Through the Year in Fairbanks, Alaska November 5, 2006 All photos © Barbara Logan 2006 What another great week this has been! (SMILE) The temperatures were cooler today; about zero° F. The trees were covered with a coating of frost that sparkles in the sunlight. It was nice and sunny out, albeit cold! The daylight hours are much shorter now. You can see what it looks like in downtown Fairbanks by visiting the Arctic Webcam located on Cushman Street, just north of the Chena River at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner office. I saw another new bird species in our neighborhood this week. A Gray Jay made a brief stop in our birch trees and I happened to see it! Another first for me in the neighborhood! Now we just need to find out how to attract them to our yard! I will check with the Alaska Bird Observatory tomorrow. Don was busy today refilling the bird feeders and hanging out some new feeders. The Redpolls are really working over the thistle seeds so we gave them some more feeders. The Black-Capped Chickadees are busy eating the suet and sunflower seeds. the pigeons eat whatever they can get!! (SMILE) There are a lot more birds at the feeders now that it has gotten a little colder. Male Redpoll on thistle seed feeder Black-Capped Chickadee with a sunflower seed Hungry Pigeon This has been a Woodpecker week. I have seen both the male Downy Woodpecker and male Hairy Woodpecker at several of our feeders, as well as on a dead tree a few houses away. They have pecked a lot of holes in that tree! It must have a lot of bugs. Maybe they have a nest hole in it as well. I don't know. I need to go ask the neighbor if I can take a closer look at it. I could hear the Hairy hammering away on it yesterday when I was out in the back yard. Today they were all over the place. The pictures below are showing a size comparison of the male Hairy Woodpecker (9"), left, and the male Downy Woodpecker (6˝"), right. Also, something I noticed in watching these birds, the red on the back of their heads is different. The larger Hairy has two red spots with black in between, when seen from behind, while the smaller Downy only has one red spot. The red is vivid on both; very noticeable. The females don't have the red feathers; they just have black and white on the back of their heads. The male Downy Woodpecker, below, was asleep on the suet feeder, early last Saturday morning. I noticed him when I woke up. He was there for several minutes before awaking and eating some suet, then flying to the tree branch, and then he was gone into the morning. Even though the pictures are fairly well-lit, it was actually still pretty dark out. The snow reflects a lot of light. The street lights were on and the moon was nearly full. A flock of Redpolls was already visiting the feeders as well. Below are a few other pictures I have so far of the male Hairy Woodpecker that has been around our yard. A new Red Squirrel moved into our neighborhood a few months ago, and has discovered our bird feeders. That's okay with us, as long as he stays outside where GOOD squirrels belong! (SMILE) Here he/she is, collecting spilled sunflower seeds that fell off a "smear" of peanut butter we put on one of the trees. The Woodpeckers, Chickadees and the Squirrel all like to eat the peanut butter. I hope to get better pictures of this Squirrel as the winter progresses. Last Monday we went down to the Chena River boat launch at Peger Road to feed the Mallard Ducks that have taken up residence there. A few years ago there were just a few - but this year the flock numbers at LEAST a couple of hundred! Some are VERY tame, so much so that they will walk right up to you and eat at your feet. One pair is very big; they must be quite old. They are so big they almost look like small geese! (SMILE) I love the brilliant colors of the drakes and the patterns of all their feathers. I especially like the blue stripes on their wings - they are so pretty when they fly! These ducks are in the icy waters of the Chena River except when they come to the shore to be fed, and boy do they get fed! Many people bring them cracked corn, barley and oats, as well as bread, popcorn and other treats; although I am sure the grain is the better food for them. They are not tame, but they are accustomed to having people around. I hope you enjoyed reading about my week! Thanks for visiting. (SMILE) Barbara Logan P.S. If you like the Mallard pictures, you can have a large picture for your computer wallpaper! (1280 x 1024) Just open the link, then Right Click the photo after it loads and choose "Set as background." Enjoy! Mallards at the Chena River Wallpaper My background picture on this page is of frosty Birch tree branches, taken this week. BACK to the Year Page (SMILE) OR BACK to our Home Page (SMILE) This page was created 5 November 2006 © Barbara Logan URL is http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~soakbear/year/11-05-2006.htm