Merry Christmas to all!
Shiny red fruit of Viburnum trilobum.
04-DEC-2014
Downy woodpecker, male
The feeder at the old woodlot was attracting a steady stream of chickadees, a couple of house finches and this downy woodpecker, the smaller version of the hairy woodpecker in the previous photo.
04-DEC-2014
Hairy woodpecker, male
A broken off conifer seemed to be providing this hairy woodpecker with a lot of interest. Here, he is perched on the edge of a cavity formed where the top part of the tree broke off. The next photo shows him peering inside the cavity in which he spent most of his time before flying off.
04-DEC-2014
Hairy woodpecker, male
Here, you can see the woodpecker is investigating the cavity. There are a number of polypores inside, and where his feet are, you can see dried grass, which indicates a nest of some sort. Possibly a red squirrel nest.
04-DEC-2014
Black Walnut tree (Juglans nigra)C
This tree is on the edge of our first and largest "crop circle", the name we have given to areas large and small around the Fletcher Wildlife Garden, where dog-strangling vine (DSV) is noticeable by its absence. That is, it grows nearby in profusion, but not within these particular areas. We've often wondered if the walnut trees have anything to do with this and so far, we don't know. For more on these DSV-free areas see:
http://www.pbase.com/fwg/dsvfree_circles This latter gallery was set up by Sandy.
04-DEC-2014
Amphibian pond
Now under a light blanket of snow, the pond has settled down for the winter. In another four months or so, we can expect to see the glimmerings of life as willow catkins burst forth, ground-nesting bees emerge, and early birds trickle back.
04-DEC-2014
Grey squirrels, black phase
In winter, manitoba maples (aka box elder) become an important food source for the squirrels of the garden. Although we have a reasonable number of manitoba maples around, only the female trees produce the seeds, and we don't have an abundance of them. By January, some years February, the maple keys will have been stripped from all the trees.
