Canada Geese & Goslings at Togus Pond

 There was a lot of activity at Togus Pond this morning! We pulled over for a snapping turtle, intending to move her across the road, but then realized she was already in the process of laying her eggs in the sand & gravel at the side to the road, so Doug watched over her until she finished, and had buried the nest, and then he helped her back to the water. 
I heard loons & saw red-winged blackbirds, saw ducks & frogs & finches - but the best was this family of Canada geese. 

Loon Chicks, Toddy Pond

Totes adorable, right? I snagged the photos from Avian Haven's Facebook page.
Avian Haven is a bird rescue and rehabilitation organization in Freedom, Maine. They have extensive facilities, including compounds for owls, other raptors, and aquatic birds, including a dedicated indoor pool for loon rehabilitation.

Though these guys were born on Toddy Pond, their next stop is the ocean, as loons typically spend their first two years as marine birds, before returning to their fresh water origin point to nest and raise chicks of their own.

Free Table Score!

Hey there, World's Cheapest Human here (btw, that puts me in the running for the galactic title. JUST SAYIN) You know what the World's Cheapest Human really loves? Free stuff!

This free thing was sitting on a concrete block next to the giant recycling bin where the City of Augusta asks us to drop our plastic and paper trash. Clearly someone was downsizing but didn't want to actually discard a perfectly good item. Thanks, someone!

We feed the birds. Mostly sunflowers - tons of birds love sunflower seed - but also thistle (finches!) and suet (woodpeckers.) I've had a hummingbird feeder before but no hummingbird has ever touched it with a ten foot pole, or a pole of any length. or touched it at all. We maxed out on hummingbirds with two, this one time, but we usually do get one, and she prefers monarda and trumpet flowers. (And also scarlet runner beans, but we don't have any of those this year.) Before this things bloom. Nada. No hummingbirds.

But that's all changing now. My old feeder was pink (and so ugly it hurt to look at it, I'd take a photo but it might be considered vandalizing the internet.) I'm told they really only like a red feeder. But no red dye in the food, please, it isn't good for them, I'm told.

I'm waiting for my sugar syrup to cool right now. Here's the mix:

4 parts water
1 part sugar

They like cane sugar better than beet sugar - if your bag of sugar doesn't specify, it's probably beet. I just used what I had in the house, if this doesn't bring 'em I'll try cane sugar next.

The Frugalista in Winter: Sunflower Lard Cakes

Suet cakes are not expensive items, but it's even cheaper to make your own, from lard and sunflower or millet seed.
I never thought one way or the other about lard, until I started making soap. It makes a lovely soap with a rich lather. It also means I now have lard around the house. I have a block that had gotten a bit old - not rancid, but old fats will make a soap whose scent doesn't last as long. Waste is a dirty word at my house, so I found another use for it: sunflower seed cakes.

Lard melts at a low temperature - around 85°, which makes it a bad choice to feed the birds in the summer. (It ain't likely to get to 85° today, though; it's snowing like a mad bastard.) I melt the lard in a pan on the stove, and pour it over sunflower seed in a mini loaf pan. I don't know if the plastic wrap is necessary - probably not, I mean, what could be slipperier than lard? But I didn't want to have to screw around with the mess if I was wrong.

I popped the pan in the fridge, and then waited and...

I use a bit of wire to secure the cage, because the squirrels know how to get it open!

Two fit in the suet cage. Surprisingly, the one with the least lard - just enough to come to th ebottom edge of the top layer of seed - held together the best.

Hoping I see my downy woodpeckers, but even if not, lots of birds enjoy a little fat in their diet, to help keep them warm during the Maine winter.

They Always Come When it Snows

Cardinals and mourning doves. They come for the sunflower seeds; then I have finches on the thistle feeder, but they are more timid, so I couldn't even get this good a shot.

I have a suet feeder as well, but the squirrels - clever little bastards that they are - figured out how to open it, so that never lasts long.

Monarda for Hummingbirds

I've never had any luck with hummingbird feeders. I've tried the fancy-schmancy kind, glass and copper, and the $5 cheapies - recommended by my mother-in-law, the hummingbird queen. What does draw them, however is Monarda. They love the stuff, and who can blame them? Big, intensely red blooms, no maintenance, long bloom season.
There's only one species of hummingbird in Maine, the Ruby-throated, which makes this one a little lady, since she is greenish-gray all over.

Foul Weather Friend

Each time it snows, cardinals appear at our feeder. Some years, there are several pair; this winter, just the two, male and female. We rarely see them, except in the aftermath of a storm.

I've been trying all winter to get a photo of this guy! He's wary - he has to be, because his coloration makes him so visible, an easy target. When he hears the door, he either takes off or hops back into the depths of the forsythia bush where you see him in this photo. The bush is only a few feet from the feeder, so it serves an important function in making the birds feel safe.

When I saw him this morning, I grabbed my camera dashed out into the snow in my bare feet, and then stood still long enough for him to cautiously emerge from the thicket of branches. You can see that he is keeping an eye on me.

His lady joined him a few minutes after that, but my feet had had enough, and the birds did not stick around long. They never do, after the sun is up.

Counting the blessings of snow: I might as well, since it is here, and more coming, whether I appreciate it or not! Top of the list: my beautiful visitors.