It wasn’t that cold, but this white-throated sparrow felt the need to invoke “borb” mode!
It was buried deep in a yellow twig dogwood tree, taking a short break from scratching in the leaf litter!🪶

The majority of our juncos have left for their boreal forest nesting area, but there are always a few that linger a bit longer!
This dark-eyed junco will soon be joining her friends, but for now is foraging in the spruce trees!🪶

White-throated sparrows love to scratch around in the leaf litter looking for food. But sometimes you just need to hop up on a rock to take a look around! 🪶

We’ve been getting rain with a bit of snow the last few days so I’m jumping back a week to when the vultures visited us. This turkey vulture was showing off its six foot wingspan!🪶

Yesterday the white-crowned and white-throated sparrows arrived! They will head a bit farther north yet, but should stay here for a week or two.
This white-throated sparrow was foraging in the fallen spruce cones!🪶

While many migrants are arriving and passing through, we still have a few juncos hanging around. While the majority have left for their nesting areas in the boreal forest, this dark-eyed junco, and a few friends, have decided to stay a little longer!🪶

Not all the birds are back, but a lot are and they are busy! This American Robin had important Robin business to deal with in the next tree!🪶

We’re starting to get some of the smaller birds coming through and among them are the fancy sparrows! Fox sparrows nest north of us in the boreal forest and we occasionally see one on its way through. This fox sparrow was foraging in the trees just before sunset!🪶

Merlins are often quite vocal, but this one has been particularly fond of flying around and yelling! Spring is here! Maybe.🪶

It’s #WorldCurlewDay
This long-billed Curlew was foraging in the prairie grasses in Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Purple finches nest in the boreal forest north of us. While they migrate through here, they don’t stay for long, especially the males. This male purple finch stopped by to have a quick drink before heading on his way.

Our three day snowstorm has ended and I think it kept a few of our feathered friends from heading farther north. There are a few common redpolls still here and this one was foraging for food in the trees.

We’d thought they had headed north already, but both the juncos and redpolls are still around!
This dark-eyed junco spent some quality time foraging in the spruce trees this morning!🪶

I visited one of the marshes after work, and it was pretty quiet. There were 2 bufflehead males, but way too far away! While I was sitting there though, I was visited by a Grey Ghost!Northern harriers are a common hawk here but I don’t see the grey males very often!🪶

They arrived a few days ago after their winter vacation and will head a bit farther north yet, into the boreal forest. But for now, they are resting up and fueling up. This dark-eyed junco was scratching around under the trees foraging for food.🪶

While the junco’s have arrived and are busy scratching around on the ground, the redpolls haven’t left yet! This common redpoll hopped down to the ground to join the juncos in foraging for food!🪶

This male northern flicker has been around the area for a few weeks now, but he’s very wary and usually stays hidden in the branches. But sometimes he just needs to perch in the open and show off those spots!🪶

Black-capped chickadees love to forage in the trees and are very chatty right now! This little one paused for a second to see if there was anything good up on the higher branches!🪶