The Dead of Winter

Winter arrived shortly after my last post... with a vengeance.  I woke up the last Sunday morning of January to find over an inch of snow on the ground, and we ended up with over 3" before it finally began to melt away later that afternoon.


A Dark-eyed Junco wondering what the heck is going on


Awww...

While 3" of snow is a welcomed sight because it's so unusual for our neck of the woods, it's also welcomed because forces terrestrial feeders out of the hills and into our backyard.  Not-so-coincidentally, we began to see multiple (2-4) Varied Thrushes at our suet basket and bird bath on a regular basis right after this.  It was nice to hear their whistle-like trilling at the crack of dawn again.


A male Varied Thrush surveys the yard before feeding

Yellow-rumped Warblers have also been visiting in increased number - we saw four in the yard at once last weekend, which is a personal record.  They're also much more bolder than last year, coming close to the house quite frequently.  One even sat at the suet feeder outside the kitchen window for a good 15 minutes one afternoon.


A Yellow-rumped Warbler who is apparently annoyed that my 300 mm lens is only 3' from his face

A male Townsend's Warbler stayed with us from December through March of last year and I'm very happy to report that TWO of my favorite West Coast winter birds are feeding in our yard this year.


Female Townsend's Warbler gleaning small bits of sunflower chips from the seed tray

And I'm also happy to report that one of the three Pine Siskins from last time is still hanging around with the local Lesser/American Goldfinch flocks...


The lone (and slightly blurry) Pine Siskin feeding on sunflower chips

And, of course, many of the usual regulars are in high number as well: Scrub-Jays, Northern Flickers, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and Lesser Goldfinches.  I've been seeing a few less Downy Woodpeckers, American Goldfinches, and Bushtits than last month.  I also haven't seen my Brown Creepers for a few weeks.  Hopefully they return soon.

The Great Backyard Bird Count kicks off this Friday and you can bet your boots than I'll be blowing off work to record as much data and snap as many photos as possible.  I'll have a report in my next installment.


Barney and Abbey are very excited about the Great Backyard Bird Count as well

• Posted at Tuesday, February 12, 2008 10:52 PM
• In General Category | Permalink