Purple Finch with Pine Siskins

Here is a purple finch male together with two pine siskins. The last few days there have been purple finches visiting every day. The pine siskins have been here all winter and are quite plentiful.

Two grackles on Feeder

They were going through some sort of ritual. I am not sure if it had something to do with mating or if they were about to fight each other. They didn't fight but flew off when they saw me taking their photo. These are common grackles rather than the larger boat tailed grackle I believe. There seems to be a small flock of them about. I gave them some old buns and they really cleaned them up quickly.

First White Crowned Sparrow of the year.

Saw the first white crowned sparrow today when I was out on the deck having coffee. They usually appear around this time. There are still plenty of juncos and also purple finches.

Junco and Purple Finch on Feeder

There is a slate coloured or dark eyed junco with a purple finch looking around the corner. There are still plenty of juncos and also a few purple finches including females.

Starlings are already back..

The starling in the photo is not from around here and is a juvenile rather than an adult. He flew in from the world wide web. I saw the first starling at the feeder several days ago now..They come only occasionally and when they do all the other birds vacate the feeder.

First Mallards

On the way back from Winnipeg I saw a pair of mallards--not these ones that were swimming in the web--These are the first I have seen reasonably close but I have noticed a few ducks already in smaller sloughs that are already free of ice. The red wing blackbirds are beginning to appear in larger numbers as well.

First red wing blackbirds

On the way back from Winnipeg I saw the first red wing blackbirds by the side of the road. The sloughs are melting so there is some open water although there is also still ice in places.