A blizzard of birds

Along with today’s blizzards, a bunch of juncos showed up! The snow piled up so high, some of the birds were hopping about right under the kitchen window. Most of them hung out in the bushes, or suddenly burst into flight, or one by one swooped down to the feeders. The birds even pecked at […]

Snowy birds

So we got a blizzard, but it’s not winter until the juncos show up. I’ve been wondering what’s keeping them. And I wondered last night, while listening to the storm huffing and puffing and rattling the windows, where do the birds go? I suppose they go the same places they go every night. By dark, […]

Juncos hit the slopes

This latest storm lift drift and slopes all around the feeder. I half expected to see the birds skiing, but they’re traditionalists. If hopping about was good enough for the grand-birds, it’s good enough for them. And there’s at least four juncos are in the crowd. Fat ones too.

White solstice

The junco has landed. The storm has ended. The shovelling mittens have been deployed. The back is clear. The steps are clear. The driveway is clear. The sidewalk is clear. Phew! The shoveling mittens are drying.

Caught a junco, sort of

With their dark grey backs, juncos are really easy to spot against the snow, but they move so quickly, it’s really hard to get a picture. This morning, the juncos (and the sparrows and the starlings and the cardinals) were hungry. They were all over the feeders, the sunflower seed, the nyjer, the suet. They […]

Juncos

For me, the first sign of winter is the arrival of the juncos. Sadly, the first two I’ve seen this year were the ones who weren’t faster than the cat. Happily, I’ve seen live ones, too, though they’re easy to overlook. They’re about the same size as the infinite number of fat house sparrows draining […]