This morning, as a Blue Jay greedily and hurriedly fed itself from one of my garden feeders, a group of four White Throated Sparrows scuffed around on the ground at the foot of it, showing their distinctive yellow patches near to their eyes. A really great sight to see and not what one tends to think of as very striking, as the more common Sparrows don’t have so much colouring. Yesterday, however, I spotted a Song Sparrow and a Chipping Sparrow along with the White Throated variety, so I had quite the treat as far as Sparrows are concerned!
A couple of days earlier I spotted a very odd coloured bird feeding on the ground, with flashes of red in its tail feathers and some in the wing area along with a very black beak. It threw me at first, but then I realized that it was an immature Cardinal! A day later one of its elder siblings appeared with a more fully developed set of brighter red feathers intermingled with grey ones and a lot easier to identify.
This morning, another of our winter dwellers appeared, namely a Dark Eyed Junco, formerly known as a Slate Grey Junco, in our eastern area. Coloured with its dark grey back, brilliant white belly and distinctive dark eye, it made its appearance to keep us company during the upcoming winter months.
Our other more permanent residents are the Woodpeckers, Blue Jays and the Goldfinches, who, very sadly, are not their bright yellow selves, but are sporting a much blander version of plumage, but, whatever their colour, they are still very welcome and will provide us, and I hope you too, with their good company. Stay safe and well,
Cheers,
John Baldwin
