A week later and we have a foot of snow falling. This was a heavy wet snow that my tractor couldn't budge, so to hire someone to plow out our long lane. It was rather pretty falling, though.
The snow cover brought a lot of birds to the feeders outside our family room window. My baffles seem to be holding off the squirrels and raccoons successfully this year. The black baffle in the middle of the pole is a retail "torpedo" baffle advertised to keep both animals away, but I found that larger raccoons could shimmy up the baffle and still get to the suet on the feeders. Last year I had put a large bucket about that baffle but they somehow got around that obstacle. This year I used a wash tub, cutting a hole in the middle to fit the pole through and securing it just above the torpedo baffle. (This is a pole that comes out of the ground each Spring and re-installed each Fall so this maneuvering is possible.) The larger wash tub seems to have the raccoon's "baffled" and is keeping my seed and suet safe .... so far.
I did manage to get several pictures of birds on the feeders and the dogwood tree next to it, where they like to perch waiting for a turn at the feeders. Here is a female cardinal.
Two goldfinches in winter plumage waiting their turn.
A female downy woodpecker.
A male cardinal.
A junco on the ground where the like to feed among the seeds knocked off the feeder by other birds.
A male purple finch, which have been pretty abundant at the feeder this year.
A carolina wren. This one had me stumped so I had to post a picture on a birdwatcher's site to identify it.
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