Pretty Girl Came Plus a New Winter Finch - UPDATE January 31, 2022
I haven’t seen the bobcat and hoped all day that Pretty Girl would come. Finally, at 7:55 PM, there she was same as ever. The world is right again.Chickadee
Chickadee
Last night, I got a call that a third fox at a neighbor’s house a half mile away was probably Pretty Girl. That got me thinking. Not far from there is a fox den that has been active in recent years. Does Pretty Girl know about it. Could she have been born there? Might that be an alternative for raising pups it she doesn’t use the burrow under the garage? Might that be an even better place to put a trail cam or den cam to see how mother foxes raise their pups? We’ll see what happens.
Pine siskin
Pine siskin
Another highlight today was the first sighting this year of another winter finch. It was a pretty male pine siskin with bright yellow streaking. A few pine siskins live here year-round, but many more come pouring in from the boreal forests of Canada in winter. Today, this male joined the usual birds as they came one after another for sunflower seed hearts. Some had words with their competitors, and others quickly and quietly grabbed a sunflower seed heart or two and flew to a branch to peck each into tiny bite-size pieces.
Red-breasted nuthatch
Red-breasted nuthatch
I was sorry to learn of the passing of Mike Isaacs who so enjoyed the bears here with his wife Deborah in several Black Bear Field Courses. Deborah is asking their friends not to send flowers but instead donations to the North American Bear Center in Mike’s name. She said their visits to be among the bears were the highlights of Mike’s life. His final request was that his ashes be spread right here. It is amazing how wild bears can steal the hearts of people that actually get to know the bears’ personalities and see what bears are like, how they think, and how important it is to spread the word about them.
Last night, in the last paragraph of the update, I used the word hoaries one too many times. It is common redpolls, not hoary redpolls, that have rump patches strong streaked with brown. (we fixed that update to read correctly) That’s what happens when my main editor (Peggy) isn’t here. She was on her way home.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
