Yard Bird - # 6

Today's special is Sparrow, with a side of Goldfinch

To be more specific, a white-throated sparrow, one of our prettiest winter birds, with an American Goldfinch in the background.  In winters where we have a lot of snow, the white-throats are abundant under the feeders; in milder winters like this year, they tend to be more widely dispersed in the woods, making them harder to see.  So, when I had a clear shot today, I decided this would be my blip.  A moment before I snapped this, he was singing a few notes of his sweet song - you can see the feathers on his throat still puffed out a bit after singing. These sparrows have one of the most beautiful songs of any of our backyard birds.  If you'd like to hear it, follow this link and go about half down the page for "song" buttons.  It's worth it!

Today's alternative shot is on Flickr, our other common winter sparrow, the dark-eyed junco, also with a side of finch.  And I'm putting a rather poor quality shot in Extra of a year-first Common Grackle that was in the garden this morning!

It's warmed up a bit more today - currently 39 F (1 C) so Hubs and I will head out for a walk with a target of 2 miles.  At least when it's this cold, it forces us to walk very briskly!

Still no snow this winter although the long range forecast suggests we may get a storm in about a week.  Funnily, my parents are in southern AZ and they had snow this morning!  So, they've officially had more snow this season that we have.  Pretty hard to dispute climate change.

I know quite a few of my fellow Blippers have signed up for Emma Davies A Year With My Camera workshop.  I'm looking forward to it and have chosen "food" as my theme for the year-long project.  All by way of warning you that you may see some food shots here as the year unfolds.  Seems a natural since I love to eat and I love to take photos...


And, People, don't forget to pledge  to www.blipfuture.com - the pledges are nearly 110,000 pounds now, and I have to think if we continue to pull together, we'll save this great place!  So don't wait, do it now!


Here's to a great weekend!


Debbi