It's now the dead of winter. We expect it to be cold. We know it will be, but we complain bitterly anyway. It's too cold, it's too damp, it's too windy. Too much of everything to be comfortable. Nature is trying us. Mostly we've no option but to submit to these wintry days since that's the way things are. It is winter. Winter in Canada.

These mornings when we descend from our bedroom and look out the front door, we're greeted with the sight of area wildlife making the most of their options. These small feathered and furry creatures manage, miraculously, to survive the rigours of our winters. Which have been, we are assured by environmentalists, becoming milder. Last year's winter was anything but milder. This year, however, it's a different story. And it's all in gradations, after all. When you're in a minus-ten day that's damp and windy it seems just as cold as a minus-20 day without the wind. The effect is the same.

In the ravine we often see groups of robins wintering over, spending their time down by the creek looking for live prey. We're assuming they will also eat any berries they find. And perhaps they're able to fish out caddis-fly larvae, since the creek has plenty of those. Even last year when it was so cold, there they were, flitting about looking for food, and you wonder why they haven't responded to their natural inclination to fly south?

When we stop at the glass panes of the front door we stand awhile and watch the squirrels and the birds have their breakfast. In the mornings it's the purple finches and juncos and chickadees mostly. Redpolls as well. Afternoon brings the doves, sometimes a few crows, goldfinches and nuthatches, cardinals and chickadees again. And in the twilight hours cardinals tend to come around, as well as doves, lots of them. As for squirrels, they're around all day, greedily stuffing themselves, and chafing at the presence of other squirrels.

Of all the birds, the crows are the most flighty, and they're also the most civil, standing back as it were, to allow others to take their fill. The doves take no mind of the presence of squirrels and the squirrels seem to return the compliment.

It will be very cold tonight, and that concerns Irving a great deal. As it does when light snow events that come down continually cover the feeders. He's always worried that the birds in particular won't be able to access the seeds. So out he goes and cleans things up, and puts out more feed for them.

He also likes to empty the kitchen compost pail frequently into the backyard compost bins; no problem there, since we fill it up pretty fast. He wants to make sure that when the raccoons come around their efforts are worthwhile. The raccoons seem to think so, since their nightly presence is fairly well assured.