also been chased off by a larger squirrel with a bushier tail. It was important to me to burn some of the animals, and now birds, to remember what was around this past winter

I recently burned some of our wildlife onto some wood slices and hung them above our fireplace.

I was still missing some of the birds that we see most days and decided to add them to the collection.

I thought that for this next group I would add some colour. For some bird species, it is their colours that make them easy to identify.

The first bird I did was the White-Breasted Nuthatch. A curious but timid bird that hangs onto everything upside down. It makes a sound like a mouse squeaking most of the time.

The next bird I see a lot at our suet feeder is the Downy Woodpecker. It is fairly small and stout with a short beak and easily identifiable by the small red patch at the back of its head. We have a number of standing dead trees and the mated pair have made lots of holes in them.

The almost twin of the Downy Woodpecker is the Hairy Woodpecker. Both birds are black with white patches and have a red patch at the back of the head. The Hairy Woodpecker is quite a bit longer than the Downy and it has a much longer beak.

I have been lucky to see them both at the same time one day and you really can tell the difference.

The last bird for me to do was the Blue Jay. We have had a pair of Jays with us all winter but we only recently noticed that at least one other pair has moved into the yard. We get all four of them competing for the peanuts we leave out at the feeders on the deck railing.

For each wood slice I put the name of the bird and the year on the back.

I am not sure what creature I will burn next to add to my wall of wildlife.

Perhaps it will be the beautiful Yellow Warbler that was around last summer or the Robins we had nesting everywhere.
Maybe a fox or bunny will move into the yard…one can always hope.