Well, they didn't come at all to the oatmeal and raisins I left for them within sight of the bluebird house.

So, today with all the sleet falling and those bluebirds coming in and out of their house, I decided to deliver some raisins right to them. I donned a heavy coat and trekked out to the bluebird house with handful of raisins in my bare hand. Lo and behold, the hole of the bluebird house was filled with snow--and I knew the poor birds were stuffed inside. I'd counted all seven of them flying there and stuffing themselves in. But what! This wasn't a snow-packed hole, but a bluebird's belly sealing off the hole. Those birds were stacked one on top of the other with only room for the last bird to pack his poor belly against the hole. Must have been plenty of warmth in there. Anyway, I left raisins all about: on top of, underneath, and even on the edge of the white-feathered hole. Last bird didn't like that at all, and as soon as I walked away, he flew out followed by one other bird. But they returned.

So, the next time you're out walking along the countryside in winter and see bluebird boxes above the fallen snow (at least in Virginia), imagine those boxes packed to the brim with stacked bluebirds. Not exactly a pie and not exactly blackbirds, but birds of a feather do lie together.

Ten bluebirds came out of the house this morning. No wonder it was packed to the brim.

Ten of a kind beats a full house.

They didn't eat a thing I'd left them. Drat. But today a lot of the ice melted and the squirrels had a picnic of everything from raisins to cockatiel feed that my uncle had brought here from some salesperson who had said bluebirds loved such feed. They don't; squirrels do.

>squirrels do

squirrels will eat almost anything, almost anywhere you care to put it. it's just too bad that there's not something on the market that will kill them w/o leaving a trace.

signed
joe (I abhor tree rats) friday

i live on the 14th floor of a building.. you'd think i would be free of vermin like squirrels..

but they climb up the brickwork, and metal fencing on the terraces, and manage to make it up and down the building from ground to the roof.

my terrace has screen (they can't climb up the screens) but my back bedroom faces another apartments terrace, and i have to be carefull about the window.. (or otherwise i'll have a squirrel 'break in' (they can scramble a few feet of brickwork, and do!)

I didn't use to mind them, until their depraved appetite for tree bark nearly killed a large maple in front of my house, necessitating tree surgery whilst hanging by my bootstraps from the top branches with chainsaw in one hand...

signed
joe (I 12-bore tree rats) wednesday

Well, that was interesting, thank you. I learned that the bluebird is a member of the thrush family and yet it likes nesting in birdhouses – something UK native thrush family members would never do. We have the blue-tit (and maybe you do too?), which looks very similar to your bluebird but is about half the size (that US/UK size difference again!) and likes to nest in birdhouses.

We have squirrels that raid the bird feed we put out in the garden (ie: yard), including the fat-balls and peanuts that the blue-tits like. But there's never more than three of them at a time and it would take more than a few squirrels to kill off our oak trees. Any road up, they have plenty of bird feed to eat!

dixbie, those fat-balls you mention -- if we're talking about the same thing -- we call suet (no balls. as it were).

Thanks for your bluebird story, WW. I've always wondered where birds go when it's so cold? I mean, besides South...

signed
Next (I love flying squirrels and, unfortunately, so do the cats) Thursday*

~~~
*anybody get the allusion?

>anybody get the allusion?

I'm sure I will by Thursday next, if I can afforde it.
-joe (the day before) friday

if I can afforde it.

You will, I 'spec, 'op to it.

anybody get the allusion?

Well, there's something in the Eyre.

I've just bought the fourth in the series - signed by the author(!). I suspect it may be the last, but I do hope not.

We have the blue-tit (and maybe you do too?)

Well, it has been pretty cold around here lately.

*Someone had to say it!