Full Moon Morning

I had a busy Sunday, but didn't want to miss out on Nahanton, so I got there kind of early - 6:30 a.m. It was 51 degrees. I was hoping if I was that early, that maybe I'd see some deer, coyote or owls, but it was very, very quiet. The moon was out. I always love seeing the moon during the day.

I spent a lot of time in the lower gardens where I saw our usuals: robins, jays, song sparrows and cardinals. There were several white throated sparrows and then I noticed an unusual sparrow. It's beak was quite bright and orange and it's breast clear. Finally decided it must be a field sparrow and having now seen Hayne's list from yesterday, hopefully I was right (see picture below, left). Turned out there were several - some in the lower and more in the upper gardens. An elegant Lincoln sparrow was busy in the crab apple in the center of the lower gardens. I believe I also caught a glimpse of the black-throated green that Ian had seen on the BBC walk yesterday, but not 100 percent sure. Briefly saw some yellow and black and slight streaking on the sides, so I couldn't be sure.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Field Sparrow

There were several kinglets in the lower gardens, very busy for themselves as usual. I was desperately trying to photograph one of them but they just won't sit still. I caught this one preening and was amazed to see it's shock of red on the top of it's head!

By the time I got to the upper gardens, the sun was finally out and things were heating up! There were more kinglets! Chickadees and titmice were going crazy over the sunflower seeds.

Young  Phoebe

A new sign has appeared with information on the bee keeper David R. Chipping, song and field sparrows were foraging in the compost pile as well as scouring the ground and flitting in and out of the bent birch tree. A nuthatch appeared marching up and down a tree trunk. A young phoebe was preening in the sun. It was hard to pull myself away to my commitments, but luckily, at the back of the gardens, I spotted a lone, female yellow-rumped warbler. That made it a little easier to leave.

The season seems to pass so quickly. Hopefully, we will have a few more weeks of interesting sightings and then, alas we will have to wait for spring...