St Croix River Road Ramblings

Welcome to River Road Ramblings.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Thirteen Pheasants

This morning, 13 pheasants flew in at 7:40, just as the sun was rising, directly into the lower tree line, then ran to the upper line where I had put out 4 quarts of shelled/cracked corn.  They ate for 20 minutes then, not being disturbed by any cars going by, moved to the brushy cover and rested--probably full crops and needing to get some morning sunshine to warm up a little.
My plan for the orchard was to cut all the lower brush and open it up, but maybe leaving some brush and weeds is a good idea. Might plant a few dozen rows of corn along the road to add some cover.  The deer would eat it all up quickly, but the stalks might remain--especially if I get some giant corn.

My newer apple trees are all ringed with fencing to keep the deer from eating the branches.  

After about 20 minutes of eating corn, they huddle in the cover along the brushy row of apples, letting the sun warm them up on this -15 morning. 

The view out the window towards the NE -- the orchard

The pheasants didn't come in until a little later--when the sun was fully up.   Been reading on the internet about pheasants--quite an interesting bird --require equivalent calories of 3-Snicker's bars a day to thrive in the below zero winter.  Have to get a few and see if they actually eat them ;-)

Want to see an early copy of the latest Luck Remembered Newsletter?   Try Luck Remembered Jan 2014