Sixteen inches of new light snow...
And out the driveway he goes, clearing only enough so I can get in and out. Tom's a busy, busy man today.
In the meantime, a flurry of common redpolls and--new to Mama Gullible's Black Oil Seed Cafe--a couple rosy finches flittered in for lunch. Note the rose-colored breast on the male redpoll, and the red cap on the females.
It didn't take long for word to get around the avian neighborhood that Mama Gullible's Cafe was open again after more than two months. The redpolls were joined by tiny pine siskins and the larger, splendidly colored pine grosbeaks. Somewhere in this scrum I spotted some formally-dressed black capped chickadees.
This is a pine siskin, with yellow stripes on his wings. I think. They look an awful lot alike sometimes.
This blurry lady is a female pine grosbeak. Her colors range from rusty-orange through olive.
And here's the beauty--the male pine grosbeak. All these birds stay all winter. I expect the nuthatches will be around soon, once they hear the cafe is open. Oh, yeah, and the Stellar's jays and magpies, too.
Nothing like a pile of new snow when you were yearning for spring, but it's sure nice to have the birds to watch. They emptied the feeder twice today, plus gobbled up the several handfuls of seeds I tossed on the snow around the feeder. I wish the optical zoom on this little camera allowed for better focus, but it doesn't.
Welcome home. I hope you found your muse waiting for you. How grouchy is Pablo? Great pics
ReplyDeleteLon and I thoroughly enjoyed your pictures and, of course, your accompanying narrative.
ReplyDeleteLon specifically asked me to tell you that he is impressed with your photography and your personal experiences in Alaska.
Shaddy