Birds and Berries

At the start of the week we noticed that despite temperatures barely rising above freezing for several days and, in fact, achieving a record low temperature for the date in this area, the Japanese Acer still has most of its leaves, although they do look somewhat crumpled.

The regenerated Euonymus disappointingly has shown no red colour but the freeze has wilted the leaves which will soon fall still green.

A flock of Robins settled in a neighbour’s dying ash tree but didn’t come over to our garden … this flock have been cruising the roads around here for several days. However, a few hours later some of them found our winterberry bushes and checked them out.

Not so many berries left now in the garden other than the winterberry (Ilex verticilata) bushes and a cultivar Viburnum … while the adjacent Viburnum trilobum (high bush cranberry) has had most of its rather more orange berries eaten by occasional Robins and persistent squirrels. The berries on the Viburnum cultivar are rarely consumed until desperation sets in during late winter.

Two juvenile Cedar Waxwings in the birch trees were welcome visitors.

Later in the week, after some overnight rain, the garden had succumbed to the lower temperatures and we saw spots on the grass and on dead leaves lying on the ground of white flurry-like deposits, although it had not actually snowed. Heavy skies and cold winds. With this more wintry weather the birds have started to settle into their winter behaviour with American Goldfinches flocking in the birches and at the feeders, Blue Jays, Dark-eyed Juncoes, BCChickadees, White-breasted Nuthatches all descending on the feeders alongside Northern Cardinals ,… the latter still appearing in small same-sex groups of about four birds at a time.

All the above were the good things of the week … on the downside we had leafblowers.

Have a look at this: http://www.greenbirding.ca/leaf-blowers-noise-pollution/