Busy Week

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This has been a very busy week for me because I started teaching an intensive teacher-training course. So I haven't had time for birdwatching, except for a few minutes grabbed here and there at home to look at the birds in our yards.

Keeping the feeders full has been a priority, since the birds really need plenty of food in this cold weather and they've been munching through it like nobody's business.

The main culprits have continued to American Goldfinches. We still have scores every day. Even though they haven't got their breeding plumage yet, they're very pretty little birds. I love watching them as they perch on branches and wait for a good time to move down onto the niger seed feeders.

 

The Orange-crowned Warbler seems to visit a suet feeder near our living-room windows every few minutes throughout the day. It's so used to us that we are able to watch it from only a couple of feet away. The other day it sat down on top of the suet feeder for ages.

Our male Ruby-crowned Kinglet also loves the suet. Like most Kinglets, he usually seems to be very unconcerned by our presence. In fact, he's often stays too close for me to get good photos.

When he first arrived, he used to raise his red crest fairly frequently. (Last winter he seemed to have it raised almost constantly.) However, I've only seen his crest a couple of times this year. Perhaps he feels more comfortable now.

Oops! I have to go and get ready for work again. It's a nuisance how work gets in the way of watching birds.
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