Friday Freeze: Sapsucker Weather
January 16th, 2009 · 2 Comments
It was 12 degrees when I woke up this morning. As I type this, the thermometer reads 19. Not funny, South! Lunch and Rita are eating all the high-protein, high-fat treats I can toss their way. Last time I saw them eat so much was Japanese beetle season. Poor chickens.
Yellow-bellied sapsuckers, on the other hand, are loving this weather. This one, outside my office window, is pecking out sap wells on the maples. The three holes to the left of its head were drilled in about a minute. Now the bird is pecking on a nearby tree while these wells begin to emit sap. The maples began to run sap from their trunks about a week ago; it comes from spots where branches fell (or were torn off by reckless construction workers). Both the sapsuckers and the yellow-rumped warblers have taken notice, feeding on the sap and generally making a spectacle of themselves.
Me? I’m staying inside, swaddled in knitwear, working at my desk all day and bossing Josh around. Stay warm, people (and birds)!
Tags: Chickens · GBirds Pets & People · Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
2 responses so far ↓
1 David in Greensboro // Jan 17, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Some fool was outside in his backyard on Friday, in 25 degree weather, with a pair of binoculars, watching a Sapsucker in a neighbor’s tree…
2 Mary // Jan 17, 2009 at 9:00 pm
I’m inside, too, Iris. Been outside to keep the birds fed, etc.
Gee, I’d like to see a sapsucker here…