Winter Ice Storm

Well it's Thursday, exactly one week before Christmas and we have a winter Storm coming this evening. That's Indiana weather, very unpredictable. Hopefully everyone has their Christmas shopping done. Because the advanced forecast isn't very good either. We already had freezing rain that left everything with a thin coat of ice, The roads have been cleared fairly well. But there is still ice coating my bird feeders and the birdhouses have icicles hanging from them. It is very pretty but also very dangerous to walk on or drive on.

The birds are all sitting around all fluffed up like little balls of feathers trying to keep warm. It is times like this that I wish I lived in Arizonia. This is the time of year that the birds need suet feeders, It helps them store fat in their bodies to help keep them warm. Where I live though, you attract more than birds with suet cakes. Racoons, Opossumn, and skunks, to name a few.

I used to put them on my empty birdbath base, But the other animals found them too easily.

So you have to be careful when deciding on where to put them. Last year I had a dog that kept taking them. The cardinals love the suet cakes with fruit and nuts on them, and the chipmunks love them all.

We have a lot of Cardinals, I guess that's a good thing considering that they are our State Bird.

Sometimes in the winter my feeders attract around 15-20 cardinals at a time. That is the only time I see that many male cardinals together at one time. They brighten up the winter blahs.

In this picture, all of these birds are cardinals. In the spring and summer the males are always chasing each other away but in the winter I think they team up to hunt for food. At least that's how it looks to me. They are very pretty birds.

The cardinals must prefer the height of the trees for nesting though because as many as I have , I have never had one nest in my birdhouses. In fact I've never seen a cardinal nest in my yard at all. So they must be way up in the trees where I can't see them.

In the spring I always see the males feeding the females, It's so cute. Than a little later in the spring you'll see the females feeding the babies that are almost grown. But almost always in early spring, you see the female first and off to one side you'll see her mate keeping a watchful eye on her. He will follow her non stop while she's away from the nest. The males are very protective of their mate, I find that very sweet.

The birdlady