The Craftiest Workshop

I had written a blog in the spring about all the bird and animal sounds. Listening to all the birds and frogs is wonderful but it doesn’t compare to the animal and bird sightings in winter. There are birds that stay through winter in Northern Alberta and it is easier to see them through the backdrop of snow. Deer, moose and coyotes do daily treks across fields in search of food. Even when I don’t see them for a few days, it is always neat to see their tracks left in the snow after they have wandered through our creek at night.

Here is a moose a few miles from our house that we passed in the car. We stopped and took photos while the moose remained undisturbed by us being fairly close.

Much closer to home, this buck wandered through our yard, stripping a few evergreen trees of their branches with its antlers. I took all the branches, stuck them in pot of snow and now have some Christmas decor on my front porch.

I have been caught unaware a few times with moose or deer wandering past our front deck while I have been puttering in my kitchen. I usually just catch a glimpse of them as they trot away.

I have been going out each day to check on my bird feeder. I also have a suet cage with my homemade suet nearby. Every few days I put out a handful of peanuts. Here are the birds that have stayed for winter and frequent my feeding station.

The top of the bird food chain would be the Blue Jay. When it comes to feed, all the other birds give it space. It only wants the sunflower seeds from my mixed birdseed so it tends to make a mess, tossing all the other seed onto the ground. I try to put out peanuts at the same time as the birdseed as it much prefers whole peanuts. This way the other birds can get food from the feeder at the same time.

The next bird that has dominance is the Hairy Woodpecker. We had a family of them born in the spring and at least a few have stayed for the winter. The baby birds sound like human babies crying. We have a fair amount of dead trees on our property so there is always sounds of the woodpeckers hammering into wood to get to bugs. They enjoy the suet as they can reach into the cage with their long beaks.

The Nuthatches come and visit daily. They like both the bird seed and suet. I also noticed they will take peanuts if I remove them from the shell. An interesting trait of the Nuthatch is they like to walk or hang upside down on trees. They can get fairly aggressive with smaller birds when they want to be at the feeder.

The last type of bird that comes to the feeder regularly is the Black Capped Chickadee. We have a lot of them around. They are the bravest around humans and you can get really close to them to take pictures. I finally got one willing to eat out of my hand.

In the last two weeks I started noticing small footprints around the feeding station. I wasn’t sure what the animal was because, up to that point, the only things we had seen were mice and a fox. The prints were too big for mice and too small for a fox.

I came out to the feeder one day and noticed grass and pinecones stuffed into it. I then realized I had a chipmunk or squirrel as my visitor.

I have not had much luck getting close to a squirrel. The last time I had a squirrel eating out of my hand was when I was about 7or 8 and while I was camping with my family.

We had a brief warm up and I decided to spend some time at the feeding station after filling the feeder, suet cage and leaving some peanuts. I managed to get really close to my squirrel friend.

Here is a short video of our encounter. I didn’t realize until I played it back that I spoke to the squirrel. I sound like my brother Keith when he talks to his dog.

Our latest visitors have been two Short Earred Owls. My first glimpse of them was when I sat down to eat some lunch last Sunday afternoon. I glanced out the window to see an owl sitting on our deck railing.

It stayed long enough for me to get my husband so he could check it out. It was not bothered by us moving around and I eventually just went back to eating while enjoying its presence. Since last weekend we have seen the owl hunting every day and once saw two of them at the same time.

As you can tell, I am thoroughly enjoying my encounters with wildlife. I probably pick up my binoculars 5-10 times a day to watch deer, coyotes or birds at a distance. I haven’t gotten close enough to a coyote to take a picture but I view them almost daily through my binoculars. It is probably a good thing that they don’t come into our yard.

I think these wildlife encounters, along with the blissful quiet, are the two main attractions for me living on an acreage.