A northern flicker was on the side of the road this evening, and while they nest in trees, they spend a lot of time on the ground digging for ants and beetles with their slightly curved bill. The northern flickers in the eastern part of the United States will have yellow on the underside of the wings, whereas red is seen in the western part.
Flicker Hunting Bugs
If the field mice haven’t tried to reclaim their squatter rights today, the bluebirds might have a dry place in their birdhouse to spend the night.
Bluebird Claiming House
I heard the robin for the first time this year, but I don’t know if the snow last night counted as being one of the three times it needs to snow on the robin’s tail before spring finally arrives.
First Robin
The critters (including chipmunks) and the birds have been enjoying the snow free lawn. They, like me, might be hoping the snow missing the area tomorrow.
Bird Enjoying No Snow
The chickadees were busy coming to the bird feeders on this cold day, but in addition to the sunflower seeds, they were lined up at the suet feeders too.
Chickadee in the Cold
As the snow began to fall, something larger swooped down near my head before flying up to a large pine tree. This juvenile bald eagle’s head wasn’t as white as the snow yet as some brown still shows on its head. Bald Eagles take about five and a half years to mature to the typical white head and tail and solidly dark chocolate brown body, legs and wing feathers of an adult. Immature Bald Eagles can spend the first four years of their lives exploring of vast territories and can fly hundreds of miles per day.
Juvenile Bald Eagle
The squirrels were out at the bird feeder when it was snowing today but some of the birds were hiding in the pine trees pondering whether to venture out to the feeder.
Dove Hiding
A string of little chickadee were busy coming to the bird feeder as I filled it this afternoon. I suppose they were happy that my presence was scaring off the larger birds like blue-jays allowing them to get some sunflower seeds.
Happy Chickadee
The fall warblers seem busy fluttering around after bugs and this one looks like it has a very bad hair (or feather) day like I do some mornings.
Bad Feather Day
The birds were enjoying the dry day as they were very busy chasing bugs and flies before autumn fades to winter.
Bird in Autumn Glow
