A Winter Finish and a New Winter Bird

Design - "Let it Snow" (6 Fat Men)

Designer - Lizzie Kate

Fabric - 28 count Amber linen

Fibers - Crescent Colours, GAST, & WDW - 2 strands over 2 threads

Started - 20 January 2014

Completed - 27 January 2014

Another opportunity!  

The Bushtits came back in the early afternoon just after lunch time.

A bit better light and I got some better photos.

As you can see, I need to refill this feeder with more Bark Butter. 

I hope they stick around for the February Great Backyard Bird Count!

All winter long the Black-capped Chickadees have been 'regulars' at my feeders.  The birds grab a single sunflower seed, or quickly peck at the peanuts - flitting away to the safety of a tree or thicket with small bit of food. The birds hide seeds to eat later.  Each item is placed in its own spot, and the birds can remember thousands of unique hiding places! They are named for the call they make: chicka-dee-dee-dee. Their numbers have slowly and steadily grown as winter has progressed.  I now often count 5,6, 7 or even 8 at a time.  

In the Pacific NW however, we have not one, but two kinds of Chickadees.

So I was really pleased to have a Chestnut-backed Chickadee show up at the peanut feeder.  It's easy to see why the bird has the name it does - the milk chocolate back and shoulders are its most prominent feature. The Chestnut-backed Chickadee dwells in tall conifer forests.  They use lots of fur in making a nest, with fur or hair accounting for up to half the material in the hole. Rabbit, coyote, and deer hair are most common, but hair from skunks, cats, horses, or cows appears in nests as well. The adults make a layer of fur about a half-inch thick that they use to cover the eggs when they leave the nest.

Chickadees are named for the call they make: chicka-dee-dee-dee. Interestingly the two kinds of Chickadees have very different songs.  You can compare the two at Birdnote.