Critters in a Winter Snow

What amazes me about winter storms is that critters still manage to find a way to get by.  Of course, some critters have it easier than others.  Like this mourning dove.  The snow was coming down and the bird landed on the deck railing–which I brushed off now and again during the storm–and he just sat there stuffing his face.  He almost looks happy, doesn’t he?

 After the dove was done eating, it just stayed on the railing watching the snow come down.  I was wondering how much snow could accumulate before he’d have a hard time flying off.  But then I got distracted by something else. 

Like this duck. 

This mallard drake was soon joined by a few pals.  Soon they all waddled across the snow.  Kind of look like they mean business, don’t they?

Their destination was an area I had shoveled out for them.  Oh, the corn was a nice touch, too, I suppose.

This cardinal showed up shortly afterwards.  It’s like he and the dove and the ducks had nothing better to do than hang out and eat during the snow storm.  And like I had nothing better to do than shovel and put out food for them.

Meanwhile, the squirrels had made their way onto our deck.  This is Leany.  He was either hit by a car, fell out of a tree, got whacked by his spouse or has a neurological condition, because he leans to one side.  In fact, I’ve seen him fall over while eating.  I have to clear the deck for him.

The day after the storm, I saw this chipmunk sticking its head out of a hole in the snow.

He came out a bit further for a closer look.

It didn’t take long for him to abandon his hidey-hole.

And with that, the chipmunk and nut were gone.

Best of all, perhaps, was what I witnessed yesterday.  I looked outside between bouts of not doing anything and saw two flickers on a nearby tree. 

They chased each other around the tree trunk a bit.  And then they both cocked their heads backwards.

Then there was a bit of feather fluttering.

Then they chased each other around a bit, upon which time I ran inside to get the video camera, only to discover the battery was dead.  Then I grabbed Mark’s point and shoot camera and pointed and got a bit of flickery flitting, and not a very good vid at that.  As I was running the video, the flickers made instantaneous contact, which might just have been mating. 

Oh, here’s one reason why it’s possible the flickers were hanging around. 

 So that’s what happens around my house when a snow storm comes in.  It’s all about the critters.