Two Squirrel Day

I've had many Three Dog Nights, but a Two Squirrel Day is a record. One thing I've thought was strange about this farm is how few little critters you see. I've seen a couple dead moles, a couple dead tiny shrews, and one dead bat. Of the living small creatures I've only seen a couple squirrels and maybe five rabbits over the last year. Until today. We saw one squirrel run from the bird feeder when we started our walk today; then another deep down in the woods flying from tree to tree. It might have been a flying squirrel; that's how it jumped between the branches - with all four limbs out. They are nocturnal and I've never seen one. But the reason I saw this one was because the top of a tree snapped and I looked up to see this little guy jumping from it to other nearby tree top branches. Maybe the tip that snapped off held his nest?

Whenever I see these little things I think they are special gifts from the Lord to me. I'm very spoiled. I sometimes go out looking, like a little child whose expecting her father to bring her home a present. It's like a special game....what will the Lord show me today hiding in this field.

The window birdfeeder has been comandeered by a flock of pine siskin for the past three days. They are chickadee size birds that look like slim sparrows with a few yellow wing feathers. My first sight of them made me think they were female goldfinches. But they have pointier beaks. Anyway only 6 of them can fit on the feeder at once. They wait on the closest brush branches until one looses its balance on the feeder, then fight over who's next. They eat a lot. The resident chickadees and juncos hardly get a chance. H-m-m? Maybe the little siskins have been around all along and the seed my kids gave me for Christmas is something they really love?

The red bellied sapsucker I saw a while back....saw another one today deep in the woods working at the owl's tree stump. I really don't know if that's the right name for it. It seems like a red-headed woodpecker to me, but the books say this isn't their range. I just know that the head is pure red and the long beak is white. The wings are black speckled with white. I'm not sure what color its belly is though. Will have to pay attention next time I run into him.