January 4, 2026
A Northern Flicker Yellow Shafted form (Colaptes auratus luteus) in the underbrush. They generally feed on the ground using their beak as a probing tool. Eating fruits, berries, seeds, and nuts, but they also eat ants which can make up almost half of their diet.
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January 3, 2026
Two Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) sitting in a tree looking for berries.
The Waxwing in full view has a tail with yellow tips. This is the normal color. Beginning in the 1960s some Cedar Waxwings began to develop orange tail tips. This is the result of their eating the berries of the non-native Morrow’s Honeysuckle (Lonicera morrowii) as it was just getting recognition as an invasive.
Cedar Waxwings that eat large amounts of the berries of Morrow’s Honeysuckle will develop orange tail tips, as you can see on the barely visible Waxwing in the left of the photo. As the consumption of Morrow’s Honeysuckble berries stops and the bird goes through its next full molt, its yellow tips will return.
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January 2, 2026
Word seems to have gotten out. No songbirds there for a meal. A Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus) sitting on the garden gate, a spot where there are often many birds. Try, try again little hawk.
And it is indeed a small hawk. The males of this species are the smallest hawks in both the United States and in Canada.
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January 1, 2026
I take pride in saving the seedheads of native plants for the birds. Though I often see many Eastern Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) scrounging around looking for something to eat, I seldom see them eating the seedheads that I’ve deemed for the birds of my woods.
These are the seedheads of Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia fulgida) that this Squirrel is gobbling down. Quite unexpected to see it eating them. They usually go after the peanut butter or sunflower seeds that I put out.
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December 31, 2025
A Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis). When they’re here, it is during the winter. But that’s not every year. When I see one I’m ever so grateful to see this tiny Nuthatch, which grows to a length of 4.3 inches. Much smaller than the White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) that I see year round, which is between 5.1 and 5.5 inches.
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December 30, 2025
Amid a great growth of Broomsedge Bluestem (Andropogon virginicus), a water droplet hangs on a tip of growth.
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December 29, 2025
The rock wall beside the lane approaching my cabin is nearly a tenth of a mile long, and has been here for about 100 years. It has a special charm about it, other than its remarkable history, with Sulphur Dust Lichen (Chrysothrix chlorina) on many of its rocks. An intense color that nearly glows – brilliant yellow with a touch of green.
This lichen has a powdery texture, preferring to grow in shade, most often on rocks, and on rare occasions on tree bark. It creates a beautiful radiance on my wall with its stunning color.
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December 28, 2025
A Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) pecking at the peanut butter I’ve put out. It’s quite the popular item for the birds. Sometimes I add a generous amount of cayenne pepper to discourage Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis). They can taste it and its heat, while birds can’t.
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December 27, 2025
A few of the birds here know me, and will arrive for their meals, when I put out food for them and then give them a call. This is one of those little critters. A Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor).
Peanut butter is particularly popular with many of the birds.
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December 26, 2025
This is a Northern Flicker yellow shafted form (Colaptes auratus luteus). See his black mustache? That indicates that he is a male. But of course!
He is a bird that is native to a great part of North America, some of Central America, Cuba, and the Cayman Islands. Though most woodpeckers don’t migrate, this is one species that does migrate. At least some of them. Those in the northern part of their native range will migrate further south and west during the winter to find more abundant sources of their favorite foods of ants and other insects on the ground. Another of their goals is to find areas with less snow cover, which of course helps to find those ants and insects.
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