The Juncos are Back!

53 degrees and sunny at 8:00 a.m. The rain is gone! Took a walk around the lower gardens. I saw some white throated sparrows foraging around one of the big trees near the center of the gardens. Lots of chickadees and goldfinches. Haynes turned up shortly after I arrived but we really didn't see much. Possibly a sharp shinned hawk and a bush filled with house finches and cardinals.



We walked up to the upper gardens and saw a beautiful swamp sparrow and a couple of ruby crowned kinglets and a yellow rumped warbler with a great view of his (what else) yellow rump! We suddenly realized someone else was nearby and it turned out to be Jane! She had come up the back way from the river. She and Haynes saw some savannah sparrows and we saw yet again the leucistic song sparrow which has now been named "Lucy". It's fun to be able to recognize a certain individual over and over again.

Down by the soccer field heard some blue jays and in looking up to find them, we saw a gorgeous red bellied woodpecker! Very striking. Group of mallards in pond and in Woodcock Meadow was a large flock of juncos!!! For me, they're a sign that winter is coming. No escaping it. But they're so entertaining and cheerful to watch, at least they make the winter go by a little quicker.