It was very sunny this morning as I walked the dog around the neighbourhood and thought to myself what a day it would be at the sanctuary, all sunny and blue skies. Of course by the time I had organized my gear and arrived at the sanctuary, it had clouded over and was not pleasant.
As I stood shivering at the feeder area of the sanctuary, a fellow birder came up and asked me if it was "just the usual" hanging about the feeders, i.e. Red-winged Blackbirds, Spotted Towhees, Black-capped Chickadees, various Sparrows etc. "Yes", I replied and we both watched in silence until he exclaimed, "A Downy!" and went all happy and excited with his camera. I had been watching the Downy Woodpecker for sometime actually but thought it was "just the usual". So lesson learned, I shall always list off what I see because the poor fellow could have missed out on his chance for a good photo. And let's face it, watching a grown-up get all goofy over a bird is so worth seeing.
Winter bullrushes around the frozen pond.