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The squirrels were being amusing today in the garden.  One likes to swing to and fro in a hanging basket and grab peanuts from the feeder in passing.  Another was trying to climb the metal  pole another feeder is on, and kept slipping slowly all the way down each time it nearly reached the top.

 

Meanwhile, over in the little wood, a female sparrowhawk was perched in a tree.  

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  • 2 weeks later...

And today a tiny little goldcrest was splashing about in the bird bath.  It made the other small birds, like the blue tits, look menacing. :P  I love the goldcrest and recently bought a beautiful print of one by a wonderful wildlife painter.

 

20191209-201949-resized.jpg

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I saw a little salamander on the path at the nature park, with its jaws clamped around an earthworm. The salamander was just sitting there in the path and I wasn't sure if it was alive or not so I nudged it slightly. It responded with some slight movements but didn't run away. Also saw the usual deer, squirrels, chipmunks, and various birds, and footprints of raccoons.

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I'm still in Utah, and there's a nice family of quail in my daughter's neighborhood. If you walk around the block you often get a good look at them. The babies are all grown up, but, still, so adorable!

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My bird feeders are under attack by squirrels. My mother and I had to chase off three of them today. And not just once, but three times. Seriously, squirrels. It's pouring down rain. Stay in your nests. 

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I've been visiting an Aven friend in Idaho, and driving back from hot springs on the 31st we saw 30 or more ungulates in the fields by the road.  They were spread out, parallel to the road, so we got a good look at them, but we still weren't sure what they were.  They were small (some a bit smaller than others), but did not look quite like deer.  Perhaps antelope, but I didn't see any horns, so maybe mamas with younger ones?

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Could have been pronghorns. Both male and female adults have the horns (although usually much smaller on the females). They shed the sheaths each year, so it's quite possible you saw mostly female with shed horns, and young ones. :) 

 

(apparently their closest living relatives are giraffes and okapis)

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19 hours ago, Muledeer said:

Never heard of an Okapi.

Neither had non-Africans before the early 1900s. I've seen okapis in zoos.

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Looked out of the window and the bird bath was full of long-tailed tits having a communal splash about.  So pleased to see a little flock of about eight of them, as I haven't  seen any for a while.  They roost together to keep warm.

 

Image result for long tailed tit roostNot my pic, but they might be somewhere in my garden like this. :)

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I love long-tailed tits @Mz Terry.  A little group comes around the same sort of time most days. They constantly talk to each other and they are so pretty. Have you seen pictures of their nests? They are miniscule.

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3 hours ago, Mz Terry said:

Looked out of the window and the bird bath was full of long-tailed tits having a communal splash about.  So pleased to see a little flock of about eight of them, as I haven't  seen any for a while.  They roost together to keep warm.

 

Image result for long tailed tit roostNot my pic, but they might be somewhere in my garden like this. :)

I thought that was a caterpillar at first. They are adorable! 

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5 hours ago, LVG said:

I thought that was a caterpillar at first. They are adorable! 

Same here. :lol:

Until I read the description and realized what it really was.

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Oh well, I'll make that three of us 😋😋

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Unexpected bonus today. Whilst waiting for a customer, there were six goldfinches using their bird feeder 

 

 

 

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Two robins peacefully side by side feeding in the garden yesterday.  Double cuteness and a promise of baby robins in the spring.  They are so territorial it had to be a male and female who are starting to pair up.

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Just done my Big Garden Birdwatch of 2020.  Amazingly I saw quite a lot.  Normally when I am standing at the kitchen window waiting to record the results there isn't much about.  I saw a blackcap and a redwing with robin, blue and great tit, song thrush, dunnock and blackbirds.

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Really lucky break just now. We're taking some photos of the fjord, when a gent comes up, says he's from the whale research organisation, and there's a Humpback whale blowing. 

 

A moment later, said humpback whale surfaces a couple of times before swimming off 

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Phantasmal Fingers
3 hours ago, Skycaptain said:

Really lucky break just now. We're taking some photos of the fjord, when a gent comes up, says he's from the whale research organisation, and there's a Humpback whale blowing. 

 

A moment later, said humpback whale surfaces a couple of times before swimming off 

I saw one in the summer on the Reykjavik meet. 🙂 Summer is the whale watching season, after all. I thought they all over-wintered down south somewhere once the water got too cold? 

 

What on earth was this whale doing this far north in January?!? I'm not surprised there was someone there from the whale research organisation! 

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@Moderne Jazzhanden, lots of whales inhabit the Northern oceans over winter. There's lots of food for them 

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I am quite envious of @Mz Terry  because of the redwing ( havent had any yet) and @Skycaptain because of the whale.

I did see a dolphin once, swimming parallel to the shore near Llangrannog in Ceredigion, West Wales . 

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