I really enjoyed doing the most recent blog of the birds at Meg’s house. So we had a really cold night followed by a sunny morning and I hoped to repeat the experience. I was fairly happy with the pictures I was getting. So we picked up breakfast at The Big Bean and bopped on over to Meg’s after feeding the dog and birds and walking the dog.
BOIDS
I keep learning more about the birds in our yard. Take this guy (or gal) for example:
Merlin identifies this hawk as a red tailed hawk. The interesting feature is the stripes on it tail. Checking the bird books identifies this hawk as a juvenile red tailed hawk. This is clearly a different hawk than the adult we previously photographed. Studies seem to indicate that only one third of the juvenile hawks survive their first year. This hawk has been a regular visitor.
Meg’s habitat is sufficiently different than ours in spite of only being a couple miles apart. We are on the saltwater bay with interstitial forested landscape. Meg is on forested riverbank abutting a nature preserve. I learned I need to wash her windows.
We saw some interesting behaviors out her sun room windows. The pine cones were opening up and the birds were eating the pine nuts.
We observed a new species for us, a brown creeper. Merlin lists it as uncommon for this area.
We also saw the usual cast of characters but the Carolina wren would not cooperate and I failed to get any pictures of them.
So that was pretty much it for a pleasant breakfast spent at Meg’s house.
At our house we also had our usual cast of characters.
While I was prepping the pictures for this blog, the bluebirds put on a show right outside my window. They were eating the Cedar Berries.
We see geese hunters on the point and can hear gunfire when they shoot. Wink is not a fan!
Mammals
The deer are having a hard time. They dug up our front yard to get to some shrubs.
It is possible to discern what is going on in the yard from the tracks in the snow.
Fun with Benji
Fun with Food
We had another pizza night.
Prep 
Rolling in Dough 
Pizza Stone 
BBQ Chook 
Veggie 
Smorgasbord 
Dinner
Oatmeal 
Eggs
Winter has really slammed us. We had a couple really cold days and Benji does not like the cold at all. The forecast has more cold followed by snow followed by more cold. So it is a good time to hunker down inside and take a few pics of BOIDS. It is also a good time to fuss around in the kitchen.
Mark, Wink and Meg
HBM
You guys make the best looking food.