Just like baseball players, the skills of small bird photographers get rusty over the winter. Thus for the past two days, in anticipation of spring bird action, I headed about twenty feet out the back door for a bit of spring training.
Even though it was 70 degrees F this afternoon, the tufted titmice and the chickadees still seem to be in their winter mixed-flock mode. At times, there were seven birds at the feeder (with nine feeding ports). Also present were white-breasted nuthatches and downy woodpeckers. A single red-bellied woodpecker made a brief appearance as well. There were also blue jays and crows present nearby but, as is usual, neither species showed much interest in the feeders*.
All of these species spend the winter in our neighborhood and there was no sign of any spring birds these past two days. We did, however, catch a glimpse of a purple finch at the seed feeder a few days ago. I also heard the call of a pheobe this afternoon on a number of occasions.
Spring can not be too far away.
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* In the depths of winter we will get an occasional blue jay on the suet, but not when the ground is bare.
Beautifully captured – even if they are ONLY bird portraits 🙂 Where are the stories????
Once again you end up with remarkable details in these feathered friends.
Comment by Joe Kennedy — 9 March 2016 @ 11:24 PM