Winter in Finland

[Olga]

An other pine. It's there at same place where we used to keep the car, under it...



Some birches today and behind them a larch, on the road to our house. This is how our trees looked like untill today. More snow is falling all the time, but there is some wind. Maybe the wind will shake the mayority of the snow dawn, hope so..

[alice44]

Did you look at some kind of weasel paw prints -- a pine martin or something like that?

When the tree in my front yard dropped a branch, it scared me. It happened when 3 knitters were here and it took all 4 of us to drag it out of the street. I kept thinking how lucky it was my car was not in the driveway.

Your yard is a microcosm of the dangerous and beautiful world we live in.

[HelenD]

Amazing

Olga was so lucky to have seen the pygmy owl; I love what goes on in her garden.

[Olga]

:peek: I have been busy and without PC! (one computer moved in new place, hole making on the roof and floor for electric lines ..it was hard..)

I saw the other squirrel there on the other side of house where one squirrel maybe lost his life (for some special preybird who needed it badly)! I have made a new feeder and put it on a new place, close to the trunk of an old birch. Squirrels can escape easier now that there is here almost one meter snow everywhere. From the top of the birch they can jump to pines and spruces, even more better for squirrels if i look the matter from the point of view of them!

The other squirrel seems to have taken as his sleeping place our log pile. I'll take not so often photos of him durings net weeks, not so close, because it juts makes him so nervous. The times are quite hard for squirrels now.

[Jo UK]

Thank you for the news, Olga. Congratulations on the work you are doing, inside and outside.

Which squirrel shall we not see again - Long Ears, or the other?

Sad, but it is nature's way. Everything eats everything else.

[Olga]

Jo, I still fear that it is the long ear squirrel, the same as on my avatar, we perhaps will not se anymore.. But there is some hope. The short ear squerrel keep hide place behind the log pile, and now that there is so much snow on the ground and on the roof of our house too, i don't believe that it was he. Many times when we open the outdoor we have seen a squirrel glimpse (not very well, he is very good and fast climber on the wall, made of tree) and heard this squirrel escape just behind the logs.

But I don't know which one was there on the new feeder on the other side of house today morning. I saw only his nose under the pine branches I have put on the roof (camouflage!) of the new feeder. He looked fine and calm. The traces of the squirrel of today came and went towarsd the edge of the stone terrace. I have digged some quite deep, 70-100 m deep snow corridores for people and squirrels, for birds too, why not. I try to not disturbe the squirrels how curious or worried I am.

Let's hope the best! Maybe the preybird had taken something else..even thought there was squirrel paw traces.

[Jo UK]

You are doing heroic work, Olga.
I hope we do see Long Ears again - he is beautiful.

[Olga]

3rd February

Snow, snow...

Snowy apple trees

[Olga]

The new feeder



There is the watching place of the Pygmy owl, on the tops of the pines behind on the photo. Well, I know that there is no idea to even to try hinder him to take his food he needs from this area. It's all right. The only mean I think I 'intervene' in his life, is to put the camouflage pine branches on the feeder.

[Olga]

So, I had company when I arranged the feeder on its place... Huspand called that there it is, up on the dry branches of a pine seen from the window of living room as well as from the feeder place. There I have seen the interesting figure earlier. Now I know who he is. Maybe I also know where he is sleeping. I have decided not to go anymore close to the rotten tree trunk. I don't have means to take good pictures from longer distance. There are also other trees with caves, right close to the little road to our hill. Most of them are made by Woodpeckers I suppose.

The pygmy owl:







This tree trunk of birch is about 50-60 meters from the pines where the pygmy owl was watching to our yard.

[Olga]

I saw squirrels too. One was a grey glimpse that hurried behind the log pile in the early afternoon. The other one was jumping in the midday high up on the old birches, on spruces and aspen etc. The third time I saw one sitting on the usual feeder just behind the window at 17:30, when it was dark already. I took one photo, not very good I didn't event to try to take better ones. The squirrel ate about ten minutes, and I could hear him making waek clink-clank sounds when he walked on the log pile.

I could not recognize these squirrels. They were too far or it was too dark.

[Olga]

I watched through the lence the short ear squirrel for ten seconds. He didn't care that I took these photos.. He was there about 20 minutes.

[Olga]

6th February

Some interesting news: Today we have seen that there behind the log pile is hiding not only one squirrel but two!

Squirrels visit the feeders every day, and the new feeder has been accepted by birds and squirrels as well.

[alice44]

wow the picture worked
It is a squirrel from the eastern US during these big snow storms
It is from the UK telegraph daily pictures. (Often their pictures are cute but this time the animal pictures -- other than this one -- are a wolf attacking a dog, a golden eagle attacking a wolf and 2 dogs chasing a boar. -- Oh there is also a cute anteater. I did find the image of the boar and the dogs interesting because it gives me information about the size of the boars I am watching on the cam -- well the size of the big fully grown boars)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picture ... ml?image=1

[Olga]

wow the picture worked
It is a squirrel from the eastern US during these big snow storms
It is from the UK telegraph daily pictures. (Often their pictures are cute but this time the animal pictures -- other than this one -- are a wolf attacking a dog, a golden eagle attacking a wolf and 2 dogs chasing a boar. -- Oh there is also a cute anteater. I did find the image of the boar and the dogs interesting because it gives me information about the size of the boars I am watching on the cam -- well the size of the big fully grown boars)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picture ... ml?image=1

Alice44, what a sweet so lovely photograph of Squirrel in the snow storm! Thanks for the link too.

'My' squirrels have become cautious. I think that they have something special to do during these weeks. Of course the hight snow is one reason too. Maybe they are building a nest somewhere, who kows. They visit the feeders, early in the morning and then later in the afternoon. But I do not want to try to take photos now. Today when I was returning from the stores I saw the long ear squirrel pushing her/his nose from under the pine branches on the new feeder. When he/she heard my steps closing he jumped behind the birch trunk.. :peek: and climbed fast up the tree. His fur and tail were all light gray, also the face was gray, and only on the ear tassels there was seen some brown and drak fur. I'm 100%sure that it was the squirrel I have in my avatar !

[alice44]

Alice44, what a sweet so lovely photograph of Squirrel in the snow storm! Thanks for the link too.

'My' squirrels have become cautious. I think that they have something special to do during these weeks. Of course the hight snow is one reason too. Maybe they are building a nest somewhere, who kows. They visit the feeders, early in the morning and then later in the afternoon. But I do not want to try to take photos now. Today when I was returning from the stores I saw the long ear squirrel pushing her/his nose from under the pine branches on the new feeder. When he/she heard my steps closing he jumped behind the birch trunk.. :peek: and climbed fast up the tree. His fur and tail were all light gray, also the face was gray, and only on the ear tassels there was seen some brown and drak fur. I'm 100%sure that it was the squirrel I have in my avatar !

[NancyM]

Olga, I am happy to hear that "your" long-ear squirrel is around!!

As alice said,

[macdoum]

Olga, I am happy to hear that "your" long-ear squirrel is around!!

As alice said,

Olga, I am following your pages nearly everyday...It is ' Le Jardin Enchanté'
I am so happy you take time to take photographs and tell the stories.
Thank you.

[Olga]

Hello, friends of the Finnish squirrels! Macdoum, nice to see you too!

I'm sorry I have not got new photos of squirrels. They are hiding somewhere, but someone of them seems hiding quite often behind the log pile. Every other early morning I can hear him/her climbing on the wall toward the feeder. They/or one of them likes to eat there in calm when my dogs are not disturbing them. I let them be peace as much as possible. I'm sure they are fine.But it is not so easy to them to go around the house, we have here some snowy winter:







The views are changing today. New frost is covering the spruses and pines all over. Let's see how they look tomorrow. Today the garden looked like in those three photos to the yard.

[Olga]

And what did I saw from the window of our living room today! This is how it looked. I took several photos, but none of them succeeded very well.. Anyway I have never ever seen this bird before in nature so close, 15-20 meters far (for the moment I don't know how common it is here in Southern Finland.) I think it is a young Hen Herrier, Accipiter Gentilis says the book. I thought that it has to be a young one because there was no white spots on the back or on the wings in the pictures of birdbooks with pictures of adults, but this bird had them, - I remembered Spot last summer.. ) This beauty was there eating a Blackbird. Tt took about three four hours. I'm sorry for the Blackbird's fate I love them, and soon they should begin their spring time singing, but of course, Hen Harriesr just can't find 'hens' here from anywhere.