Much ado about nothing

Awoke to a blanket of white this morning --- accessorized by lots of black, as in birds.  At one point, there were over 100 grackles in the yard, making their odd squeaks and crackles and flushing at the slightest breeze. And, as always, there were some starlings and red-winged blackbirds in the flock, making their own odd calls and songs.  I was settled in my hide (having cleared a hide-sized patch on the patio) and was able to catch this silly starling trying to dislodge something that it had eaten.  I see them do this fairly often and my personal theory is that they gobble their food so fast that things get stuck and need to be hacked up.  Makes for a cool photo, though, doesn't it?

I came in to have lunch with Hubs and while we were sitting at the table looking out on the sea of grackles, suddenly a Cooper's Hawk strafed the feeders.  In pursuit of something, she managed to get herself deep into the cherry tree and it took her a while to get herself out again.  Meanwhile, that was all it took for the grackles to bolt.  Which wasn't a bad thing since they can clear out the feeders pretty quickly.  

I seriously considered blipping a grackle, which would have been yardbird 19, but this starling shot was really too good to pass up.  If you'd like to see a leucistic grackle, along with a tree sparrow and an immature blackbird, start HERE.  And I'll put a nice shot of one of the Common Grackles in Extra - he's rather fine.

We ended up with about 7-8 inches of snow, on top of the 4 or so inches we'd gotten a few days earlier.  A fairly wet snow, which made clearing driveway and walkways unpleasant.  Once the surfaces were cleared, though, the sun did it's job.  The yard/garden is another story and is going to be buried under snow until the next "polar vortex" moves through this week.  

Had a quick check on the chickens and all is well, although they weren't too happy about the snow, preferring to stay in their nice, warm hen house.  I came home with a dozen more eggs.  There isn't much better than fresh eggs so no complaints from me.  

Planning my next trip to Florida...

xo
Debbi