Winter

Here it is the 28th Day of February and it was a cool -40 F this morning as I drink my first cup of coffee. Life in the far north, has it's drawbacks. And this is one of them for sure. I'm looking forward to the lengthening daylight, and a lessening of the extreme cold with the slow slide into spring. It reminds me of that old Johnny Horten Song, "when it's spring time in Alaska, it's 40 below"

Help in Identification

Hello Robert,

I wonder if I could impose on you to post something on your blog for me regarding bird information. Here, in NC, we have an incident of what we believe to be poisonings of song birds. Nice, folks, huh? I park in a parking lot in downtown Raleigh (capital city) and we have been finding little piles of saltine crackers with some blue substance either smeared or dribbled onto the crackers. We believe that this is an effort to poison birds that sit in these trees and, naturally, occasionally poop on the cars beneath them. I have called in our state Pesticide investigative personnel, but they've never seen anything like this and the lab does not have the capability of testing for just any substance, so if we have some sort of lead, something someone else has encountered or seen to point us in the direction of what kind of substance this is, would be very helpful. We have racked our brains and just can't come up with anything that would be of a benign nature that is this color that anyone could be putting out for the birds. There has been some heated discussion in years past among some of the patrons of this parking lot pertaining to the yearly and seasonal presence of cedar waxwings that come through about this time of year in flocks and feast on berries on the downtown landscape trees. I think it is extremely coincidental that these mysterious crackers would appear just at the time these birds come through this year. Any help you or your readers could offer would be just wonderful.

Kathy
--
Kathy Imbriani
Laboratory Research Specialist
NCDA & CS
Plant Industry Division
216 W. Jones St.
Raleigh, NC 27603

Mailing Address:
1060 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699

919-733-3930 x 225
kathy.imbriani@ncmail.net

Cold snap

The permafrost crop is blooming, with this latest cold snap we have had. Last night, the tempertures dropped down to a cool -48 degrees F. No matter how one looks at it, that is cold. Extreme cold and its suppose to fall in the same range tonight.

Red Squirrel

Here is a shot of todays little Red Squirrel who visits my feeder. Even if it's cold here on the Permafrost Ranch, they always come for something to eat.

Midnight Sun Intertribal Powwow's New Blog

Greetings from far frozen north, it was a cool -38 degrees when I first got up this morning. I spent the better part of yesterday putting up a new blog for the Midnight Sun Intertribal Powwow, and here is the addy for those who want to share:

www.midnightsunpowwow.net/blog/

bob

Yaeagunah Ajahyeegee

A friend of mines music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmVkuXlktEk&mode=related&search=

Life on the Permafrost Ranch

Sorry Readers, I've not blogged any new pics or comments in quite the while. I guess it better to remain silent and be thought the fool, than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt. :-)

Fat Flying Squirrels

I caught this squirrel on the feeder last night. Either it is a pregnant female or it's just very fat and I wonder just how far it could glide.

Squirrel Chatter: I've got something to say here

Life on the Permafrost Ranch

Here is a couple of pictures of life here in the great Tanana Valley.

Frosty Snack at the Feeder 2

You know it's cold here on the permafrost ranch, but you can really tell it is by the frost on this little one. Nonetheless, they have to eat.

Northern Flying Squirrels

Ever since the owl attack, I've not see a great deal of activity on the feeder by the Flyers. Nonetheless, I caught this little beauty on it last night. They have the largest eyes compared to other squirrels.

Red Squirrel

Here is today's capture, isn't he cute.

Owl Attack

All the time I've had feeders up, I've see several bird raptors of different types around the yard, but tonight was different. I was sitting at my desk watching two flying squirrels at the back feeder out the window, when a Boreal Owl swooped down and just nailed one. Now this feeder is part way under a overhang at the back of the house right next to window, as you can see. The squirrel got away because the owl released him when I jumped up to see and he saw me... I don't know how bad the squirrel is hurt, I looked for him outside, didn't see any visible signs of blood. So, he may have escaped with just a close call. I quickly checked the cam page for recent shots, and this is the capture I got.

Charly DeBuse

My sixth Grand Child was born today, his mother and he are doing fine.

Mag Pie Visitor

This guy has my number. He waits patiently for me to bring out the suet at the feeder, every day.

I want in, it's cold outside

Got this picture the other day, this little guy was checking me out...and wanted to know if he could come in a warm up a bit.

Mag Pie Visitor

This Mag Pie has gotten me pretty well trained I guess. When he comes to the feeder, and I don't have any suet out for him to eat or carry off, he looks in the window at me sitting at my desk. Cocks his head as if to say, hey buddy what's up. Then he will fly off to a post where he will sit until I bring out some suet to the feeder. As soon as I'm back inside he's there for his snack. Smart Bird to have me trained so well.

Squirrels Friends

Here is a picture of a shy one, hiding behind it's tail.

Merry Christmas

Greetings from the Permafrost Ranch here in North Pole, I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

bob