Wacouta neighbor Suzanne Blue shares her photo of the sunrise over Rattlesnake Bluff flanked by two spectacular sundogs around 9:00 am on the morning of December 18th.
Sunrise and one sundog over Rattlesnake Bluff
Because my camera does not have the same wide angle capability as Suzanne's Smartphone, I was only able to photograph one sundog on the morning when temperatures plummeted to minus 22. Sundogs appear on very cold mornings when sunlight interacts with ice crystals in the atmosphere. Interestingly enough, within 48 hours the temperature reached 42 an amazing swing of 60 degrees. The high temperatures for the week were in the low 40's. To add insult to injury, the week ended with lightning, thunder, strong winds and a major rainstorm on Christmas Day! I sometimes wonder what kind of a reality world the climate change deniers are living in?
Male Cardinal
There are always surprises at our bird feeding station. Throughout the entire fall and early winter, we have had only one pair of cardinals at our feeder. Then on Saturday December 17th after a 5 inch snowfall overnight there were a total of 12 cardinals at the feeder all day.
Female Cardinal
It was an incredibly active time at our feeders that day with juncos, chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, mourning doves, starlings, four species of woodpeckers and the 12 cardinals feasting on an assortment of tasty offerings. What was truly amazing was that the next day we were back to just one pair of cardinals. Where they came from and where they went was a total mystery.
Cooper's Hawk
It seems inevitable that if a person has a very active bird feeding station, sooner or later a Cooper's Hawk will discover they also have a potential source of food. When the hawk is near, the rest of the birds vanish immediately. Sometimes it might be a couple hours before they return.
Cooper's Hawk and its prey
Most of the time, if a hawk is to be successful it has to be perched quite a distance away from the feeder. It then will swoop in with a surprise attack. During the past two weeks we have observed three successful missions. In all cases, their prey of choice has been starlings. Evidently chickadees are not worth the effort.