Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Snow and Zick dough

This past weekend we got a little reminder that it's still winter in the form of cold temps and some light snow. When I woke up Sunday morning to see a nice coating of the white stuff, I thought to myself, "This is the perfect time to put out some Zick dough!" (Don't know what the heck I'm talkin' about? Click here to get more info and the recipe for homemade suet dough that Julie Zickefoose has so kindly shared with us all. It's crazy easy to make. If you haven't tried this yet and decide you want to, please heed her warning to not feed it in warm weather as it may cause gout.)

To my surprise, only a small number of the birds seemed interested in it. I've been offering it for a couple of weeks now, so I would have expected the birds to not be wary of it any more. But that's okay. My #1 customer was a White-breasted Nuthatch, and he was very glad to not really have to share it with anyone else.



His only other competition was a Dark-eyed Junco, who only had 1 bite that I saw...


And lady Downy, but she kept to the suet cage, while Mr. Nuthatch stuck with the railing.


He checks out the spread in front of him... notice that long trail of crumbles? It will diminish...

... piece by piece.




Snagging the last piece of "railing dough":

And now, dear readers, I have a confession to make: my heart's not been in the blogging thing for a little while now. I've decided I need to take a bit of a break. You can expect my posts to be a little more sporadic, and heavier on photos, lighter on words. I still have lots of photos I want to share, but text-heavy posts are getting to be a little more time-consuming than I can handle at present. I hope you'll hang in there with me.

And don't worry, I'll still post the answer to the latest Plume Zoom tomorrow. Sorry I created such a stumper this time around!

7 comments:

Kelly said...

...that little nuthatch is CUTE eating the dough!
I always love your photos and stories...

KaHolly said...

Thanks for the link to the recipe. I can't wait to give it a try. I hear you about taking a break from blogging. Still, we'll enjoy your beautiful pictures when you feel so inclined. So, don't deny us that!

Shelley said...

That nuthatch looking at that crumb trail kinda reminds me of a pacman game - lol! I hear you on taking time off blogging (I think I've experienced a little blogger burnout lately.)

NW Nature Nut said...

Love the nuthatch pics.

It's nice to hear that others need to take a break from blogging occasionally too. I cut back my list of blogs to read and have only been posting when I feel inspired. Otherwise it starts to feel like a job, not a hobby. I'll be here when you are ready. Post when you feel like and enjoy it!

Kim said...

Love the birds eating your zick dough! They are all so cute!

I understand having to take mini breaks from blogging at times. It gives you time to recharge and refocus.

RuthieJ said...

Hi Heather,
I loved seeing your nuthatch pictures. They are infrequent visitors at my feeders.

My heart's not been in blogging lately either and my visits and posts have been too sporadic. Enjoy your time away and I'll keep checking back to see what's new with you.

Heather said...

Hi everyone. Glad you enjoyed the Nuthatch photos. And thanks for the support and understanding about my need for taking a break - that helps me to not feel so bad about it.