Sunday 2 October 2011

My life as a cartoon character

I live in a wood house. I like the house, it's small but cozy and I'm slowly making it home. Yes, I like my little wood house in the forest and it seems I'm not alone.
Photo brazenly lifted from
Williams Lake Field Naturalists
online newsletter
The neighbourhood woodpecker likes it too, I discovered one morning after waking up to the tap-tap-tapping of the little fella making breakfast of the siding. Suddenly I'm Buzz Buzzard, the slow-witted nemesis of attention-deficit victim Woody Woodpecker, banging on the bathroom wall and shouting obscenities to scare him away.

Truthfully, choosing between the wall and the woodpecker is not easy. He's a sweet little guy, and quite nice to look at when he's not munching on my maison.

It turns out he probably won't eat the house - he's just looking for insects, and as far as I know I don't have those living in the walls. And, according to people who should know these kinds of things, if I put out some suet, peanut and black oil sunflower in feeders, my house will look more and more like brussels sprouts or spinach than T-bone steak.
Red-breasted Nuthatch

The homestead is actually a real haven for birdlife, including a long list of species with names that would make for good Bond bad guys (Barrow's Goldeneye, Canvasback, Killdeer), as well as the aptly named nuthatch.

I'm on the lookout now for the Northern Shoveler, and no, I don't mean a relative I don't like. I've got a list, some opera glasses I won't be needing any time soon, and a new hobby. And yes, the kitchen is coming along - the garden, not so much, but there are nuthatches who need my attention.




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