Hello my friends! Christmas will soon be here. What a wonderful time of year it is. I just love Christmas and all that it means. I can play my favorite music without too many sideways glances from those Grinch’s out there.
First, of course, is the plan of salvation which started with the birth of Christ. What a tremendous gift offered to us all.
I also enjoy the gathering of family and friends that I love so much. Then there are the presents that we share with our loved ones. I especially like it when a grandchild gets that special something that just makes them light up. I have been blessed by God with so much that there is truly not much I could want.
But if someone wants to get me a little something this year, I wear a size 160-acre farm, but I can squeeze into an 80-acre woodlot.
My feathered friends are sure hungry with the chilly weather we are having. The Blue Jays have been filling their gular pouches and taking away seeds almost as fast as I can reload the feeders. Some people get upset with Blue Jays taking so much away, I try to remember that they are hiding it away throughout the woods for later and that other birds that may never venture to my yard may find these seeds and have a better winter. By doing such feeding I feel that I am enhancing the whole ecology around me not just my small patch of it.
I recently read a report that this will be an irruptive year for birds from the north. That means that because of a lack of food in their native range they will be coming south. For “Birders” an irruption can mean the sighting of birds not normally seen and it could bring several of them. One year a while back we had a few hundred Pine Siskins in the yard. What a treat that was.
This irruption is expected to bring Pine Siskins, Redpolls, Evening Grosbeaks and Red Bellied Nuthatches just to name a few. Of the finches to come I am hoping to see more Pine Grosbeaks.
Well, that’s it for this month and that also means the end of another year. I wish you all many more years to come and great health to go along.
Merry Christmas to you all and please help keep our woods and waters clean.
