Friday, January 21, 2011

Snowy Day Visitors

It's been lake effecting off and on all this afternoon.  The feeder has been busy, as the birds stoke up their furnaces for a cold winter night.
The Golden Finches (really Goldfinches, but I like what Jim from Ocean Breezes http://jabacue.blogspot.com/ called them better) are out in full force.  Look closely and you'll see that they are starting to yellow up.  Soon, they will be their lovely Gold color again, all set for spring and courting season.
A Cardinal waits his turn in the lilac bush.
While a House Finch hogs one of the black oil sunflower feeders.
And, in the nearby Locust tree, the female Red-bellied Woodpecker tries to find a bug sleeping somewhere under the bark.
It's supposed to get very, very cold this weekend, so I'll have to make sure that there is plenty of food in the feeders, and on the ground.

15 comments:

My Mind's Eye said...

Wonderful pictures!!!!
I SEE the GOLD coming out on the Finches....indeed a beautiful sight and thought of spring especially for you with all that snow.
Hugs and Happy Weekend,
Madi and Mom

Sharon said...

Yep, they have to fuel up for the night, for sure! I still haven't gotten more than a few finches, I think they have a good supply somewhere else!

Nice pictures, where are the squirrels?

wiseacre said...

I'm looking forward to the cold. 5 nights of sub-zero temps should help put the freeze on the waterfalls around here.

Louise said...

You know, Sharon, it's funny, but I didn't see a squirrel all day. I told Texwisgirl that it must be because they're all out in the woods hugging each other.

I just looked out of my window, and I have the usual three dozen or so mallards milling around underneath the feeder. I'll have to blog about them again soon.

Anonymous said...

I don't know if our Goldfinches left or if I just don't see them because of the color. Think they left, because the only smaller birds I see are chickadees.

You have such a great bunch of visitors there. We have snowstorm today and we're supposed to get really cold weather too, when it's gone.

TexWisGirl said...

You have the busiest feeder station on the web! :) (Even if today you were squirrel-less). I saw a goldfinch take his turn at the feeder today and it was definitely more yellow! And yes, our red-winged blackbirds are REALLY showing their colors these days! Spring is coming your way!!!

chook said...

i've never seen lake effecting used as a verb (i had to think about it for a moment).

:)

you get gorgeous bird visitors!

Unknown said...

I noticed that ,too. My suet feeders were mobbed! I have also had a visitor that is not even supposed to be by a HOUSE let alone a feeder! A Piliated Woodpecker! He (she) is HUGE! I have some good pics so I'll have to post a blog! 8>)

Terry said...

You and the goldfinches give me hope for Spring.

KB said...

I love how colorful your winter birds are. It seems that all of our bright ones leave for the winter (ok, almost all our birds leave for the winter) but we keep the hard-core mountain dwelling birds well supplied with seed and suet!

The golden finches are beautiful!

Jacqueline Donnelly said...

Such beautiful spots of color in the black and white winter landscape!

Jim said...

Gee, I will never live it down! lol Your House Finch looks like the Purple Finches we get in the summer here. That Cardinal still 'freaks' me out! Love it.

fromsophiesview said...

What an exciting and active yard you have...the colour and movement...so nice! Learning about so many in birdland...tks!

Iowa Gardening Woman said...

Great pics! The goldfinches around here are not at our feeders all the time, but will be around for a couple of weeks then gone for a couple of weeks. I like to see house finches at our feeders because for some reason the sparrows stay away if there are lots of house finches and I like house finches better than sparrows.

Judith said...

Lake effect - I had to google it. I just love these birdy pics! Like your blog's new look too!