Look who dropped in among the newly arrived Brant… Buffleheads! Can Hoodies be far behind?
😉
A chilly wind floats a Harrier above the scarlet hues of poison ivy at Plum Island on Sandy Hook… and I’m imagining Short-ears at dusk.
Anyone else looking forward to winter birds? Which ones?
I saw my first ever Hoodie! this week along with Goldeneyes, Buffleheads, Coots, and Mergansers. Our winter residents are getting well established. Not to mention the Juncos, Tree Sparrows, Pine Siskins and other feeder birds.
Trumpeter and Tundra swans by the thousands winter here .. the first arrived about October 28 and will remain until about the first of Spring.
I saw my first Hoary and Common Redpolls last winter in northern Minnesota. I’d really love to see them in my yard. Probably not, but I can wish…
Beautiful pictures. It really isn’t fair that poison ivy can look so lovely.
I’m waiting for the birds that say winter to me – Brown Creeper, which I missed last winter, Red-breasted Nuthatch – too cute! – and the winter finches. My home is a little too rural, not enough trees for Pine Siskins and Purple Finches, but I do get them here sometimes. Also, I can’t wait for Fox Sparrows – so impressive!
~Kathi
I like to go to Barnegat Light every January, walk out on the jetty to see the Harlequins. I also regularly get purple sandpiper, ruddy turnstones and dunlin, but the Harlequins take the cake. So beautiful and worth the wind and cold on the beach.
Beth
Winter birds here in New England that I look for to each year include Snowy & Short-eared Owls, and Snow Buntings (which we had this weekend!). Then there are the always hoped-for irruption birds – redpolls, Bohemian Waxwings, maybe even Pine Grosbeak…
My juncos returned the day after we got back…I eagerly await the rough-legged hawks, the harriers, merlins and the SEOW’s.
It’s all about the raptors.
: )