Tagging Along and a Face-plant

A shorter than usual newsletter this cold week.

Feb 23, 2025

It won’t be too long before my two, linked, Substacks (this weekly one and the daily option that is basically a photo and a brief comment) will celebrate it’s second anniversary. Gratifyingly, the number of subscribers - all free - and followers has gradually increased to moderately respectable numbers in that time. I do, as is natural, review my posts, trying to ensure that I am getting the mix of content right. Am I? You tell me.

And then, a few days ago and out of the blue, I received this note from a subscriber (Douglas Halpert — see a link at the foot of the page) – which cheered me immensely. Writing from, I think, Ohio, he said:

“ … it has been comforting to be able to take a daily "virtual" hike through the beautiful, snow-covered tundra that you depict with your words and photos. Your moniker of "Richard — Out Walking" makes me feel like I am tagging along with a more experienced, neighborly hiker while absorbing their wisdom about the birds I didn't know much about. Thanks for your posts as I really enjoy them!”

Well, that’s what I have been aiming for. Taking readers along on a walk, during which we notice things on the way, learn about stuff and share what we see.

Thanks, Douglas.

Splat !!!

Last week I wrote about the 40 species of winter birds we had seen over several season at the banding station. Two days ago after a spectacularly deep snowfall (all time record for Montreal) we visited again in search of number 41. While ducking under a low branch, one of my snowshoes sank and I face-planted in the snow, which was over three feet deep and very soft, I couldn't reach my snowshoes to get them off or even get enough purchase to turn over - consequently efforts to return to the daylight just made me sink ever deeper. Took over ten minutes to climb out and all my reserves of strength. The more I pushed on my poles the deeper I sank. Unlike the chap in the image below, I did at least have my snowshoes on the right way round. The Blue Jays and Chickadees laughed their feathery little socks off from the bushes. A lovely day, but this old guy spent the rest of it officially knackered. 😉

You may laugh now, J managed to contain herself at the time but I think it was a struggle.

Garden for Birds Project

The Garden for Birds Project (Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology) is a free opportunity to get ongoing guidance on how to use your garden, porch, or balcony space to grow native plants that can support birds around your home. If you join, they will email you once a month with suggested activities to help you build or expand your garden for birds and provide tips and tricks to make your homes safe for our feathered friends. Research (optional) associated with this project will help identify how residential gardens can contribute to supporting bird populations. The only requirements to participate are that you have access to a garden, greenspace, porch, or balcony spot in the United States or Canada where you may plant a native plant and build bird habitat. Register at this address:

https://www.birdcount.org/garden-for-birds/

Snowdrops

This is the annual month of frustration. For us, the real signal that winter is running out of steam is the emergence of snowdrops - however briefly. Our friends in Europe have been, as they always do, sending us pictures of snowdrops for the past month, while it could be another month before we see ours emerge, if then. I was put in mind of this when reading a recent piece written by Melissa Harrison, in which she wrote about the role of ants in distributing snowdrop seeds around the world. Most snowdrops form as offsets of established clumps, but if all the necessary climatic and available pollinator necessities align they will sometimes produce seed that is then carted off by ants. We have snowdrop clumps, small ones, and we have ants, many, and in the past few years, have started to see outlier clumps setting up distant homes due to the work of the busy ants. This is really interesting and, as Melissa wrote …

“Anyone who isn’t a little bit wonder-struck by that is, frankly, dead inside. Just think of it: all that complexity and industry and drama quietly going on while you walk the dog, or take the kids to school, or eat Tesco Value crisps (= chips over here) in front of the telly. Truly, the world’s more full of wonder than we can understand.”
–Melissa Harrison

She also said, “Five o’clock: it’s getting dark beyond my window, and I can hear the village sparrows squabbling as they go to bed.” Have a look at her website via this link … it’s nice.