Birds Photographed Through a Window – December 2016
/December has been a good month for bird observation through my office window. Our bird bath is particularly popular with blue jays. Note the change from the blue-green bowl early in the month to the heated bowl. I’m not sure whether the blue jays are the most frequent visitors, but they are certainly the noisiest.
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Both the male and female cardinal stop by almost every day. They make small noises so I usually notice then too.
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The mourning doves are quiet…but they are big enough to catch my eye as they swoop down to the deck railing.
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All the other birds hide when the red-tailed hawk flies in to perch in the trees at the forest’s edge behind out house. I like to see raptors, but am glad they are not watching my deck all the time!
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A white breasted nuthatch visited the bird feeder and did the usual upside down acrobatics to pick out individual seeds.
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I saw the Northern Flicker (yellow shafted) – just as I did in November; the bird likes the maple. The yellow on the wing and underneath the tail was clearer in the photograph this month.
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The juncos can be aggressive and chase off some of the other birds. The winter here…a long way from where they have their young in the arctic. I wonder what will happen to their numbers as the arctic warms. They are high energy birds all winter long in Maryland.
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There are some birds that I see less often (because of the swarms of juncos). I saw a sleepy looking male goldfinch in winter plumage.
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A titmouse got a quick sip at the bird bath before a junco flew in.
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The Carolina wren is still around to but tends to stay clear when the juncos are around. The bird is not a noisy in the winter as when defending territory in the spring and summer.
I’m enjoying the birds of winter!