Wednesday, January 07, 2015

Cold Morning Temperatures

This photo was taken outside my window in Bird Alley , yesterday morning.  And just a reminder that here in Canada we read out thermometers in Celsius. And that's cold at -25 degrees C.  However it is forecast to be a bit warmer today, at -19 degrees C.
This little Red breasted Nuthatch is a regular and no matter the temperatures it continues to show up daily to feed at  the peanut feeder!( |We used to have two peanut feeders , however with the mild temperatures and no snow recently a marauding raccoon carried it off wheresoever and we could not find it, so now we only have the one peanut feeder.
How I love being retired on cold winter days like this! It used to be that on cold winter mornings we would often have trouble getting our cars started in the  mornings and sometimes my husband would get up at 2 or 3 a.m to take our cars out for a short drive  on the highway to warm them up , ensuring an early morning start, and still sometimes , we had to drag the clutch after giving our car a good push downhill( We lived on a hill and that push downhill often provided the acceleration we needed to turn over the motor.) My last year of teaching provided a different location as we had moved , but still being outdoors at 6 a.m. cleaning off the windshield as the car warmed up was no blessing either. I resigned and retired in March of that last year of teaching, Oh Happy Day!!!!
All of these memories came flooding back yesterday morning as my car complained and almost didn't turn over when I attempted to start it., but then I heard and felt that glorious power of my car's motor turning over, run though the car and myself!!! How difficult cold , winter mornings used to be!
Our number of bird species visiting our feeders daily has been down recently. I counted only 9 species yesterday: Red-breasted Nuthatch, both Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, Tree Sparrows, Juncos, Chickadees, Song Sparrow, Mourning Doves and Goldfinch.  I keep hoping to see Redpolls each day but there have been none at Bird alley so far! I am hoping for a higher count  of species today.

2 comments:

eileeninmd said...

I love the cute RB Nuthatch.. I use to see them here but not lately..:(

It is cold out there and I am so glad I am retired now too. Stay warm and have a happy day!

Natasha said...

The Nuthatch is so cute - and it does look ever so chilly there, as it is here in the UK at the moment - I love winter but I will be looking forward to warmer weather! - Tasha