Yes the Redpolls are still here. This morning's high count was 31 between the feeders and ground at the same time. Lately they have been sharing time between the feeders and the edge of the yard/woods.
This morning I was heading out with my son to take him to school and he turned to me to get my attention. He had spotted a Pileated about 15 feet off the side of the driveway hammering away on a tree about 4 feet off the ground. The noise and commotion of my son and I did not spook it which surprised me. After watching for a few minutes, we had to get to school so I started the truck and it still kept hammering. I called my wife who was on the way home to let her know, and she drove in and it was still going steadily, giving her good views of it as well. Sadly when I got back it had moved on. I set up a camera to record it but it never came back to that spot. If anyone wants a 45 minute video of just a half pecked hole in a tree, let me know. 😊
I can't remember if I noted this before, but I have revamped the feeders to include a large platform. Ever hopeful of an early oriole or tanager, I have been putting some fruit(oranges for orioles and banana for the tanagers) and jelly out to see if there is any interest. So far there have only been some "tastings" by the locals including one Redpoll that took three bites of banana. I am not sure if I was more surprised than it was about it. I have not seen that happen again since. The jelly was disappearing nightly so I hauled out an old security camera and installed it facing the feeder area and found it was being visited at night by a family of 3 raccoons. Only one of which could beat the baffle(a section of stove pipe). It would just hug the baffle and slide its way up until it could get a hold above.
Other non-avian visitors have been the southern flying squirrel I had mentioned in the past which I have occasionally found to be living in the space underneath the baffle. The other night I checked the camera around 2:30 and I saw the squirrel and another pair of eyes glowing in the background. I got out a flashlight and there was a cat sitting 15 feet away from the squirrel.
This morning also I went out to place the audio recorder and watched what I believe was an ermine as it dashed away, still in its white winter snow camouflage. Leaning towards ermine over mink as it was shorter in the body with a short tail. Will keep an eye out for a more positive ID.
Cheers and happy spring!
Rob
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