gray, rainy, cold. But then, you scan a flock of two hundred starlings for an interesting blackbird.
And you find - a Pine Siskin? really? We've been hoping for one, and they've been reported from towns all around us. The bird is not actually in the photo above - it had flown away already.
A Pine Siskin - Carduelis pinus - close relative of our ever-present American Goldfinch, they often feed together at feeding stations - as well as in the wild of course (same food supply). So, we'll wait for it to discover the thistle sock or the black-oil sunflower seeds that our other finches enjoy.
Suddenly the gray day isn't quite so gray. A Pine Siskin, imagine! - and fallen leaves of the Japanese Maple.
A beautiful little Pine Siskin, wow! and droplets of rain hanging from every branch of the Rosa multiflora.
- and actually appearing in this photo is another great bird for the week, go ahead, try to find it
It's a Fox Sparrow, Passerella iliaca - a large, bright rufous sparrow which usually passes through Connecticut in the "shoulder seasons" during March and November.
- this time a little more concealed, but the overall rufous coloring, gray on the cheeks and crown, and bright white belly visible
Great way to end the week!
Birds for the first week of November, 2010:
Wild Turkey
Canada Goose
Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Turkey Vulture
American Kestrel
Red-tailed Hawk
Accipiter sp. - really large Cooper's or a Goshawk?
Mourning Dove
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
American Crow
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Black-capped Chickadee
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Brown-headed Cowbird
American Goldfinch
Pine Siskin - Carduelis pinus
species number 101 for West Campus
House Finch
House Sparrow
Still pulling nearly thirty species - say - did anyone see a pigeon this week? that would bring the list from 29 to 30.
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