12 December 2025
Good Morning Everyone! Hello!
It is -9 C with soft snowflakes falling on the Canadian Prairies. Toby has been out for his walk with Ellen. Because the snow is deep and wet, he wore his boots, hat, and his insulated play suit. He wasn’t so happy. Look at that grumpy face! He sure had fun, though, once he was outside.
Ellen gave him a good romp – 1.3 km in thirty minutes. That little puppy was quite zonked when he got home. My friends and lovely neighbours are making sure that Toby has an even bigger wardrobe. One is even knitting him a beautiful scarf with snowflakes!
Both Blue Jays were at the feeders again Thursday morning. This makes me so very, very happy. The Jays wanted peanuts, but one of Dyson’s kits just sat on the big table feeder, munching and munching. Nothing was going to budge that squirrel! The Jays were losing their patience. In this two-minute video, Junior, the male, spends the last half hoping to find a way to reach the feeder!
I want to thank ‘L’ for her note today. It touched my heart. She had a feral cat named Hobo. Worrying about him in the cold, she put a heating pad inside a gigantic dog carrier. Hobo liked it. Her letter gave me pause to reconsider what I might do for Brock.
As all of you know, I agonise over Brock every winter. He has indeed survived, but there is always a worry. I have a huge carrier that I got when we had Lewis, so I am going to order a heating pad and another outdoor extension cord. Then we will see if Brock goes for it!
Brock looks in the garden door after finishing his third meal of the day. If you look at the table to the rear and left of Brock, you will see the amount of snow that fell overnight. The young man was here shovelling the deck but it has filled up – again!
Jaine arrived and headed out onto snowy roads to take Don to the Y’s walking track for the afternoon. The Girls, Toby, and I are making cinnamon-cardamon rolls for her to take home when she gets back. I hope they are good.
We use the same dough recipe for everything from pizza to cinnamon buns and butter rolls. It is effortless, and like my grandmother, I don’t measure. If you want to try it along with us, here is what I did: Place a packet of active dry yeast in a bowl with 2 T sugar, 2 T oil (I used a fruity olive oil), and 2 t salt. Add 3/4 c of very warm (not hot but quite warm) water. Stir and let it froth. Once the yeast froths, add 1.5-2 cups of flour. Depending on the weather and the type of flour you are using, you might find you need a little more. Stir hard, knead, and let the dough rise twice. Punch down between rises. [I use a small Wolf counter oven instead of my big oven. It has a ‘Proof’ setting for 80 degrees F that is really helpful and makes the rising go even faster.]
When the dough has risen twice (which makes the rolls much lighter), flour your surface and roll the dough out into a big rectangle. (See below) Those are slices of butter (you can use either salted or non-salted) spread around. You can even melt the butter and brush it on. For this recipe, the more butter the better. (Don’t tell my doctor!). Then sprinkle a mixture of 1 cup of white sugar to which I have added 1 t of cinnamon and another t of cardamom. You can adjust to taste. You might not use all of this. If you want, you can omit the cardamom. During a visit to Copenhagen, I fell in love with the Danish cardamom rolls, and ever since, I have been adding cardamom to everything. Today, I also sprinkled some dried cranberries over the dough to try and make the rolls a little more festive.
Fold up the edges and roll into a jellyroll-like shape. Then cut into slices. Place these on a buttered OLD non-shiny pan. Do not use parchment, either, as it will make the bottoms soggy, just like a shiny pan. You can be neat and make the rolls all the same. I can’t be bothered! I do like them rustic. Allow the rolls to rise one more time before placing them in a 375°F oven. Bake for about 13-15 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and, when pressed, spring back.
My family likes a lemon or orange glaze – just mix some orange or lemon juice with icing sugar and smear all over. Yummy, yum.
We decorated the box and included an ornament for her tree. I hope she likes it. I am so terribly grateful for her help and support.
So, let’s check in on some of the nests.
There are still two eaglets at the Superbeaks nest of Pepe and Muhlady in Central Florida.
The clock is counting down to SW Florida when M15 and F23 will welcome chick number 1.
In Orange, Australia, Diamond decided to feed Gimbir instead of Girri. Of course, Girri’s crop was about to pop! What a beautiful gesture to a great first-time dad who has been Daddy Doordash all season. I bet he was hungry.
It is NOT unusual (nor is it frequently seen) for adult males or females to feed one another. Which nests can you think of where you have seen this? The FalconCam Project caught it on video: https://youtu.be/1FOmMdoS6tA?
Girri looks like a juvenile falcon today.
SK Hideaways caught Girri soaking wet in a cute video! https://youtu.be/L2x4w5fqW3I?
Why does it always have to rain and why are there storms around fledge time? It always makes me so nervous. Girri will fledge soon. Enjoy her while you can! They do not normally return to the scrape very much, if at all.
Indeed, Girrir was flapping and almost went out the front. 12:34:52ish.
That was too close for comfort. She is not ready. She still has down and I want a week of sunny dry days not the storm clouds you can see in the distance.
The eagles at the John Bunker Sands Wetlands nest are working on that egg cup. This nest is looking really good. Just look at the size of it! The people who work at the centre say that visitors walking on the boardwalk often see the eagles flying overhead. Maybe you should visit JBSW if you live near Seagoville, Texas (east of Dallas).
The snow was really coming down at the US Steel nest. Evenso, nestorations continued. Those 7000 feathers kept those Irv and mate toasty warm and dry. https://youtu.be/1tK8d2JFE1Q?
Gigi and Pat were working at their nest, the ND-LEEF, in South Bend, Indiana, on Thursday despite the snow, too.
In Winnipeg, we are experiencing a very sad moment. Hundreds and hundreds of Canada Geese have been found dead due to HPAI.
Another article with some good information.
Hundreds of Canada goose deaths in Manitoba leave wildlife experts perplexed – Winnipeg | Globalnews.ca
https://globalnews.ca/news/11572945/hundreds-of-canada-goose-deaths-in-manitoba-leave-wildlife-experts-perplexed/
This news just makes me feel very ill. I love our geese so much!
It is never good to go to bed angry and I don’t like closing my blog on a sad note. We watched T3, the only surviving eaglet of Mrs T, thrive under almost the sole care of its mother at the Trempeauleau nest in Wisconsin. There are bittersweet moments. Two other eaglets perished, but you will remember how much joy T3 gave us. Here is a lovely video about this determined young eaglet! Enjoy. https://youtu.be/OMa50gXbe18?
Mrs T was sleeping on the branch at the Trempeauleau nest on Thursday. They have snow, too.
Good night, Beau and Gabby.
Trudi Kron brings us up to date on the new couple at the Dale Hollow Bald Eagle nest.
A note from our Bird World reader ‘J’ in Berlin also brings some good news about Kakapo. Enjoy:
“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKvDRPnj314
Thank you so much for being with us today. Everyone wishes you a fantastic end of the week!
HY knows how to stay warm.
Thank you so much to ‘L’ for the great suggestion for Brock! I am also grateful to the authors of the FB posts, the creators of videos, the owners of the streaming cams, and the authors of the articles included in today’s blog.
