January 6, 2026
and so am I.
Apologies for disappearing. The main reason is that I suddenly was getting thousands of views on my blog. It spooked me. What on earth was that all about?
Winter is definitely here. We have had some lovely falls of snow, and nice cold temperatures. The snowshoe trails are packed, and after yesterday's 3 to 4 inches, they need to be packed out again.
We cleared the driveway yesterday afternoon, as the snowfall eased off, and this morning, walking out to shovel away the snowplough ridge at the end of the drive, we saw a myriad of canine tracks there, in the skiff of new snow. The pack had been milling around at the end of the drive, seemingly indecisive about the wisdom of coming in the drive. Some tracks were quite large. (That is a man's large glove.)
The relatively early snow fall got the deer migration moving, their usual migration trails heavily tracked grooves in the snow. Presently there are only a few stragglers remaining up here on the hill, so the wolves are following the deer down to their winter yard. Hopefully we will hear wolf music one of these nights.
A female Pileated Woodpecker has been showing up on the tray feeder.
The Blue Jays back off and give her lots of space!
Unlike last winter, when there were so few Chickadees, this winter the flock numbers upwards of 15. Quite a few are coming to my hand for seeds now, and often when I step outside, they mob me, landing on head and shoulders and arms. A delightful problem to have!
I don’t realize people are gone until they come back. :)
ReplyDeleteI’ve had that kind of experience with the chickadees. I felt blessed.
Meant to be back sooner, but life got in the way!
DeleteLove my Chickadees.
Very different wildlife to our hedgehogs, foxes and small birds.
ReplyDeleteWe have lots of small critters here as well, but the big ones tend to get more attention.
DeleteWelcome back. I have had those periods when I get thousands of hits per day. I was informed that this is how AI builds up its information base. It’s nothing to worry about apparently, but it sure does distort the record of real traffic on your blog.
ReplyDeleteMakes one wonder what information AI can garner from a blog....
DeleteWelcome back. I too get periods of thousands of hits per day. It usually corresponds with a bot that tries to leave a comment on the same old entry. I have to approve any comment on an entry older than howevermany months. So I know exactly who and what it is. Its the same reasonable (yet self promoting) comment on the same entry every time. Its the only one I have trouble with.
ReplyDeleteVery frustrating. Wish we could relegate bots and Ai to the hot nether regions.
DeleteEvery now and then a post on one of my bogs will record thousands of views. I agree it's puzzling. My topics are all so niche that I can't imagine them having universal appeal like that. AI training?
ReplyDeleteThe wolves are worrisome. For us it's coyotes, although we rarely have snow to detect them, we have to rely on hearing their yapping and yipping. We seem to have a group that's moved into the area across the street, which is odd because it's so close to the highway. They may be migrating away from that and towards the wooded areas behind. I always worry about our livestock and cats when they're around.
One does wonder why they pick on blogs.
DeleteThe wolves aren't worrisome to us, as we have no livestock. It is thrilling to hear a real wolf howl. The migrating deer and following wolves, are part of the sequence of the seasons here.
Welcome back . I suspect AI bots are scanning the blogs. We have had some wolf activity here too. A deer was struck and killed at the head of my lane. It lay in the ditch for a few weeks before the wolves showed up to drag it into the woods. At New Years a big male went about marking the snowbanks at the side of my house. I have a female dog, spayed, but perhaps he was just saying "Hi"? I've noticed my feeders are a lot busier this winter too. This morning we watched a white breasted nuthatch challenge a chickadee. Who knew they were so aggressive?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Karen. So interesting to keep tabs on the wildlife.
DeleteI love to read the tales in the snow, of what goes on when we are not around.
I’m so glad you’re back! I’ve been worried about you. Blogger does give us strangely huge numbers of views sometimes, which seem in the end to mean nothing! Wonderful image of the chickadees mobbing you. Now gives lots of posts!
ReplyDelete