Little Finches

Here are a few shots of some of our regular "little" finches for lack of a better term. They are roughly the same size and have similar habits when it comes to feeding, attracted to the smaller nyjer seed as well as black oil sunflower seed. They can all be seen in large flocks at times, depending on the year and can be unpredictable. The goldfinches tend to be a little more dependable, they had been coming in huge numbers earlier in the winter with numbers thinning out in recent weeks. In contrast the Common Redpoll in the last picture was the only bird I saw all year. The Pine Siskins have been numerous as well but like the Goldfinches their numbers have declined recently.

Evening Grosbeaks

I was excited when in late November a couple of  female Evening Grosbeaks showed up at my feeders. It has been several years since I have seen this species and over 20 since they have been regulars. By December 1st there were large flocks of them here, both male and female,  but only for a couple of days.  Then a few stragglers for a couple more days and then they were gone. So my hopes of having them here for the season were dashed. From what I understand, many people had the same experience.

White-breasted Nuthatch - Male and Female

White-breasted Nuthatches are not regulars at my feeders like their Red-breasted cousins. It's been four years since I last had them here so it's always feels good to have them in the mix of birds at the feeders. They are still coming daily, both the male (top) and the female. You can distinguish the sexes by the cap - the male having the complete black cap while the females' fades to grey in the front.

Chickadee in Goldenrod

One last photo from the Fall before I start posting some of my "Winter" shots. It's a bit of an odd crop with the bottom foot and tail cut off but I wanted to isolate the bird and the one plant the bird was feeding in and having the blurred background.  There was more area to the right in the original raw photo with another plant which was a distraction to my eye. I believe the plant is goldenrod gone to seed with the seeds being an attraction for the chickadee.

Sparrows

From October 31, 2018 Matthew's Lake. The Dickcissel was unexpected. It was mixed in with a number of different sparrows including the Song Sparrow seen here. There was at least one Savannah "Ipswich" and a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow in the mix.

Northern Oriole, Blue Grosbeak

Sometimes the bird is more interesting than the photograph. That was the case with these two photos. While I was very excited to see these birds, the Blue Grosbeak in particular, I wasn't very happy with the shots I was able to get. These are both from late September/ early October.  

Nashville Warbler

From the last day of September 2018.

Great Blue Herons - Flight Shots

I was out this past weekend photographing waterfowl when I flushed a Great Blue. There are still a few trying to overwinter here despite the ice and snow. It reminded me of these photos from last Fall when I was shooting shorebirds only to be surprised by herons flying in to feed on the remaining fish in the ponds before the Yellowlegs cleaned them up.  They lost interest when they saw me.  It's likely the bird I saw on the weekend was a juvenile like the one in the top photo.