20-NOV-2010
Dark-eyed Junco -- Pink or Oregon? #3870
Many of the Dark-eyed Juncos are colored in a pattern that makes it hard for me to say what subtype (race) they belong to. This one is an example. This bird's sides are pinker than some of the more obvious Oregon Juncos, but it's hood is not as light a gray color as I expect for a clearly-marked Pink-sided Junco. My guess is that this bird is a female Oregon Junco.
19-NOV-2010
White-winged Dove #3851
There are almost always White-winged Doves around, sometimes fewer, but other times, like now, where they come in flocks. We get them early in the morning, and again late in the afternoon, drinking form the pond and monopolizing the feeders, which are generally too small for them, but they are not smart enough to know that.
18-NOV-2010
American Goldfinch #3298
We have had one or two American Goldfinches visit every day or two. As they get more comfortable with the area, they visit the pond to get a drink of water, but for the most part, they are content to sample seed from the bird feeder.
16-NOV-2010
Dark-eyed Junco (Pink-sided) #2976
We had a surprise snowfall last night, leaving perhaps a half inch of fresh snow on the ground. The Juncos do not seem to mind at all.
14-NOV-2010
Red-breasted Nuthatch #2579
This is the first Red-breasted Nuthatch I have seen in the back yard. It is a fairly common bird, but not as common as the White-breasted Nuthatch. The Red-breasted ones are known to visit seed feeders. He must be visiting from the forests we have at higher elevations, because they prefer spruce and fir trees. Neither of those grow naturally at our elevation, and there are only ornamental spruce or fir near us.
13-NOV-2010
House Finch #2323
House Finches are around every day, but we are seeing only one or two at a time. I only rarely see one with eye disease, most are healthy, such as this male. The pear tree that he is sitting in is actively dropping all its leaves; the golden afternoon sun, together with the fall colors of the leaves, makes for a nice warm image of this common visitor.
12-NOV-2010
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) #1956
I spent a lot of my picture-taking time today concentrating on the Juncos (since they were almost the only bird around). There is so much variation in the races of these little sparrows that I always find examples of birds that are hard to classify, especially when I see birds that are somewhere in between a Pink-sided Junco and an Oregon Junco. This one is comfortably in the Oregon class, with a solid dark hood, and no mask between the bill and eye. Later, I will post some Juncos that I find hard to classify.
11-NOV-2010
House Sparrow #1849
Our resident population of House Sparrows is becoming more active, visiting the seed feeders and drinking from the pond. I thought this one was interesting because of the noticeable yellow coloring at the base of her bill -- indicative of this bird being a juvenile.
10-NOV-2010
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) #1706
More commonly seen in the Eastern USA, the Slate-colored Junco does occasionally visit us here in New Mexico. I have seen one or two this season. Other than their different plumage, I cannot tell any significant difference in behavior from our other Juncos.
09-NOV-2010
Sandhill Cranes - Heading to the Bosque #1585
The Sandhill Cranes know that the folks at the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge have a party planned for them in a couple of weeks (the Festival of the Cranes), so they are heading south for the winter. These folks, part of a flock of about 50, were flying just a couple of hundred feet overhead, early in the morning. You know it's fall when the cranes are flying about.
08-NOV-2010
Lesser Goldfinch #1512
I thought our Lessers had left, but we have had a few regular visitors in the last couple of days. They seem to have less interest in the Nyjer thistle and more in sunflower seeds, and they are more interested in drinking from the pond.
03-NOV-2010
Pinyon Jay #7325
Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus
Late yesterday a large flock of Pinyon Jays swarmed through the back yard just after sunset (after I would normally be prepared to take pictures). I took some pictures of them, through a window, but the pictures look like they were taken through a window. So today, and when they came by again this evening, I was ready. There were about 25 birds in the flock, very noisy, swarming the seed and peanut feeders, and drinking from the pond. These birds are a soft pastel blue almost all over, with just a little white markings on their throats. Some were much bluer than this one. This is the first year I can think of seeing them in the back yard, once houses were built up all around us. They normally stick to more open fields.
