Whiskey Jack on the meadow ~ a post from David

The Canada Jay lives here all year round, and like the Raven, Pine Siskin, Chickadees and Juncos, his cheery company can be counted on even in the coldest weather. At this time of year he is busy stashing food ...in spruce trees mostly from what we have observed. Larger spruce have naturally peeling bark that provides shingled crevices, perfect places to protect and hide the stash.

They eat and stash a wide variety of food ... meat, eggs, insects, fruit, sunflower seeds, suet, (left over turkey chopped fine saturated with bacon fat ...) and etc. We have to wait till the bears hibernate before we put suet or bacon fat in our feeders or we will have unwelcome guests ...

Grey Jays are adaptive and intelligent, naturally curious and friendly. A bit of patience will get one feeding from your hand and coming back daily for more. They do have natural predators and so they are very alert, keeping one eye on the sky. Most hawks eventually migrate, so the winter skies are much safer.

Their vocabulary varies from chatter to whistles, and they can imitate other birds. They are territorial and monogamous, and yes they do find a new mate if an accident befalls their partner. They nest in April, which is a cold and barren time of year here, so they depend on this food stash to feed their fledglings.

All offspring from the current year except the dominant male are pushed out of the territory before winter, and the remaining young male joins Mom and Dad for a year till he matures, helping feed the young by retrieving caches. He eventually pairs with a female pushed out of another territory and the gene pool is protected.

The name "Whiskey Jack" is the oldest name we have for this widespread North American bird. It is a derivative of the Cree and Inuit ...Wee-sah-ka-shat (many spellings). Wee-sha-ka-shat, along with the beaver, otter and muskrat, is responsible for the order of things.

The Canada Jay or Grey Jay by modern definition....


well feathered everywhere, this bird is equipped to handle forty below ....


Sometimes called Camp Robber, the Canada Jay is omnivorous and an opportunist.


He is curious and interactive and will come to your voice.


His rounded tail and wings provide a silent and stealthy flight despite his steady wingbeats ...


He keeps one eye on the sky watching for hawks or the shrike.


He can carry a tremendous amount of booty away from the feeders, reminding me of a chipmunk as he stuffs his crop.


That tail acts as a flag to signal when the mouth is too full to talk.... lol.


The winter would be a lot quieter and less cheery without this little bird. They are such good company.

by David Finch

Last days of Summer and the First day of Fall

I invite you to take a walk with us around our 48 acres.  
We'll wander through the last days of summer and into the first day of fall.

 

  

One of our four legged friends

Today is the Autumnal Equinox in our corner of the world. 

The wheel turns and the time of balance returns.

And seven words from the wisdom of Wendell Berry. 

“Be joyful because it is humanly possible.” 

Till next time ~ thanks for coming along.

Summer visitors on the meadow

 Some of our summer lovelies

of the four legged and winged varieties.

 Pine Siskins

 Swallows

 and the occasional hummingbird :)

 Finches

 Evening Grosbeaks

 Killdeers

Our Doe and her Fawn

 Great Blue Herons

 Rusty Blackbirds

 Robins

 Red-winged Blackbirds

Right now there are lots of babies on the meadow.

The Grosbeaks are bringing their little ones to the feeder now, introducing them to the

never ending supply of sunflower seeds.  The Red Winged Blackbirds have little ones and of course it's flight school for the swallow babes.

A truly delightful time of year...

Well,except for the hungry mosquitoes!!

Dandelions On the Menu

David ... and our Dandelions again ~ 

with his promise fulfilled to collect a few pics of the various critters in our yard that eat our dandelions. Were we to spray our yellow flowers to make the perfect green lawn, we would poison or kill the food supply of quite a few different animals and birds. Let's start big ... this Grizzly loves dandelions and we're sure glad because we would not want to end up on the menu...


 





 
and this family of black bears is so pleased to find this salad bar in the relative safety of our driveway, I say relative because that is exactly the same place as the grizzly pic was taken.

Groundhogs love dandelions,
as do chipmunks and rabbits and deer



Yellow headed blackbirds seek out just the right one in the closed position and bite all the seeds at once from the side.

and Pine Siskins pin them to the ground to make a meal of them one at a time. They prefer them in the parachute stage. 
And so it goes ~ enjoying all these critters and birds is worth every minute of the work we do to maintain a healthy ecosystem on these 48 acres and it's why we encourage and promote dandelions wherever they occur.

And we humans of course can also benefit greatly from the lowly dandelion.

We worked with Danny and Casey on their rings earlier this year. Casey and I were chatting about Dandelions and she kindly sent me her process for making Dandelion oil which I'll share here: (Thanks Casey)

- Pick the dandelion heads, then lay them out over some towels for about 24 hours.  I didn't do this the first two times I made it and after some more research I found someone's suggestion to do this as it reduces the amount of moisture in the dandelion which can then decrease the chances of the oil going rancid. - fill a 2L mason jar or glass bowl about half full with dandelions and then pour a blend of olive oil and grape-seed oil over top.  But I agree with you, almond would also be lovely, I have also used apricot kernel oil.

- Let the dandelions sit in the oil, in the sun for two weeks.

- Strain the oil

- I add arnica oil and essential oils, that assist with circulation or pain management as this enhances the anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties of the dandelion. 

- Keeping it in the fridge does help keep it fresh and useable.

Casey says that she's had many people say it helps relieve pain in minutes, especially those with injuries or arthritis.