The biggest dispute, oddly enough, was not between our new dog, Caster, and the Mallards. Until this morning Caster had not even met our ducks as I had deliberately not taken him out to the yard when the ducks were around. But this morning, the ducks were waiting to be fed out on the backyard snow when I got up, and Caster needed to go out. So, with him on a short leash, we made it down the back stairs and out to the side fence for a brief stop. The ducks, in alert mode with their heads high in the air walked toward the back of the yard but did not fly. We went back up the steps and I put food in Caster’s bowl and went back out to feed the ducks, and they came in rapidly to gobble up the food. Caster was eager to go back out into the yard, so we went back, and the ducks ignored us as we passed quite close to them to the other fence. Suddenly Caster had had enough and he made a sudden lunge on the short leash, and off went the ducks. They came back later when we were in the house and could be seen by Caster from inside the house through the porch railing.
Caster is a very nervous high-strung dog most of the time but sometimes does stop running around to investigate something and even sometimes goes to sleep, when I can finally get a few pictures.
It has been close to freezing and raining lately so everything is coasted with a light layer of ice. Mostly it has been overcast, but every now and then the sun has peaked through and lit up the mountains.
Birds other than ducks were mostly not around until late yesterday and this morning. A Downy Woodpecker and two Hairy Woodpeckers have been to the feeders after a bit of absence.
Steller’s Jays (2-3) have periodically stopped by for peanuts as usual.
Unfortunately for them, the local red squirrel that is mostly not around, has developed a love for the peanuts in the peanut jar too.
At the peanut jar is where the most active disputes have occurred lately (you can hear the bell on Caster’s collar jingle in the video).
Lynn Barber's Birding Blog 