Kip’s Comments - January 19, 2024
Tales in the Snow and Reconnecting
What began as a snowy hike to search for winter birds became an exercise in reading stories in the snow - at least two of them.
Story 1 appeared to be a short saga indicating the demise of a cardinal. Based on the number of feathers present at the scene, I suspect this bird may have put up some resistance, but not much, before it was carried off. This may well have been a case of bird-feeding in a literal sense - a bird of prey may have swooped in for a meal.
Northern Cardinal Feather in Snow - Image 863522
Story 2 was a repeat of the earlier story, only featuring different species. At this scene I found large clumps of feathers. What ever happened was aggressive and likely quick. I am not sure of the species.
Feathers in Snow - Image 863492
Seeing this makes me wonder how many times a day does this happen. No doubt often. If not, we would not have larger predators to observe and enjoy.
When Kristy and I moved, one part of our past life that I miss to this day is the many birds we had in our yard. I spent decades creating habitat and the process was worthwhile. We traded many, many smaller bird species for bald eagles, fox, coyotes, pheasants, and deer. That is not bad, but I do miss the smaller common bird species. Today I reconnected with some during my hike in the snow.
Male Northern Cardinal in Snow - image 863505
Male and Female Northern Cardinals - Image 863494
Black-capped Chickadee - Image 863472
American Tree Sparrow - Image 863437
Dark-eyed Junco - Image 863479
