Thursday, December 1, 2011

Hello dear



Slow game cam week, but a busy week for me. (More about that later.)

As of last weekend, most of the new Cuddeback pictures were fuzzy rear-view shots of raccoons and rabbits. This deer photo is not the model of sharpness either, but it's the best one of the lot. She's coming up out of the creek at 9:30 in the bright daylight... if I'd been looking out of the window I'd have seen her.

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The first Hooded Mergansers of the season arrived this week. We've already had several of the other winter birds for a while... Cedar Waxwings, White-throated Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Kinglets (Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned), Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Song Sparrows, Yellow-rumped Warblers, etc.

Not many of them sing in the winter -- Song Sparrows are a nice exception. If we're lucky we might hear a Winter Wren now and then. It's one of my favorite birdsongs, but I don't hear it often. The Winter Wren also has one of my favorite latin names: Troglodytes troglodytes! My old birdwatching teacher called them feathered meatballs because of their small size. I'd say, feathered meatballs on speed. (Listen to their song to see what I mean.)

I found one dead in the yard last week and almost cried. He was so small. Ten paperclips would have balanced him on a scale.

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