Put back up the birdfeeders

I had taken them down mid-October for a few weeks.  Two are back up now; we'll see how long it takes for someone to discover them.

2020 final butternut squash eaten today! Perfectly fine.

After being stored on the kitchen table for over a year, the last of 2020's butternut squashes came to an end today.  It was perfectly fine, just the inside stringy part was pretty dry.  But otherwise great!

Junco (FOS)! (despite having temporarily removed all feeders)

Hopping along the ground.  First of season in my yard.

Blue jay confirmed!

Heard and saw bluejays several times!  (one at a time, maybe the same one)

The peanuts-in-shell and cracked corn have proven to be quite popular!  Having to refill both each day.

The chopped peanuts are also getting eaten, but still have some leftover.

Haven't figured out yet if anyone is eating the Nutri-saff -- haven't had to replenish it yet...

Peanuts and corn eaten! (likely blue jays)

Woo hoo!  Someone discovered the peanuts-with-shells and the cracked corn in the new platform feeder!  I suspect blue jays, as I heard some, but wasn't able to get up to look out of the window.

All of the cracked corn was eaten, and most but not all of the peanuts.  And when I replenished the peanuts, again most of those were eaten.  (Total of ~15 peanuts eaten today)

Replaced the peanuts and cracked corn late this afternoon.

Goldfinches much fewer these days, but still frequent visitors; very occasional song sparrows, that's it

To really prevent food from falling to the ground (re: rat), and while waiting for the large seed catcher tray to arrive, I removed all of the mesh feeders that the goldfinches really loved, and replaced them with hopper-style feeders with openings at the bottom only, which are working well with the new fine sunflower chips I picked up.

The hordes of goldfinches had already been much smaller starting on Sunday I think (prior to then it wasn't out of the ordinary to count as many as 15 goldfinches in the yard and eating on the primrose/etc. outside the yard), which I think is due to removing the main feeder because it was raining and the weather dome hasn't arrived yet, so I don't think it was due to the above changes, but, we'll see if the masses come back.  

I do still see goldfinches, as many as 4 or 5 at a time, occasionally throughout the day.

New bird sighting!!! Wren?

I had just sat down in the yard, with both dogs, when a teeny bird appeared on the fence.  I didn't get a good look, as it was bordering on dusk and I didn't have binoculars handy, but the tail was up, which makes me think maybe some kind of wren?  (I haven't the faintest though)  Most definitely wasn't a goldfinch though.  Had a different call too.

Lingered on the fence for a moment, then clung onto the brick wall of the neighbour's house while deciding me and the dogs weren't worth trying to brave, and flew off.

New platform feeder!

Exciting!  Bird's Choice 16 x 13 platform feeder.  The mesh screen holes are too wide to use it for the millet or the fine sunflower chips, but that's fine, those foods have their own feeders.  It's perfect for the peanuts (shell and shelled), cracked corn, and safflower, so I put a mix of that.  Hopefully someone will discover it!

Habitat experiment: Slugs and sow/pill beetles

Dismantled it today and got rid of it due to the rat situation.

Saw only tons of slugs and sow/pill beetles!  I guess it was a good habitat for them!

Still many goldfinches; occasional song sparrows; no chipping sparrows anymore

^^^

25th (or 26th or 27th) zucchini harvested -- surely this is the final one of the season

From one of the early-season plants that was never tulled, amazingly enough.

Aha: Chipping sparrow in non-breeding plumage

Finally got a photo of the mystery sparrow.  A facebook group identifies him/her as a chipping sparrow in non-breeding plumage.  This photo convinces me:  https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/chipping-sparrow?fbclid=IwAR3T_poKwLwUs6hUmW3BsgwiiePYWkIe6MrTP26Jb8BFwUOwGvxpDkaxMP0#photo6

Goldfinch article -- very detailed

 https://www.hww.ca/en/wildlife/birds/american-goldfinch.html

Goldfinches eating seeds from the Ivory Silk Lilac tree out front!

Wow, the goldfinches are sure having a party around here these days -- five different foods inside or in front of my yard!

- lilac tree seeds

- wild primrose seeds

- purple coneflower seeds

- sunflower seeds from the one remaining plant

- sunflower seeds from the feeder

Blue jay pair briefly sat on fence while I was in yard

Argh, of course they had to try stopping by while I was in the yard taking a 30 second break from mowing the grass...   They sat on the fence for maybe 10-15 seconds, then flew away. 

Goldfinches eating purple coneflower

(The perennial outside the fence)

Golfinches galore; and song sparrows, house sparrow (female), and chickadee

6 goldfinches in the yard all at the same time!

And on another occasion, a bunch of goldfinches, and a song sparrow, and a chickadee all at the same time!

So fun.

I'm assuming there's also a female house sparrow, but seeing only one at a time, sometimes two maybe, and no males, so I'm not totally sure if these are house sparrows.

Harvesting volunteer ground cherry

Nice, the volunteer in among the zinnias in the SE central bed is producing a nice surprise harvest after I had to tear out all the other plants because they were feeding the rat(s).  No rodents have found this ground cherry plant yet, as evidenced by the undisturbed fruit on the ground.  Yay!

Also I haven't seen any rats in several weeks now.  I think removing their food source (the row of ground cherry plants, plus adding a seed-catcher tray to the birdfeeder), removing their compost bin hideout, plus clearing out junk around the kitchen step did the trick. 

Buckwheat sick in west bed? Leaves falling off and/or drying up

Weird... Thought maybe it was related to the cooler weather, but the buckwheat in the north bed looks fine...

Fall kale crop a total flop!?!?

First there were the issues with something nibbling down the leaves.  So then I covered it in row cover and that seems to fix that issue.  But now, the plants are growing all stunted and deformed, very similar to how the earlier plants succumbed to some kind of rot a month or two ago, though in their case they were very mature and provided great harvest.

There's still the more recent kale seeds I started in a pot, and the lettuce seeds also in two pots -- so far those are looking good but they're still very small, just getting in their first/second leaves.