Birdfeeding: Friends of a Feather Flock Together

Today is cloudy, cool, foggy, and wet.  It rained last night and water is still dripping from the trees today.  Also the thermometer-hygrometer peripheral for our home weather station has died, so we need to see if that's available as a replacement part.  :/

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/25/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/25/25 -- I hauled the last large branches to the ritual meadow.  Then I started the long process of raking the parking lot.  

EDIT 12/25/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/25/25 -- I did more raking in the parking lot.

I've seen two squirrels in the trees.  I've seen several cardinals flying around.

EDIT 12/25/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

It's drizzling again.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Today is sunny and cool, almost warm -- too warm for a jacket even. That's warmer than even the January thaw used to get.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/23/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/23/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/23/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/23/25 -- I filled the trolley twice with twigs from the parking lot brushpile, then dumped them in the firepit in the ritual meadow.

I saw a flock of mourning doves in the trees around the ritual meadow.

EDIT 12/23/25 -- I dumped another trolley of sticks in the firepit.

EDIT 12/23/25 -- I dumped another trolley of sticks in the firepit.

I've seen a fox squirrel running through the trees.  I heard a woodpecker but didn't see it.

EDIT 12/23/25 -- I dumped another trolley of sticks in the firepit.  I think I've actually removed all the ones with berries that I want to burn, so the rest should be free for other uses.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Today is cloudy, chilly, and foggy.  Much of the snow is melting or subliming with the water vapor just hanging in the air.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/7/25 -- I bagged up Pink, Johnathan, and Johnagold apple seeds with damp sand to cold-stratify in the kitchen.

EDIT 12/7/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/7/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/7/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a pair of cardinals.

EDIT 12/7/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Today is partly sunny and cold.

I fed the birds. I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus several cardinals.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 11/28/25 -- We hacked away at the brush pile today. I managed to cut up one bush that had berries on it and dump the bits in the firepit. We also got some kindling cut to size.

We saw our great horned owl! :D It flew out of the ritual meadow around the east edge of the yard.

EDIT 11/28/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 11/28/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 11/28/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Today is cloudy and cool.  It rained again last night.

I fed the birds.  I haven't seen any activity today.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 11/25/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 11/25/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 11/25/25 -- I started chopping down the pile of berry canes to put in the firepit, and filled one trolley.  There is still a lot left.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Today is partly sunny and cool, a beautiful fall day.

I fed the birds.  I've seen several sparrows and house finches plus at least 3 goldfinches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 11/23/25 -- We spent an exasperating amount of time trying to set up for chipping the brush pile from the parking lot.

EDIT 11/23/25 -- We spent a bunch more time hassling around with the chipper.  We did get it going!  It produces quite small shreds.  They land right under the chipper.  We figure that putting a tarp underneath will be the best way to move the chips to an actual pile.  Hopefully tomorrow the weather will be clement enough to do actual chipping.

I am done for the night.








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Today is partly sunny and cool.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a large flock of sparrows.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 11/17/25 -- I trimmed brush along the south edge of the house.

EDIT 11/17/25 -- We cleared the rest of the brush from in front of the garage.

I've seen a goldfinch on the thistle feeder.

EDIT 11/17/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 11/17/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 11/17/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Today is partly cloudy and mild.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 11/13/25 -- I watered the Egyptian walking onions.

I gathered seeds from the 'Shirley' landrace zinnias that I'm developing.

EDIT 11/13/25 -- I emptied the two spigot jugs of comfrey tea. The pure one had so little liquid that I just dumped it out, and it didn't have much of a smell, just kind of moldy. The one with a handful of leaves decanted 2 gallons of tea-colored liquid fertilizer, and not much noticable smell. That's the one I'm more likely to repeat. I never did get around to testing it because the weather was so sweltering most of the time. But I have it to try out in spring.

EDIT 11/13/25 -- I rinsed out the two spigot jugs and brought them in.

EDIT 11/13/25 -- We walked around the yard looking at places in the prairie garden that need to be mowed, trimmed and carried away a few branches, and now my partner Doug is out mowing.

EDIT 11/13/25 -- We walked around the yard again and got another strip mowed.

I did a lot of work around the patio.

I've seen a fox squirrel running through the trees.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

Today is cloudy and much colder.  Bits of snow and grauppel are falling from the sky.  Last night it drizzled a bit.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 11/9/25 -- I went out looking for more bits to use in the lantern terrarium, but didn't find much.  It started snowing more briskly, enough to collect in places on the ground, which counts as First Snow.

EDIT 11/9/25 -- I went out looking for more bits to use in the lantern terrarium, and found a bit more.

I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

EDIT 11/9/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 11/9/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

Today is sunny and cool, a beautiful fall day.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 11/8/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 11/8/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 11/8/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 11/8/25 -- We went to the Charleston Food Forest and Coles County Community Garden, where I gathered more seeds.

We also stopped by Lake Charleston in search of migratory birds, which was largely a bust. :/

EDIT 11/8/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.
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