First Snowfall 2012!

Goldfinches grab an easy snack the morning after
our first snowfall.

Anyone who was visiting the Birdcam this morning (hopefully) noticed a difference in the landscape!

Not only did I do a little Christmas decorating, but over night we received our first dumping of snow! Typically we'll have a few days of light flurries when snow first arrives for the winter...but this year we got a heavy coating over night! What a sight to wake up to!

Chickadee (front) and
Hairy Woodpecker (right, suet cage)

The birds were very active today. I figure that food is harder to find under the snow, so the feeders were even more appealing!

Even the hairy woodpecker came by again for a snack, and I snapped a decent photo of him on the cam (if you look closely, you can see the red patch on the back of his head)!

I've seen the woodpecker a few times since then. I think he's going to be a frequent visitor like I had hoped!

Hairy woodpecker.

Make sure you keep checking in frequently! With the snow, there may be even more birds stopping by in search of food and shelter!

...maybe even Scram will stop by again! It's been some time since I've seen that little monster around!

Happy Halloween from NovaBirds!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!



A wet chickadee visits the feeder.

It's going to be a pretty damp and dreary Halloween here at NovaBirds! The edges of Hurricane Sandy are over our region, bringing us heavy rain and thunder storms (yikes)!
That doesn't seem to be deterring the birds though! Although damp, they're still visiting frequently!

Have a safe & happy Halloween everyone!

On today's Menu: Acorns!

Over the weekend, I travelled a few hours away to visit my inlaws. The nuts there are plentiful! ...and by nuts I mean acorns..but maybe I mean seeds?

Anyways, to get to the point, my inlaws have a number of oak trees surrounding their property, and every fall at least a few of them drop acorns. Because we have no oak trees near our own home, I thought that the squirrels and chipmunks would really like a special treat, so during my visit, my father-in-law and I grabbed a 4 litre bucket and filled it with as many acorns as we could find.

When I got home, I took our hollowed out little pumpkin and filled it with acorns and pumpkin seeds. Within a matter of hours, the chipmunks and bluejays had cleaned out the pumpkin! Looks like the acorn idea was a win! Now the little tricksters will have extra treats to enjoy for the next few weeks!

Halloween decorating on NovaBirds Cam

Festive critters!

I finally got around to carving our Jack-o-Lantern!

Depending on what time of day you view the cam, the face on the jack-o-lantern may look different...and in the evening, I'm always sure to have it lit up!

The birds and critters seem to enjoy having an extra perch to view the feeder from.

I also saved all of the seeds from both the jack-o-lantern and smaller pumpkin. I think I will see if the wildlife might eat them. I'm not sure if they'll eat pumkin seeds, but here's to hoping!

Changing seasons...

Not only are the leaves changing, but somone thought
they were clever and started to build a nest in the feeder!

The leaves are beginning to change here, as you can see on the cam. The air is getting much cooler and lots of critters are stocking up on extra calories to prepare for the snow and colder weather.

I've noticed that Scramble and the chipmunks have really been cleaning out the feeders. I've been replacing seed daily now.

Bluejays are also showing up more frequently and even perching on the main cam feeder.

Hopefully these critters will stay through the winter, with the exception of the chipmunks of course, who will be beginning to hibernate soon!

Stay tuned to the cam. As we approach Halloween, some peculiar things may begin to show up!