Eicher Ramblings

Cardinal on feeder.

I love winter. I love snow. But what I really love is how it brings out all the critters. We pretty much are in a city neighborhood with lots of houses all around but the difference is we actually live in hills too. Our little ‘hood meanders through the Loess Hills and there is plenty of forest area all around us. It’s not uncommon to have turkeys & deer strolling through (and eating) our foliage.

But winters bring birds. Lots of birds! And squirrels!

This morning I spotted a rufus-sided towhee feeding on the ground under the bush. Cardinals are the bulk of our visitors along with lots of house sparrows. But we also get an ample supply of various species of woodpeckers, flickers, juncos and chickadees. As we move toward spring we’ll begin to see wrens, robins and western orioles join them. On a drive around the lake when the ice begins to soften and break up, there is a huge influx of eagles hanging out waiting for hungry fish to appear. Then we occasionally see cedar waxwings during their spring/fall migration.

My father-in-law made us a huge covered platform feeder that sits atop a pole that the squirrels aren’t supposed to be able to get to. However, just this week I spied a little black squirrel square in the middle of the feeder and can’t imagine how he got up there. I’ve hung a couple of other feeders, one for thistle seed and the other for black oil sunflower seed. There are also a couple of suet feeders.

We have an electric water dish that my father-in-law also made. We learned that birds will come and stay in your yard if you have water available to them. It’s probably more important in the winter then at other times. The waterer is on a pole and has a little metal dish with a light bulb underneath to keep the water from freezing. Kevin planted a curved stick next to it for the squirrels to climb.

Our squirrels are little browns and blacks (don’t know any official names). The black ones are indigenous to our area. Not even across the river in Omaha can you find them. During the winter we have a backyard full of them and their brown cousins. They are feisty little critters, fighting each other (plus our dog) for the bits of food we leave around for them. We have a squirrel feeder which is 2 pieces of wood at right angles with a screw stuck through the bottom plate and hung on the tree. We put an ear of dried field corn and one squirrel will sit and eat through an entire ear in one sitting. Little pigs! They also have quite a feast on the ground from the seeds and such the birds fling off their feeder.

It is such a treat to wake in the morning, get a cup of coffee and watch the backyard alive with nature! I love it!

Flicker on feeder, background is waterer & on tree the squirrel feeder