Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Juncos around my feeder

It's foggy damp and winter-gray outside my window early this morning. Our resident flock of juncos has congregated around the feeder which I just filled. It was a tufted titmouse with its harsh "beepbeepbeep" that had called my attention to the empty feeder as I was having breakfast - so breakfast had to wait.

Aren't there small buds on the forsythe shoots - and doesn't the light yellow/green color hint of spring?



Pete Dunne in his book "Essential Field Guide Companion" describes the juncos has having an angry, almost sullen expression, if you look closely. I can't agree. Maybe they were just hungry.



Here's a close-up:



This one just filled its stomach and looks pretty content to me:






This Tufted Titmouse drilling down on a sunflower seed.

It looks like the sun will be coming out now. The sky shows patches of blue and the snow is turning from gray to  bluish white. Time to start the day's work....

7 comments:

  1. ...you have truly adorable junco shots here. The second shot and the second to last shot are just beautiful. I never think of juncos as having angry expressions either...they are sweet. With that pink bill against dark grey they can't help but look sweet! Our little titmice let me know when the feeders run dry too!

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  2. The pictures are beautiful. I would imagine they're hungry to explain away their expression.

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  3. they are always so elegant in their black suit!!!

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  4. Peter Dunne certainly knows more about birds than I do but I agree with you. Juncos always seem chipper and alert to me.

    Nicely done!!

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  5. Hi,
    Junco... wow!!! That's a nice bird to get around! I've never seen one except on blogs and would love to meet this guy. It is so beautiful! You got some nice shots there!

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  6. Very nice shots. Aren't they adorable?

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