Risky Business

Sometimes you just have to wonder about some folk's choices. Now, I don't presume to know more about a squirrel's business than the squirrel him or herself, but there seems to be potential for disaster here. Disaster for the squirrel, that is, but in fact an opportunity for a squirrel on the menu for my resident Eastern Screech Owl. It's around this time of year that this owl starts using the boxes I provided for winter daytime roosting and food caching.

But this year, a little red squirrel has not only used one of these boxes for storing food, it has also hauled in lots of bedding material and I've seen it emerge in the early morning, stretching after a good night's sleep in there. Little pal, I wouldn't if I were you!

Eating maple key seeds on top of the screech owl roosting box.

Another busy day of hauling in nesting material.

Venturing out after a night's sleep in the box.

While I've got my worry hat on, there is a particular hazard that bird lovers might consider lessening. Bird feeders are often placed close to windows to make it easy to view the activity but little birds will sometimes panic and dash not to safety, but into a window's reflection. To help reduce these potentially fatal collisions, a simple solution is to put up venetian blinds.

Not so great for taking pictures, but these venetian blinds can save lives.

Double Take

My beekeeping guru, Peter, emailed these recent pictures from his backyard. What at first appears to be a furry white tail on one of his bluebird boxes is in fact a wind blown snow sculpture.

A tail? A teapot handle?

A Veronica Lake impression?