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.

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.

Finally a new bird.

A purple finch appeared at the feeder today. I was able to obtain a photo but this is not it! I will download it later but I may have been a bit too far away. Aside from the finch there are plenty of pine siskins and some house sparrows and chickadees.

Purple finches still about..

This is a photo before the snow melted away. The purple on the purple finch is not too visible because of the lighting.

They have been around for some time now. Juncos are still here as well. There are even flocks of geese still migrating south.

Magpie briefly visits

A Magpie briefly visited the yard. They are not all that common this year but I have seen the odd one around town and out in the countryside. I find them a very attractive bird but they tend to be unpopular around here because of their noise and they are supposed to drive songbirds out of the area. There are still plenty of slate coloured juncos and purple finches around the feeder.

Chickadee and Purple Finch

This is a photo of a purple finch and black capped chickadee sharing the feeder. As usual it is a bit blurry because the person who took the photo(me) manages to shake a bit and that combined with the fact that the zoom factor is rather large makes quite a few birds blurry! The chickadees are still visiting regularly but the purple finch has disappeared.

A purple finch again

While the feeder is mobbed by house sparrows much of the time, here is a photo of a lone purple finch that has the feeder all to itself. Geese are flying south the last few weeks in large flocks. On the way to the next town today we saw a large flock of Canada Geese in a field and also sever flocks overhead as well.

Purple finches appear again

There have been several purple finches visiting the feeder lately after an absence for quite a while. House sparrows predominate these days though and they are using up the sunflower seeds at an alarming rate!

Juncos Still abound..

There are still many juncos here. I imagine that they will be moving north one day soon. At present, the feeder is overrun with birds: pine siskins, purple finches, juncos, and the odd chickadee. Redpolls seem to have disappeared for the most part.

White crowned sparrows return...

The first white-crowned sparrow of the year has appeared at the feeder. There was one lone sparrow among crowds of male and female purple finches, pine siskins and slate coloured juncos. The poor black capped chickadees dart in to feed and find no room! The siskins in particular are quite scrappy and intolerant of other birds at the feeder platform.

Purple finches are here..

There are two photos of purple finches at the bird feeder. One shows the male prominently the other the female. The male is the more colorful! There have been quite a few of the finches visiting the last couple of days but we also have the ubiquitous chickadee as well as some pine siskins, the odd junco, and a single red poll.

Purple finch on feeder

There are quite a few purple finches visiting the feeders these days. They often accompany quite a few house sparrows. Mixed in with the sparrows there are sometimes pine siskins as well. This is a photo of a purple finch on my smaller feeding station. The larger one was blown off and blown to pieces in the process!

Several purple finches..

There have been a half dozen or so purple finches visiting the feeder lately. I gather that most go south for the winter so they may be passing through although they could stay around for a while yet. There are no sign of juncos coming back yet. The purple finch females have no raspberry colour. I had seen some of them before but did not quite know what they were but now I see them together with the males and see them in my identification book it is clear that they are female purple finches.

White Crowned Sparrows

There is quite a bit of traffice at the feeder these days. Among the newer birds are white crowned sparrows. The ones around my feeder seem plumper than the one in the photo!

There are now house sparrows visiting so that there is plenty of seed spilled under the feeder.

The black-capped chickadees still visit but there are more exotic birds such as the purple finch, the chipping sparrow, and Savannah sparrows. Some juncos are still here.

Another Downy Woodpecker

At the feeder yesterday, a downy woodpeck appeared. They are not that common. I have not seen any northern flickers lately. They are around all winter but only visit the yard occasionally. I have never seen one at the feeder as they are rather large.
The usual house sparrows are busy dumping out seed. There are still plenty of juncos but they do not usually eat from the seeder. They hop around the yard or pick up seeds from under the feeder.
Red-breasted nuthatches are rather common. I saw three at one time at the feeder, most unusual. Purple finches appear from time to time. Chickadees are constant visitors and there is the odd purple finch. Pine siskins are still common visitors.

Geese are still flying south every day so far. Once the weather turns colder they will soon all be gone. We are enjoying almost Indian summer weather these days although the wind is often cold.

Savannah sparrows appear again

There were several Savannah sparrows at the bird feeder again. I had not seen any for several days now. There are still hordes of sparrows who insist on dumping seed on the sidewalk.
There are quite a few red breasted nuthatches every day as well as the always present black capped chickadees. There are also quite a few slate coloured juncos still around and also pine siskins as well as purple finches.
Out in the country I saw two magpies as well as several crows or ravens. This time of year I am never sure. The crows go south but tnen ravens drift in from the north.

More snow geese in the fields.

We drove to Russell yesterday and again we saw a field with many snow geese browsing on the ground. I assume there is plenty of grain dropped by the combine. There are a few crows or ravens about but not many other birds.

At the feeder there are still slate coloured juncos, red breasted nuthatches (photo),
house sparrows, chickadees, and some purple finches and pine siskins. The nuthatches seem more prevalent than usual.

Snow Geese Flying south

On the way to shop in Shoal Lake the other day we saw a large flock of snow geese in a field. Some were white but not all of them and perhaps there were other geese mixed in. The photo is of a flock at sunset--not here but in the northern US just south of us.
There are plenty of pine siskins around and also nuthatches, chickadees, and several purple finches. Of course there are oodles of house sparrows as well. There are some slate coloured juncos but not that many as yet.

Several purple finches

For the first time I saw several purple finches at the bird feeder at one time (photo). There have been many red-breasted nuthatches visiting and also there was one downy woodpecker, the first I have seen in some time. As usual chickadees are still around. The most common birds are house sparrows in large flocks and plenty of pine siskins as well.