Not to Mention ...

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As I focused on winter visitors in my last post, it's only fair that I mention our resident birds this time.

Our Northern Cardinals are thriving and the male is looking particularly beautiful at present.

House Finches seem to come and go throughout the year but we appear to have acquired a resident pair over the past couple of months. The female sits on our feeders often and for long periods.

The male comes to join her but never stays as long.

This year's crop of Blue Jays can be heard throughout the day somewhere on our block and often in our front yard. However, they come to our backyard only occasionally, too see if we've put peanuts out.

Carolina Chickadees are constant visitors to our feeders and to our birdbath.

Our Carolina Wrens spend parts of each day at our feeders or searching for tidbits in and around our plant containers.

We don't see our Downy Woodpeckers much these days because they feed off suet in our front yard whereas our living-room windows look out over our backyard. Luckily, though, our Red-bellied Woodpeckers have found our backyard peanut feeder.

White-winged Doves haven't been visiting in numbers lately, which is a blessing for the other birds. However, the feeders get regularly raided by a flock of 20+ House Sparrows. 

BTW, we aren't the only ones who watch birds in our backyard. At least one of our many squirrels sometimes kicks back on the shed roof and watches the comings and goings at our birdfeeders.

Of course, what's he's really doing is probably trying to find a way to reach the feeders.

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