Photo from Duncraft.com.

This has been one of the coldest winters I’ve lived through in my 50 years. And snowy.  My brother the scientist explains the snow and global warming in that where the temperature has increased worldwide, more water evaporates.  That water absorbed in the atmosphere must have a place to eventually go … therefore more snow and more rain.

Of course, it’s still cold but of course that’s because our Earth still turns and when one part is further from the sun, it’ll be colder.  So… how cold is it where you are?  DJD of In Our Backyard shows how cold it is there,

If you take a good look toward the back of the bird bath you’ll see something interesting. The ice, which is usually just a flat sheet, has what looks like ripples in it and it’s actually flowing up over the back edge.  The only explanation I can come up with is this. As the ice was forming, the wind was constantly blowing water toward the back of the bird bath which then froze in place.

Brrrrr….

During the Labor Day weekend, we invited company to our house for a pot-luck cookout.  That Saturday was perfect.  Temperatures were in the mid-70s, humidity was low, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.  The worst part were the mosquitoes who seem to have set up their own private Alamo-type seige at our house.  I blame the house next door that sat empty for 5 years – along with a swimming pool filled with green water, toads, and other scary things.  Now that people live there, the mosquitoes have moved to our place to stalk our red veins.

Even with mosquitoes, the presence of hummingbirds had our guests oooh’ing and ahhh’ing.  We love watching the territorial males fighting over the nectar.  It’s also quite enjoyable seeing the birds splash in the bird bath.

I plan to expand the number of birds we attract in our yard by building a bird feeder wreath.  The Old Farmers Almanac has a how-to tutorial, but briefly here’s how you do it.

• Get a base for the wreath (you can make your own using grapevines or buy one from you local hobby store), and pick up some sunflower heads, herbs, tall grasses, and flowers with seed heads.
• Starting with the sunflower heads, attach using floral wire.
• Poke the other flowers (e.g., coneflowers, black-eyed Susans) in between.
• And according to the almanac, finish by putting in the herbs and grasses.

The Almanac assures that the birds will find this beautiful wreath.  I hope while they’re dining on the flower seeds, they’ll also take out a mosquito or a thousand.

Image by Farmers Almanac.

We have a birdbath that we need to pay more attention to.  When it’s there, birds flock to it.  This was pretty neat, I thought, for a Friday Fun Video!

I tried to videotape our hummingbirds today as they now love our feeder since we used plain sugar and water.  No luck, though.  Have a great weekend!

I’ve talked before about feed wild birds, but because January and February are the most important months to do this for wild birds I wanted to remind everyone again.

… February is designated National Bird Feeding Month because it’s one of the most difficult months in the U.S. for birds to survive in the wild. In mid-Michigan the plants are still dormant and haven’t begun to produce new food for the birds and the bugs are still scarce.

I’m basically a cheap person.  I don’t buy bird seed, sunflower seeds, or other food to feed wild animals.  I’ve always wanted to because it would be as much a treat for me to watch them as it is a food source for the animals.

Instead, I save my leftover bread, the peanuts no one eats from a bag of trail mix, spilled cheerios, crunched up stale crackers … I save all this then throw it on the front lawn during the winter months.  I never throw old apples or pears away either… in the side yard they go for our neighbor’s horses or other wildlife.  Winter is such a hard time for wild animals that every little bit helps.

Do you feed the wildlife in your neighborhood?  This really could be a great time to start that bird feeder you’ve always wanted!

My very favorite part of the front yard is seeing the occasional fox or deer, but also the regular squirrels and rabbits who visit.  Yes, I like taking photos of my flowers during the summer but so enjoy seeing other living creatures munch on the clover.

I haven’t seen a hawk yet like Benjamin over at The Deep Middle,

In the dead of winter I get the fullest, bare-bone understanding of where I am, and how I and my garden and little 1/4 acre homestead are connected to the larger world. A hawk passes over my yard in a second. In one minute how much more has it experienced than me? Whose perspective is deeper and richer? Whose life would suffer more for the lack of the other? The answer to that last question should be obvious.

He says it so much more beautifully than me.

My parents always have a cage of suet that hangs in the tree outside their window.  We see all kinds of wood peckers – from downy to red breasted to every kind in between – chowing down on the suet feeder.  It also attracts nuthatches and tufted titmouse.  When my Dad has sunflower seeds out, however, we’ll see tons of gold and purple finches and cardinals.  He’s backed away from using a lot of sunflower seeds, though, because the squirrels hit it pretty hard, too, and he has no desire to feed squirrels.

I think watching the various birds through the years has given me a real love of these winged creatures.  That’s why when I went outside today to take some photos of the “dusting” of snow we received, I found I took mostly bird pictures.

Okay, so I’m not the best wildlife photographer you can find, but I like the picture!  If you’re interested in setting up a feeder to help wild birds during the winter months, here’s a link that you might find helpful.