Not much going on around here. Dull days of winter. But whenever there’s the occasional bright and sunny day, and Sunday was one of them, one must get outside, so before I went for an afternoon walk with Lesa at Miller Meadow, I sat out in the yard albeit rather uncomfortably on an overturned trash can, to be far away enough from the feeders so the birds would come back in, and come back in they did.
First to lead the charge was a female Downy Woodpecker, taking advantage of the fact that the crowd had not arrived yet.
Then I saw the White-Breasted Nuthatch who has been visiting this winter, and no sooner did I suggest to him that he bring a friend than a second one appeared, perhaps a female although not easy to tell from these pictures. I think in the second photo below, the female is on the feeder with the House Sparrow above and the male is on the peanut feeder, the male having more prominent black on the crown and nape.
This is also the first time I’ve seen these birds on the seed feeders.
One little Dark-Eyed Junco showed up although I’m afraid due to distance and shadows I didn’t do him much justice.
There was also one American Tree Sparrow. I think there may have been another one but since I never saw the two at once I can’t be sure. Even in my own little yard birding gets tricky!
This Tree Sparrow likes the attention.
After I got back inside, a male Downy Woodpecker flew onto the peanut feeder and I managed to capture this soft-looking image through the window screen.
Disclaimer and/or Apology Time: Other than work, weather and choir singing distractions I confess to being mesmerized by the current Bernie phenomenon, which only adds to staring-at-a-screen time (I never followed anything like this before, but different stories appear depending on what device you’re using, making for even more distraction).
I got rid of my land line and my cable service last week, but none of that has helped my focus.
(The walk at Miller Meadow in the afternoon was delightful and we saw some birds but they were too far away to photograph. Nothing unusual to report…yet!)
