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When I opened the shades yesterday morning it was still dark outside (you’d think after several decades on this earth that I would be used to the days getting shorter, but it still throws me for a loop every fall—especially when the alarm clock goes off and I can’t see my hand in front of my face).
I could just barely make out something moving under one of my birdfeeders. It was too small to be a White-throated Sparrow. That’s when I knew the first official snowbirds of the year had arrived.
When the sun finally came up, I saw the entire flock hopping around my yard and flowerbeds looking for bugs and seeds.
The other birds are busy caching seeds like crazy. Pretty soon it will be time to dig out the mittens and scarves.
3 comments
I’m not good at identifying birds, so you will have to help me identify the birds on this blog.
The first one is a junco? Don’t know the second one. Third is a chickadee? And don’t know the last one either.
We’ve seen a similar-looking bird as the 2nd one. It seems to continually search on the ground for something–bugs, perhaps?
Will appreciate your help.
The first bird is a male junco. The second is probably a female. The females have more brown coloring in their feathers. There are more than a dozen “races” of juncos in the U.S. and Canada, but in Wisconsin we get Slate-colored Juncos. Juncos are seed-eaters but will also eat insects, especially during their breeding season.
The third bird is indeed a chickadee and the fourth is a White-breasted Nuthatch. They hang around all year but are more visible at feeders in fall when they begin caching seeds for the winter.
Thanks for the information. We’ve probably been observing a female Junco. The PM says the bird he’s seen has a white bill and brown feathers.
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