Chickadees still visiting.

Although there are more house sparrows at the feeder than any other bird there are still quite a few chickadees visiting regularly. He is one little fellow resting for a few brief seconds. They do not stay long but flit off.

Whitebreasted nuthatch

I managed to get my own photo of the whitebreasted nuthatch although it cannot compare favorably with the one I found on the net! The last day or so I have seen only red breasted types.

White breasted nuthatch

I was surprised the other day to see a nuthatch without a red breast. I thought perhaps it was just an immature red breasted nuthatch but then I discovered there is a white breasted nuthatch and that was obviously what I had seen. I have seen one several times although the red breasted type is more common around here. Both types of nuthatch stay here all year round but are usually more visible in the fall and winter. This is not my photo unfortunately!

Several magpies.

We went to the next town shopping this morning. The snow is long gone and there is a strong drying wind so that some farmers with crops still unharvested are hard at work combining. There are few birds about but we did see several lone magpies both on the way and coming back. We saw one crow or perhaps a raven by now as the colder weather is coming.

Less juncos all the time..

This is a photo taken a while ago while we still had some snow. It is long gone now. In fact it is dry enough that some farmers have been able to start harvesting again. These are juncos and house sparrows. The juncos are beginning to disappear but the house sparrows stay around for the entire winter and at times are the only visitors to the feeder.

Mystery bird

I knew what this bird was when I took the photo but had forgotten by the time I downloaded it. The snow has been gone for over a week now. However, it has not dried up enough for everyone to finish harvesting. This bird is either a Harris Sparrow or a Purple finch with its colour not evident because of the lighting.

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.