Quite the drama! Glad it all ended well, and kudos to you for your persistence in helping him regain access to the outdoors.

Terrific news, Jane! That's a much better outcome than having him die in the chimney or be injured by human rescuers. Leather mittens aren't conducive to delicate hand work. He's got a great story to tell his friends about his frightening ordeal. I hope he includes a warning about staying away from chimneys.

Claire

Thin, very flexible leather mittens which beat frozen stiff garden gloves. I'm glad he's safe. Cap goes back on the chimney Feb.11th and will remain there forever under my ownership. It's time for somebody else to post here.

I don't have anything as dramatic as Jane's spellbinding adventure, but here is my reality.

No snow on the ground, or anywhere, but I do have some frozen water in sight pretending it's a mound of snow. I have one heated birdbath and several unheated ones which I turn over and stomp to get the ice out. That ice then has to go somewhere where no one will slip on it. I have a lot of brush piles and pieces of pine left over from the disastrous nor'easter last March.

Behind the fallen pieces of pine works. The path is on the right.

The heated birdbath is easy - just tip it over and the water flows out. Rain is coming tonight and tomorrow so I won't have to refill the birdbaths for a day or two.

Claire

It's artistic. :) The red bow is a perfect exclamation point to your display. Once you're out of your 'round' period, you can move on to sculpting.

Jane, Chimney Fella is really beautiful! Such wonderful light-scattering colors!

Relief. It is 55°, the trees and shrubs are now standing tall again. It was sad to see their heads bowed in deference to Mother Nature's nasty, icy whim. Despite heavy rain and second alto howling winds, the birds are back to normal. I truly appreciate an ordinary day.

Yesterday's tree wrapping:

Today, no ice. (insert smile here)

Jane

Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland

My birdbath ice blocks are mostly melted too. Reality returns next week.

Claire

Jane, I think your second alto howling winds may have been trying to accompany the yowling coyote confab up the street from us this week. I’m still mad I didn’t record the foxes gekkering (a word I just learned) outside my bedroom last week on my phone. Only excuse was I wasn’t thinking clearly at 2AM, but I promise I’ll record the sound and share it with you guys next time. Not sure what’s going on, but all the canids in our area seem to be making a todo lately.

New word for me, nekobus. I no longer have access to the OED, and this word may be etymologically related to the German word ‘gekkern’, but it’s a fun word no matter. Thanks.gekker Learned something new. :)

Busy out there this morning in fresh snow.

My guess is the possum with low-hanging tail.

Made his way around the house. Looks like stencil painting.

I've lost my magic power.

Frozen crystal ball.

Interesting that the possum seems to swing its tail back and forth rather than just dragging it behind. The foot tracks are aiming straight ahead but the tail track wobbles.

Magic power keeps well in the freezer. It should still be there.

Claire

Jane, from my investigations online, all the images that show the entire opossum track, not just footprints, show that same waving line from the tail, so I think your ID is correct. One of the joys of snow is that in the right conditions the track is more complete than in other seasons.

I think the resident possum has rhythm and a cold tushie, so he gets down and swinging,lol.

I found this site:

What do Opossum Tracks Look Like

"Opossum have a very distinctive way of walking. They seem to waddle with their rumps going back and forth. The waddle is more pronounced in the larger older individuals.

Another distinctive trait is that they can keep their tails up. This means that some tracks will have tail marks zig-zagging back and forth while others show no tail marks at all."

"The tail tracks is easier to see in deeper snow when it is harder to keep your tail out of the snow when you only have short stubby legs."

Claire

One of the hazards of being an opossum in a cold area is frostbite. Most of the possums I saw when working in wildlife rehab had frost damage to those bare ears and tail. So if I were a possum, I would be holding my tail out of the snow as best my short stubby legs would allow.

For decades, the cat hole in the garage was left open. I used to sweep leaves into a pile in back of the old wooden storm windows after seeing a young possum going into the corner and circling round and round to lie down. More than once she fell into the recycle bin in the garage and we had to carry the bin outside to 'dump' her. She would freeze into a ball position, eyes in a fixed stare, and not budge. Truly playing possum. We literally had to gently turn the bin over for her to fall out onto the ground where she would still lie in a ball. Once we turned our backs to leave, she would wobble away into a large brush pile.

Just a few shots of an infrequent bath visitor. With the below and near zero temps, the heated bath water is still at 37°, so it is now a hot drink bar.

Jane

48 days to Spring.

I love the “eyebrows” on the wren!

That is a great picture, Jane, of a very disgruntled Carolina wren. This is not what Winter is supposed to be like.

And it's February 2, Groundhog Day. No groundhogs in sight here, they're probably safely sleeping underground waiting for warm weather.

A squirrel rose to the occasion but it's sunny this morning and there's a shadow.

The squirrel probably realized what it meant - six more weeks of Winter. I could almost hear it sigh.

Claire, sighing too

Okay, so maybe the deck railing is not the best place for the trail cam.

Thinking about getting a waterproof, dedicated video camera for slow motion/time lapse

on flowers and critters. There is so much action happening right in front of us that we don't see. hmm... to be con't.

I kind of like it.

Well, after several hours of time-lapse shooting with the trail cam aimed onto the birdbath (during roosting time) the video was a tad livelier than watching paint dry as a spectator sport. I'll think of something.

Just a few recent shots.

The often overlooked Nuthatch. There is a pair or 3 here, and I have yet to see them fight - unlike so many others.

A Cooper's landed on the bird feeder and rather than focusing on it, I got the petrified little Downy in the kousa just 8 feet away. Not a muscle moved. Life is dangerous.

I put 3 slices of deli ham out for the crows because they've been fed here for 25 years and that's all I had. Couldn't scare them, so I had to shoot from inside. The vulture flew away (no ground shot) as the hawk swooped in. The crow remained steadfast.

They all got some despite the bullying.

Jane

Turkey vulture eating ham? Cooper's hawk eating ham? A crow eating ham doesn't surprise me.

Claire

It was kosher...no harm, no foul.

And no fowl . . .

We need happy emojis.

Ms. Cardinal is sweet, pure and simple. A mindful stretch before...

Her nap

Napping is a good way to get through this winter....

Claire

arrgghh. I was Driving through a round about this afternoon in town and in the bright blue, sunny sky above, an adult bald eagle was soaring so low over my head. A memory, not a photo.

Just as well - photos taken while driving through round abouts sometimes end up showing car wreckage rather than eagles.

I also have a memory of sitting out on the deck a few years ago and hearing panicky birds. I looked out and I think I saw a juvenile bald eagle stopping in mid air by a nearby tree and then turning and flying away. I don't know what it was chasing since eagles don't usually eat bird. Maybe a crow or a gull with some fish? I'll never know.

Claire

Somebody is growing big boy antlers.

Wow! This seems really early for antlers. I think he will have a large rack. Do you find deer do much damage to your plants? Or do you use repellent sprays on favorite plants?

NHBabs - they've eaten well in our yard over the years. When I remember and when the weather is conducive to spraying, I use I Must Garden deer repellent - it works. Unfortunately, they nipped my new variegated hydrangeas sometime in November, THEN I sprayed (barn door effect --again, spraying is memory dependent) so we'll see how the shrubs fair. Before I switched to the no mess blend bird seed, they browsed a nearby Nova Zembla rhody to the point that I saw no blooms for years. Since switching the seed mix early last fall and spraying late last November, I can see multiple buds on the Nova. Got lucky last summer when the buds developed, apparently. After precip varieties this week, I'll spray again when it is above 40° and dry.

* * *INSERT - had to look up antler growth on white-tailed deer. This site has a neat time-lapse video - and the answer is yes, my chap is ahead of the March-April time frame Antler development

P.S. In ref. to early antlers, the Chickadees and Cardinals have switched their tunes recently. I noticed it quite strongly one day last week when filling feeders. It's the kind of change that stops you in your tracks when your ears tell your spirit, "WAIT! That's different!". I'm thinking Spring may come sooner. A friend in New Zealand said she has 'whiffed' autumn several times within the past 2 weeks.

Jane

My feeling of timing on antler development came from working through a bunch of the photos on the citizen science link that I posted way up near the start of this thread where a MN nature center wanted their trail cam photos labeled as to what is in the photo. If there are deer, they wanted to know about whether young or antlers are visible in the images. Since the images are dated, I got some benefit from doing the work.

I sent several pictures, the link, and my questions to the CT DEEP, so we'll see what they have to say. They've been responsive and kind in the past - especially about the bobcat sighting. To be con't.

Just passing the buck, eh? (Either you doe or you don't).

Claire

Cracked yourself up, didn’t you...?

Grooaann!

Good news! The chimney sweep is here and there are no bodies in the chimneys! However, he did find peanuts in the clean-out in back of the furnace. Looks like the starlings that fell down the chimney lost a beakful of peanuts on the way down. Cap going back on, yay! No more lost peanuts.

Bad news - we need a new chimney liner. Those birds that fell down the chimney brought to light a wearing problem that now needs to be fixed. House is 65 years old, original equipment, so I'm good with that. I chose to look at this situation as me being saved by wings - again.

The good news is very good, Jane! And the bad news isn't so bad since it will prevent future problems/bird invasions.

It's snowing now (the first measurable snow of this winter) and the birds are dealing with it. It's not so deep that they can't reach the birdseed and besides I threw a lot of birdseed under some hollies where the snow won't fall.

Doves and a song sparrow:

Cardinal, white-throat and a house finch plus an unidentifiable bird.

About a dozen red-winged blackbirds appeared today but most of them found the seed under the hollies. These are feeding under a feeder.

In a normal winter I'd have gone out and shoveled for the birds but I expect this snow to be melted and/or washed away before it prevents them from feeding.

Claire - who couldn't stand it and just went out and swept the snow to make it easier for the birds.

Just received an answer about the young deer's antlers from the CT DEEP.

Jane,

This little guy hasn’t started growing new antlers just yet, he is still holding on to his old ones. It’s not uncommon seeing a small percentage of young males holding antlers into March especially if they are in good health. Hope that helps.

Sincerely,

Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection

Sounds good, Jane. Maybe he'll drop his old antlers in your yard - there must be a lot of things you could do with them. Scrimshaw?

Claire

That is really cool Jane. Thanks for passing on the info. Something new to me.

I have no idea what was said, but here is the result.

These 4 photos were taken at 4:08:12 through 4:08:23. 11 seconds to end it all. The next morning the RB Woodpecker flew directly into a pair of starlings on the hopper feeder and bit one starling in the butt. Maybe it isn't over, lol.

They use and abuse each other, so it doesn't take woodpecker to upset the family.

Jane

Great pictures, Jane! Red-bellies are tough birds - it takes a lot of starlings to get them to back away. And starlings are just a really raucous crowd.

Claire

Need posting latitude here, Claire.

It just STRUCK me when I saw it. The photo was taken from inside the house through a window at an angle, so it is what it is. But look at the life in this picture. Spent wild aster flowers, seeds taken by wind, 80 year old maple tree bark is background, and the tree's leafless top is reflected in the globe which makes the top of the tree look like its roots - and a tree's roots are the same patterns that are the bronchi inside human lungs.

Jane

Perfectly appropriate, Jane. The wild aster flowers blown by the wind are certainly mobile features. Besides, it's a pretty picture and pretty pictures are always worth posting.

Claire

I just realized how long this thread is getting, which makes it tedious to load for some people, so I started a new thread, Birds and other mobile features in the garden 2019 #2.

I moved a new comment with a video from this thread to the new one because I think it's better there (a taste of spring to come).

As always, people are welcome to continue the discussion here, but please post new material on the new thread.

Claire