Snowbirds

After five years of heading to warmer climes when the snows threaten, one begins to wonder why anything that has freedom and mobility wouldn’t do the same. It must be enjoyment. Love of the fresh air and the crisp and sparkling snow. It certainly can’t be pleasure in the treacherous freezing rain and ice.

But since we have committed to spending this winter up north, hubby and I have been finding our own pleasure in the season. Because we don’t have to be out of the driveway at an unreasonable time in the morning (that's anytime before 10 am), we have been happy to use snow shovelling as an exercise. We even got the snowshoes out after a nice dump. The cross country skis have yet to be dusted off, however. We are waiting for a little more snow to cover the rocks along the back lane.

It turns out that many things don’t go south in the winter. And it is not all that obvious what those things are until it snows. Just a dusting of that white stuff creates an artist’s canvas on which the footprints of passersby paint their movements. Some of these expressions are cute, like the squirrel prints hopping from one tree to the next. Others are startling, as was the prints of the coyotes that came alarmingly near the house during the night.

Equally unexpected were the footprints of a lone turkey.  I wonder if he met up with the coyote.

And then there are the prints you talk to. “No, no, little mouse! Stay away from the house. Stay outside where it might be cold, but is much, much safer.”

We much prefer the bird prints. We refuse to feed the squirrels, and coyotes, and mice, but we do enjoy feeding the birds.

We have experimented with different types of bird seed, from buying it ready-made in bags to mixing our own from bulk stores. Suet was a new adventure for us, and after getting instructions my hubby the cook quickly went about making some. There is always a feeling of satisfaction when the food disappears quickly. 

Unless it was because a horde of starlings descended on our feeders en masse and didn’t leave until everything was cleaned out.

This house has lovely windows to see all these birds. Unfortunately, it’s the sound of them ricocheting off of the glass as they try to swoop through it that is bothersome. We’ve tried pulling the blinds down, but then we can’t enjoy the view, or watch the birds eating. Hmmm, feed the birds, kill the birds. That’s quite a dilemma.  Actually, I don’t think we’ve killed any yet. After the collision, I usually peek out the door to see a spread-eagled body, but later I notice the poor little thing is gone. Since I don’t see any coyote tracks leading up to the window, I assume the bird has shaken itself off and flown away. Hopefully wiser.

There are bigger birds than the turkey that have decided to winter in the cold. They caught me by surprise after a snowfall when I was driving along the lakefront. I saw small white “icebergs” in the water near a flock of geese, but it had not been cold enough to freeze the lake yet. 

Another glance saw the body of a swan come back upright after feeding on the bottom. My camera was never available whenever the swans did their “bottoms up” trick, but as there are 6 pairs staying in the area, we have been seeing them frequently.

Now, I don’t know for sure why all these other creatures decided not to go south for the winter. It may be that they knew it was going to be a mild one. Or that they knew just how far the loonie would fall compared to the US dollar. For us, it was merely happy circumstance.

It was a good year to be a snowbird in the snow.

W