Birds

Frozen

fluff4

This little fellow is a fighter. We noticed him coming to the feeder in the fall with an injured leg. Here he is in his winter coloration during this extremely cold week (it was 1.4 out the morning I took this picture). His beak is messy and he’s lame, but he can fly and is apparently still fighting.

I took this photo with my 50mm prime lens, and I love the clarity.

Here are a few more visitors out the front window. There are bushes under the hanging feeder, and the birds perch among them between flights to the feeder. Bird bushes. White-throated sparrows ground-feed there, and occasionally squirrels.

Whitethroat in bicycle cap
Whitethroat in bicycle cap

white throat

Amazingly, a chipmunk woke from hibernation and snatched a few seeds during this cold snap. I’d expect sensible rodents sleep through periods like this. There was also a red squirrel showing great interest in the stone wall from which the chipmunk emerged; I wondered if he was raiding the seed stores of chipmunks and mice in the wall. Eventually he was caught in the act.

scaling the wall

One other cool sight from this week: the window over my kitchen sink. I think these are spider webs. though I’m not sure. Who knew? — till the cold weather revealed all secrets.

web