Another surprise snowfall

Although I didn't believe it when I got up this morning, the snow that had been predicted began falling in the early afternoon. And has been coming down pretty steadily ever since. It's sticking, but since the ground had thawed pretty thoroughly the snow has not accumulated as much as might be expected.

The snow certainly brought the birds to the feeders! They'd been pretty active in the morning even before the snow began, but things got really busy once the white stuff appeared. Juncos and Goldfinches were out in big numbers. Doing an accurate count was pretty much impossible, since there were flocks of varying sizes on all three sides of the house where we have feeders. And, of course, when perhaps six or eight were readily apparent, any movement that startled them, such as opening the front door, would result in a flock of many times that number taking off for the trees. I suspect there were easily 35-50 Juncos around, and perhaps as many Goldfinches. Males of the latter are getting more and more mottled every day, as they move through the process of changing their drab--but still lovely--winter plumage for the brilliant yellow of summer.

A small group of Common Redpolls is still around; I've seen a half-dozen or so. I'm delighted that not only are the Fox Sparrows still around, but now there are at least four individuals here. This is good. Song Sparrows seem to be becoming more numerous as well.

Although areas that had only just become clear have a layer of snow on them once again, the ground feeders seem to be able to scratch their way through to find food. And tomorrow we're supposed to get back to temperatures in the 40s, so the new snow cover will probably disappear as quickly as it came.

On related nature notes, the local mammals are also making their presence known. Raccoons have recently become active again. During the summer and fall we had to bring several of the feeders in every night lest the masked bandits help themselves to the seed and suet. Once winter came we no longer had to go through that ritual but, alas, it's become necessary to do so again. I know they have to eat, too, but I'm unwilling to provide them with a cake or two of suet every night! Chipmunks have also re-appeared, and the wood mice have resumed their efforts to nest in our gas grille. The battle is on!

Surprise Snow Causes Spike in Feeder Traffic, though New Arrivals Give Hope for Spring

After a week or more of extremely mild weather--it got to nearly 70 yesterday--in which much of the accumulated snow had melted away, we were surprised to wake up this morning to see the all the trees covered in new snow and a lot still coming down. The temperature was just on the high side of the freezing point, so the snow was coming down in big, wet flakes. Even though the ground had thawed out rather thoroughly, the new stuff was sticking to the ground. It's now about 10:30 a.m.and the snow has nearly stopped, and what had been on the trees is beginning to fall off. Maine Public Broadcasting is, unaccountably, still saying "sunny and warm" for most of the state, including the southern end. Go figure.

The birds also seem to have been caught off-guard. After a period of relatively little traffic at the feeders due, no doubt, to the increased ability to find food in areas newly-free of snow, we've enjoyed a spate of activity this morning. Dark-eyed Juncos have been around all winter, of course, but today there's a largish flock around; I estimate it at ~30 birds. It's always a treat to see these gorgeous little guys with their dark gray plumage, and it's a bit saddening to realize that they will probably soon be leaving us for the season.

Another highlight has been the appearance of the first Red-winged Blackbirds and Grackles of the season. We've had 4-5 each in a mixed flock. Very odd to be standing outside in the snowfall and hearing the "Ok-a-lee" song of the Red-Wings! 

Goldfinches are also around in good numbers this morning. This is the time of year when the males begin to acquire their bright yellow summer plumage, so we're seeing birds in all sorts of in-between stages. Some have already achieved a fair degree of "yellow-ness" but most are quite mottled, with bits of yellow here and there on their bodies.

The Red-wings aren't the only birds singing in the snow. The Goldfinches are tittering away and the Chickadees are giving forth with their "fee-bee" call. As we went out to collect the morning papers our semi-resident male Northern Cardinal was announcing his presence with authority, with what my son dubbed many years ago as his "laser" call. 

We've been pleasantly surprised to see a couple of Common Redpolls still around, as most of them seem to have departed for more northerly climes. 

All in all we've tallied 17 species. In addition to those I've already noted we've seen both White- and Red-breasted Nuthatches; Fox, Tree and Song Sparrows; Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers; Crows; Tufted Titmice; Mourning Doves; Blue Jays; and a lone House Finch. Most of these have been around all winter, but the first Fox Sparrow appeared this week and today has been joined by a second one.

NOTE: For various reasons I've fallen way behind in things I want to post to this blog. I'll try to catch up this week. Among other things I'm exploring ways to post better-quality videos; I apologize for the crappy way the ones that I've put up so far appear by the time they get compressed and uploaded here.

Juncos and Finches and Siskins--oh my!

One of the delights of this time of year is observing the almost daily change in the natural world. We look out every day and see that the palette of colors in the trees is different than it was when we went to bed the night before. The two-month-long progression of changes from the greens of spring and summer; to the reds, yellows, and oranges of September; to the coppers of October; and finally to the greys of November, is always a pleasure to witness.

The bird life around the house changes as well, though I've been remiss about commenting on it. I noted exactly a month ago that Juncos had begun to appear, and that I expected their numbers to increase rapidly in the ensuing days. That certainly proved to be true, and we now delight in looking out at the trees on the edge of the woods and seeing a welcome assemblage of the small, handsome, grey-and-white birds eagerly feasting on the millet seeds that the Chickadees and finches scatter on the ground in their searches for the sunflower seeds in the mix. Flitting from tree, to ground, to bush, to ground, to brush pile, to ground, and back to tree, their constant activity is a joy to watch. Juncos were a familiar site growing up in Western Massachusetts--"junkets," my mother used to call them--but were rare visitors to my yard in Tennessee. It's great to be able to enjoy their company again!

They certainly are not the only new seasonal visitors. White-throated Sparrows are also in abundance, and they're at least as much fun to watch as the Juncos. The patch of lawn where many of the feeders are located is now covered with fallen oak leaves. When looking down onto this area from the bedroom window it's easy at first to think you're seeing only leaves...until some of them seem to start to move! The sparrows' coloring matches that of the leaves quite well and it becomes a bit of a game to see if I can pick out the birds before they begin to move.

Beginning in late August, if memory serves correctly, we began seeing numerous female Purple Finches in the yard. We had had only the occasional one before this so it was a pleasure to welcome a few more. I kept wondering where all the males were, but they eventually showed up as well, a couple of weeks after the females had arrived--again, if my memory is correct about the dates; I kept no notes about their appearance. They've been among the regulars at the feeders ever since. Prior to this I'd only ever seen a few Purple Finches in my life. I was inundated with House Finches in Tennessee, and there's no shortage of them here in Maine. But I'd seen few enough Purples that I was not even sure of my ability to distinguish them from their cousins who have moved in from the west. Now that I've had the chance to see many of them, and to observe both species together, I see that it's quite easy to tell them apart. Both male and female Purples have a very strong "eyebrow," and the patterning of color on the males is quite different. Also, Purples have fairly deeply-notched tails, while House Finches' tails are nearly straight across, with only a hint of notching.

The Juncos, WT Sparrows, and Purple Finches have now all been around for awhile...joining the usual crowd of Titmice, Chickadees, (many) Goldfinches, etc, and it had been some time since anyone new had shown up. That changed big-time this morning when we had a small invasion of Pine Siskins! While cleaning up from breakfast I looked out the kitchen window at the back deck where we have both sunflower and thistle (tube) feeders, and all the ports at both feeders were occupied by Siskins! There must have been at least a couple of dozen. As I write this they seem to be not much in evidence, so I don't know if they were just passing through, or if they ate their fill for the moment and will return when they again get hungry. I had hoped to get some photos of them to post here, but I'll have to wait for another time.

New visitors

I was delighted to see the first Dark-eyed Junco of the season this morning in the trees on the east side of the house! Just the one, but I trust that he/she will be joined by a cohort of peers before long. They're one of my favorite winter birds, but were rare visitors to my yard in Tennessee. I have fond memories of my father, who was the person who instilled in me a love of birds in the first place, bringing pitchforks full of old hay off the barn floor and scattering the chaff around on top of the snow so the Juncos could pick out the seeds. [This in western Mass., where I grew up.] This made an unsightly mess on top of the white snow, but the rewards of watching the Juncos having such a good time feeding more than compensated for any aesthetic offense caused by the piles of strewn chaff.

An even better treat for the day was the first-ever sighting in our yard of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet! He or she was bopping around in the brush on the verge between the lawn and the woods. Kinglets are tiny, peripatetic little things, that are always fun to watch--though they rarely stick around in any one place long enough to give birders much of a show! I was a bit surprised to realize that we'd not seen any kinglets in the yard before now; they may well have been here without us having seen them. We saw a Golden-crowned on Plum Island last week, and had seen Ruby-crowns at Wells Reserve at Laudholm Farm in Wells back in May. I'm told that October is a good month to see kinglets at Laudholm--I'll have to venture there again soon!