Thursday, January 12, 2017

Snowmen and Woodpeckers

Design - "Snowmen"
Designer - Val's Stitchin' Stuff
Magazine - "Just Cross Stitch" - October 2006
Fabric - 32 count Moss Green Belfast
Fibers - Thread Gatherer & WDW - one strand over two threads 
Started - 1 December 2010
Completed - 4 December 2010

I was pleased and relieved to see my woodpeckers during the recent winter weather.   

Here's the female Hairy Woodpecker.

She's sideways on the red feeder on the left, while the male is on the right on the green stand.

Here he is...

...and here she is.

I went through bird food like crazy - the peanuts and suet were in high demand.

Here's another one of peanut eaters. 

The male and female Acorn Woodpeckers both came by!

It's rare to see them together.

In fact I'd not seen her for several days, and was starting to get worried.

The guy is much better at coming by daily.

I did have a couple of Flickers too. 

Only managed to get photos of the female.

The Red-breasted Sapsucker is the bird that surprised me.  

Every morning, no matter how cold, no matter the weather, I could hear this bird thunking away on his sap wells on l large second growth Douglas fir tree.

Here are the wells. 

Two neat columns of holes.

Notice that even if temperatures down in the 'teens, the wells continued to emit sap and not freeze. See the beads of sap?  Scientists are interested in how these wells continue to run in very cold weather.  

The Anna's Hummingbirds are supposed to drink from these in the winter, an interesting synergy in the avian world.



6 comments:

MaryO said...

Fantastic pics. Nature is wonderful!

MaryO1230
San Pedro, CA

CalamityJr said...

What a cute snowman! I hope your ice has melted; it has moved eastward and we woke to nasty conditions with more ice forecast for the weekend. Thank you for making sure the critters are fed.

Maggee said...

I like that snowman...especially on the green fabric. I wonder if I have that pattern somewhere?? Hope so! I made some peanut butter 'pie' today, to HOPEFULLY attract Bluebirds. One of the locals shared her recipe with me! I'll put one out tomorrow... The sun is out and it is windy, BUT... it is 71 degrees today!! Didn't go birding, but maybe soon! Moderate temps ahead. Hugs!

deb said...

Wonderful pictures of the woodpeckers! Thanks for sharing about the sap wells as I never knew about that. The woodpeckers we've had nearby all seem to work on obviously dead trees - snacking on grubs and bugs and such, I'm guessing.

Barb said...

I had no idea that the sap did not freeze. I'm glad to hear that. Wonderful woodpecker photos!

Frances said...

Precious snowman!
I love the color of the sapsucker!
I didn't know about the sap not freezing!
You have tons of feeders! I know that you are the most popular person in your local bird world!!!!