Merry Siskinmas!

Day 73: It's Siskinmas at my house! Six inches of snow have fallen since I took this photo yesterday, and the number of Pine Siskins has increased proportionately. They knock on the window when the feeders go empty, and when I open the back door to go feed them, the ones sitting on the step try to get between my feet to go in the house. "Hey! You don't want to do that! There's a CAT in there!"

While I am enjoying this white Christmas, it has its down side. At some point between 4:13 AM when I looked at the clock to see if it was time to get up and 4:45 when I got out of bed, we'd had a brief power failure. I'd been up about 45 minutes when a second one left me in the dark. The crews were already in the area repairing some other "small outages" (per the Dispatch recording), and my service was restored an hour later. My custom is to sit in the living room on Christmas morning with only the tree, candles and other decorative lights lit until the sun comes up, enjoying the silence. Then I open my gifts, and the other preparations for the day begin. If power permits, this afternoon, Tippy and I will be enjoying a figgy-glazed ham and Brussels sprouts, and the Siskins will be indulging in a continuous supply of black-oil sunflower seed.

Siskin In The Hand

Day 67: Nothing says "Thank you for the gift" quite as eloquently as the trust of a wild bird eating out of the palm of your hand. The Pine Siskins were back this morning, three dozen strong and again following a light snow. They swarmed me as I filled the feeders, so I went back inside and got my pocket Sony camera (as opposed to the big black, scary Canon) and had no problem lifting a Siskin up from the tray to sit on my fingers. I seldom use that little camera, and predictably, the battery went flat after only one snap. In the hopes that there was still some charge left on the spare, I gently reinstalled Siskin back on the feeder (he was not particularly inclined to leave the seeds in my palm) and made another trip into the house.

By the time I got back outside, all three feeders were full of Siskins. Again, there was no problem finding one who was willing to pose. In fact, there were a few disputes over prime position, and at one point, I had three in hand, one on my wrist and another trying to entangle itself in my hair. Then a Chickadee swooped in and the Siskins flew off. A few minutes later, they were back, coming at me from all sides. Now if these photos don't make you feel all warm and glowy with Christmas spirit, nothing will.

43,716 Siskins

Day 62: It's time to play "Name That Carol!" This was the scene (well, a small portion of the scene) which greeted me when I stepped out to fill the bird feeders at sunrise this morning. The mountain-ash tree was full. The contorted filbert was full. They were hopping around in two inches of snow on the ground, and the chatter was incredible. Even more came when I laid out the seed. If Pine Siskins are on the decline elsewhere, it's not happening at my house! So...have you guessed it yet?

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Forty-three thousand, seven hundred sixteen
Siskins in an ash tree.

I counted (she said with tongue firmly in cheek).

Yard Birds

Day 205: I don't want to bore my readers with too many posts of my sketching attempts, but on the other hand, I'm rather proud of what I've accomplished with the help of "Laws Guide to Drawing Birds." Each of these was based on a photo I've taken of the respective species: American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis, formerly Carduelis), Chestnut-backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens), Purple Finch (Haemorhous purpureus), Pine Siskin (Spinus pinus). In the case of the female Purple Finch, I changed up the background to reflect a behaviour I observed recently. Several Purps settled in on my blueberry bushes in late afternoon and began plucking the blossoms! Cornell advises that they consume nectar by biting the base of the flower. The bushes are now netted and outfitted with mylar ribbon, and now I understand why I didn't get many blueberries last year. The drawings were executed in a combination of ink and coloured pencil, and the wing detail in the Pine Siskin was a real challenge to maintain.