Archive for November, 2009

No sign of snow yet

We are well into November now and still no sign of snow. Last year the first snow to settle fell on November 20th and then we had a bigger dump on November 26th – see my post from this date last year. So far, so good for this year. November has been lovely with lots of sun, hardly any rain and pretty warm, many days into the low to mid teens which cannot be grumpbled at.

The forecast for the coming week is wetter, colder and the possibility of mixed precipitation at the weekend, but we will wait and see. Often they cannot predict the next day, let alone a week ahead.

The deer are still coming into the garden, but we have to keep looking for them as now it is getting dark so early we don’t see them wander in. We have loads of dark eyed junkos (snowbirds) around as well as both the downy and hairy woodpeckers making frequent visits to the feeders. The squirrels are very funny collecting nuts and then hiding them under leaves or a tuft of grass and as soon as their backs are turned the blue jays just take the nuts. The jays are very clever and watch the nuthatches, woodpeckers and squirrels to see where they put the nuts snd then steal them.

Deer start to arrive in the garden

Things have been pretty quiet here the last few weeks. The nights are dropping in and many of the birds we have seen throughout the summer have vanished to warmer lands or there are just a few hanging around. We are still seeing some robins and blackbirds, but most of the grackles have gone. Of course the squirrels are still about, not much puts them off, but the chipmunks have nestled down for the winter now. We just have one who is a bit braver and comes out occasionally.

We have had the deer start to come back though. A mother and her baby came by yesterday and I managed to get a couple of quick snaps before they ran off.

We also had the sharp shinned hawk pay a visit.

The weather is starting to get cooler, but still pretty pleasant, at least there is no snow here yet! Daytime temps in the mid teens on a good day and high single digits on the cooler days. We have had a few frosts too.