20 Jan/19

We've entered a cold spell here - past several days have been -30C at night. Yet, the usual suspects are still out and about. There is some reduced activity in the mornings, but they all seem to be doing well. I suspect that the reason the population is so robust in the area is that the birds are able to supplement their foraging with food from houses nearby, but are also able to find shelter in the narrow woodlands along the river.

What also surprises me is the amount of mammalian activity. I see lots of tracks from mice, rabbits, squirrels and deer. Possibly a fox or two. An interesting thing - where the main path goes down to the informal trail, there are small piles of burrs. I've seen this once before - it looked like a fox had been sitting picking burrs off it's fur, and put them in a little pile. These are more messy than that one, and I see no evidence of fox tracks where they are. The piles are all loosely formed. I'm wondering if is from rabbits. I don't know if rabbits eat burrs (I'm thinking not), but they might be grooming in the area and pulling off burrs.

Julkaistu tammikuu 20, 2019 05:37 IP. käyttäjältä mamestraconfigurata mamestraconfigurata

Kommentit

This comment does not relate to your post here.
You commented on a what I thought was a juvenile cardinal. I looked up the web page you referred to in your comments.
Is this what is called "molting" or "moulting" as in chickens, if so, does this happen every year in birds?

Lähettänyt aa412 noin 5 vuotta sitten

This comment does relate to your post here.
That is crazy cold!!! Whew. I could not function in that temperature!

Lähettänyt sambiology noin 5 vuotta sitten

@sambiology It's supposed to go down to -35C tonight. I really don't know how vertebrate life survives this. Insects, plants, even fish and water lifeforms do ok because they are dormant or in cold but survivable water. I hope to get out tomorrow and see if I can catch a photo or two of some birds. It's been a long winter. Sigh!

Lähettänyt mamestraconfigurata noin 5 vuotta sitten

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