Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Visitors!!

It was visitors' day at the ranch yesterday! The Bag Lady had a huge contingent of birds - Chickadees, of course, but also Common Redpolls, Downy Woodpeckers, and Pine Grosbeaks. Every time she raised her camera to take a picture, the birds would fly away! She finally managed this rather blurry shot of a male Grosbeak caught unawares:


She also had a very early morning visit from 5 or 6 mule deer, but it was too dark to take a picture.

Much later, when it was almost dark again, she had a return visit from this fella:

He was disappointed, though, because all those birds earlier in the day had emptied the feeder.

The temperature has risen dramatically overnight and it is +4C (about 38F), but is supposed to drop throughout the day. Weird!

21 comments:

Geosomin said...

Wow...critters all about.

I hope some of that 4 degree weatehr comes our way...we're all getting cabin fever :)

How often do you ahve to ill the feeders for the birds??

Geosomin said...

ill=fill
*goes to get a cup of coffee*

Melissa said...

Beautiful!! I so wish I had a bird feeder. We live too high up though...they hardly ever come up here.

the Bag Lady said...

Geo - I hope it warms up for you, too! I can totally relate to the cabin fever....
I have 6 bird feeders in all, and, unless the deer get into them, fill them every couple of days. If the deer manage to find them, I have to fill them every day.

Melissa - You must live pretty high! Maybe you need an eagle feeder....:)

Leah J. Utas said...

I love shadow stag. That's a really good pic.
We don't get grosbeaks here in town, but yesterday we had a flock of more than 50 house sparrows visit us twice.
Enjoy the warm. It's quite nice here today, too.

the Bag Lady said...

dfLeah - thanks! I was quite surprised at how that pic turned out.
We don't get house sparrows at the feeder here. I guess it's a trade-off.

Anonymous said...

Please package up and send some of that weather to Winnipeg. Thanks.

:)

Lots of visitors! It's so nice to watch birds at birdfeeders.

Missicat said...

I love the pic of the deer - beautiful!
We are getting your cold weather by the end of the week...wah.
Just had a Florida friend invite me to visit...very very tempted...

the Bag Lady said...

Sagan - Apparently our warm weather isn't going to hang around long - the temp. is supposed to drop throughout the day and be -8C this afternoon! ~sigh~ It was nice while it lasted.

Missicat - Florida? You go, girl!

TB--Milwaukee said...

I wish we lived in the country sometimes, but then I look at our nicely plowed/salted roads and think again.

the Bag Lady said...

TB - actually, they are pretty good about keeping our side roads plowed - it's just the driveway I have to worry about. Gives me an excuse to drive around in the loader, though!
:)

Hilary said...

I love that silhouetted beauty.. great shot, Baggie. That black against indigo is wonderful.

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

38F? No wonder I'm so miserable. It's colder than Canada around here! (Overnight and early morning, that is.)

Reb said...

Beautiful shot of the deer Sis. I hate it when the days high temp is sometime in the dead of night!

Anonymous said...

So why don't you feed the deer? They're cuuuuuuuuuuute! :)

new*me said...

my parents have the same visitors. Dad has a salt block out for the deer :) I love country living........how I envy you!

the Bag Lady said...

Thanks, Hilary - I was quite pleased that the photo turned out as well as it did!

BG - did it warm up there? It's cooled off considerably here. It's about -23C with the windchill now, and there is freezing rain falling. ~sigh~

Thanks, Reb. It was a really nice morning.... but not so nice now.

Marianne - they are cute. But birdseed is pretty expensive.... and they keep inviting their cousins.

Annette - the deer around here have access to the cow's salt, and feed, too! I love living in the country!!

Anonymous said...

that last pic is amazing.

Im still thinking a field trip to your place is a good idea.

tell don to get to cooking :)
we hungry.

Penny said...

Sounds positively cosy! Love the creatures, I bet with all those bird feeders your place is like some kind of bird version of Cheers.... where all our feathered friends go to hang out. "Hey Bob, you going to Bag Lady's later?" "Yup, see you there Jim, mine's a peanut...."

TA x

the Bag Lady said...

Miz - I'll clean the spare room.... but you might want to wait until March when calving season starts - I'll make sure you get some hands-on experience!

TA - that cracked me up! The deer do it too, I'm sure! Somewhere out there is a big sign that only birds and deer can read that flashes "Free Eats..." with a big arrow.

Anonymous said...

I really like that picture of the buck!
We're chillin' down here in Virginia at -6C (wind chill makes it feel like -12C) for the warmest part of the day!

We've been waging battle with a squirrel, to keep him out of our bird feeder. Score is now Squirrel 4, us 0.