Who doesn’t love a junco?
And oh, by the way, it looks like WordPress has made some unneeded changes. I swear. This is the second day in a row I’ve had to deal with apps that take something perfectly functional and make it much more difficult than it needs to be. Shopify is the other one that’s gone down a dark alley.
There have been a couple interesting birds at the feeders recently. This American Kestrel did not stick around very long but he sure did give me some good looks! His feathers are very puffed up due to the cold. Normally, he would have a tubular shaped body.
The dogs and I went for an afternoon snowy walk today. They played with sticks. I looked for birds. The only birds I saw were Black-capped Chickadees. They are very athletic. Imagine gripping a branch with your toes! I like chickadees.
Sky and I went to an agility event in Skagit County recently and we found ourselves with some extra daylight Sunday afternoon and Monday morning so we went bird watching. I have always wanted to see the huge flocks of Snow Geese that winter in the area and I was not disappointed! The images I made are lovely but they don’t fully convey the spectacle of 1000’s of white birds constantly shifting around the landscape. They feed in the rich agriculture fields (formerly the Skagit River estuary, now diked and drained) during the winter. Flocks lift off and fly around, seemingly at random, forming bigger and smaller flocks during the day. I highly recommend a trip to see these birds on their wintering ground. I was lucky to have nice weather. That’s not always the case. In addition to the geese, you can see a variety of raptors (I saw a Short-eared Owl and a Northern Harrier hunting at dusk), Trumpeter Swans and a wide array of water birds.
Birders keep lists. Some keep LOTS of lists – life lists, country lists, state lists, county lists, trip lists, yard lists, etc. I have a not well defined life list and if I ever lose my copy of Sibley, I will lose my life list. But I/we have a yard list. We have a big yard – fifteen acres and we count every kind of bird we see or hear from our ‘yard’. This week, on two morning dog walks, I saw and photographed American Tree Sparrows. They are not a rare bird but I have never seen one in our county, let alone our yard, before this week. They breed in the far north and winter across much of the US. I have seen them in thick shrubs and weedy areas in the winter, generally south of here. Two other birders have seen them in recent weeks here in the valley so maybe there are more of them here this year or maybe we are more observant.
My Everyday Photos 