Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Aerie Report, December 16, 2009

I woke up this morning at 3 AM suffering some sinus congestion that was making breathing difficult. I tossed and turned for half an hour before Shadow heard me and started howling. Fifteen minutes later I was up and getting dressed. Being vertical as opposed to horizontal helped clear my breathing passages and a fresh cup (or two) of coffee helped clear the fog in my brain.

I'll probably pay for that early rising tomorrow but it hasn't hit me yet.

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The thermometer registered just 19 degrees this morning at 7 AM beneath cloudy skies that produced 1 1/2 inches of snow overnight. We got a few "decorative" snow showers during the morning butt then the sun came out and warmed us up to 24 degrees at 2 PM. The sun is gone now, however, and we are back to 17 degrees at 8:30 PM and heading to an overnight low in the single digits. Oh, and the wind has been blowing all day out of the northwest. Thanks a lot Canada!

Five days before winter officially arrives and it usually doesn't get real cold until several weeks after that. Oh joy!

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I stepped out on the deck this afternoon just in time to see a sharp-shinned hawk make a pass at the small birds around the feeder. It missed and settled on a branch across the yard to gather its thoughts before it made another try. It missed again and went up the hill following the powerline right of way. The breast was barely streaked making me think this might have been a young bird. If it had been successful, I'm sure it would have hung around for the winter. At least it would have had to work a little for its meals. Not like the freeloading squirrels and seed-eating birds.

The bird that gets me is the red-bellied woodpecker. Every single day Winnie (yeah, we named her) comes to the tray feeders and fends off the blue jays and morning doves as she wolfs down one sunflower seed after another. She never goes to the suet feeder like the hairy and downy woodpeckers, but settles for the protein and oil rich sunflower kernels.

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