OH DAHLING, I JUST LOVE THESE PEANUTS!

My new friend didn’t disappoint me today – he was ready to ask for more peanuts as soon as he saw us having breakfast. At first I snapped his picture through the screen on the door, but after a few of those shots, I figured I didn’t have anything to lose by holding the door slightly open and sticking the camera outside. Luckily that was okay with him.

(Two things: 1. His eye shows a reflection of the snow on the deck. 2. I hadn’t ever seen squirrel lips!!)

Interestingly, there haven’t been any birds in the yard the past three days. (That’s one reason for so many squirrel blips!) I can’t figure out why they all disappeared at the same time – that includes the ground feeders (juncos, sparrows) as well as those who flocked to the seed feeders (chickadees, nuthatches, cardinals, titmice, finches, etc.) There were no takers for the shelled peanut halves that disappeared quickly every day for months. Even the woodpeckers haven’t shown up for suet, and the woods are dead quiet – no chirping at all. Last spring, there were a pair of merlin hawks nesting nearby - there weren’t any birds during that time because hawks are predators. Now I don’t see any evidence of any type of predator - I’m still trying to figure it out.

Quite late today, I did see a cardinal at one feeder for a brief minute. Hopefully that’s a good sign that the bird population will return.