First of all, Happy Holidays to everyone!



I am afraid I got myself into a pickle this winter. I have been feeding the
wood ducks (over 100 of them) at my pond twice a day since last fall and
enjoying them immensely. Now, however I have nearly 2 feet of snow
everywhere and only about a 20 foot diameter of open water. The surrounding
ice is covered with slush. How do I feed them? Well, I use high energy dog
food in small pellets and throw that out onto the water (it floats) and they
love it. This morning I shoveled an area near the edge of the pond down to
bare dirt and scatter a mix of hen scratch (wheat + cracked corn) and game
bird pellets hoping they would find it since it was on the opposite side of
the pond. They did, and now there are about 200 ducks there gobbling it up
before it gets covered with snow (yes, it is still snowing!). Besides the
wood ducks I have widgeons and, of course, mallards. They have also found
my bird feeder and invaded that. It is quite a site to see 4 or 5 wood ducks
up on the feeder and 20 or 30 more on the ground cleaning up the spill.



My Anna's hummingbird pal is surviving and becoming quite bold. When I put
the feeder out this morning at 7:30 he was waiting for me and buzzing me
within inches. He won't come to the feeder while I am holding it but is
right there as soon as it is hung.



I have had only one varied thrush here so far and that was only briefly. I
am very interested in get some good pictures of this bird and would
appreciate the opportunity if anyone on this forum has them as regular
guests in their yard (close to Woodinville would be preferred).



You are all invited to visit my website whenever you need a bird fix.
www.photos.rlkimages.com <http://www.photos.rlkimages.com/>



Bob Kothenbeutel

Woodinville

viperDOTbobATverizonDOTnet