
Falling Down … Getting Back Up!


Late yesterday afternoon I looked outside and noticed my local trees were looking quite windblown. I had planned on looking for Great Gray Owls just before sunset, but any bird which hunts by hearing would find the conditions difficult. Wind whistling through the trees is noisy which makes hearing voles running beneath the surface of the snow almost impossible. Great Grays during windy conditions often do not hunt at all … hungry or not. Expending energy with little chance of success is dumb, and drains life energy.
Thankfully Snowy Owls hunt by sight, and as long as the wind is not too strong it is possible to find them on the tops of tall trees, power poles and light poles. After an hour of searching I found this immature male a bit before sundown.

This male Pileated Woodpecker was defining his territory yesterday afternoon. There are three really good “hollow log sounding board” trees in my yard. Every woodpecker for miles around knows those specific trees. My local woodpeckers are definitely starting to think about love! A lot of knocking going on …
