A Sentiment

God knew what He was doing when He sent a gentle breeze and brought a lovely butterfly to set my heart at ease. The happiness of your friendship and the gentleness of your words have touched my life in special ways and now I feel assured. Thank you for your loyalty and for reading everyday. I only hope you find things to make a happy day.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Where There's a Will...There's a Way


Looking at the bird feeder just outside my window...a small hole appeared overnight in the snow. I wondered who had visited...a rodent or a bird? Must have been a hearty creature in the below 0 weather last night.




Just minutes later my question was answered...a tiny snow bird (Junco) was sitting at his little spot... filling up his tummy.
I didn't clear the snow away yesterday and let the wind do my work for me. This is what was left of the snow at 4 pm yesterday.I didn't go out, because I knew that there were thousands of seeds just under that layer of snow. I feel that birds get a workout digging through a thin layer of snow and it's good for them.

What is going on under the 18 inches of snow on our ground. We know that snow cover is good for plants. When our snow is sparse in the winter...we have all kinds of problems with freezing and thawing..very hard on perennials and other plants

There are several children's books about what goes on under the snow. We are given a peak into that hidden world just below our feet, as we crunch across the snowy yard. There are so many little creatures taking a long winter nap. Insects like lady bugs are there, as well as our friends the chipmunks. Our garden visitor the snakes are sleeping cozily. Voles don't actually hibernate...They work at making tracks in the grass under the snow...eating as they go. Later on, when the snow is more sparce, we can see vole tracks in one area of our backyard. They don't cause us much trouble, so we have learned to live with these little guys.  Can't you just imagine these little fellows all curled up with their families...just waiting for spring as they breathe slowly.

 I just checked on the hole in the snow...on the bird feeder. Chickadees have arrived and are making the hole bigger. What a good workout for a tiny creature.By the end of the day, the snow will be gone off the feeder and I will venture out and refill it.
Balisha 

5 comments:

Jan said...

What a hard-working little soul! Jx

Gardener on Sherlock Street said...

My goodness you are buried in snow. That little bird knew it would be worth it. You're good to keep them fed!!

susie @ persimmon moon cottage said...

It looks like you are making the best of this snowy, cold weather; and so are your birds. I don't feed the birds here at our house, as the tree that I would like to put a feeder in is close to the house and I don't want to attract mice and rats up near the house. I love seeing the birds in the snow, so maybe next year I will try feeding them and see how it goes.

The day before this bad winter weather started, there was a huge flock of grackles in our persimmon trees. They picked off and ate every last persimmon from our trees.

I didn't know that voles stayed active under the snow in winter. That is fun to visualize. I always like looking at all of the various tracks left by animals in the snow, but it has been too cold, and too deep a snow to tempt me to go outside today.

Keep cozy!

One Woman's Journey - a journal being written from Woodhaven - her cottage in the woods. said...

Continue to stay warm and well and healing wishes to continue for Joe - I send....

deb @ frugal little bungalow said...

You got a lot more snow than we did on this round! : )