Glynn Wilson

This brave little tufted titmouse [baeolophus bicolor] stole the show in today’s snow on the first day of the Great Backyard Birdcount of 2010. He posed with this seed from every angle, and watched me without fear while all the other birds scrambled to and from the dogwood feeder all afternoon…

Glynn Wilson

This might be non-breeding adult male American goldfinch [spinus tristis], or it could be a pine warbler [dendroica pinus], according to Paul Franklin, who writes the birding column for the Birmingham News. Either way, it was about the prettiest thing to show up at the bird feeder Friday…

Glynn Wilson

Here’s a shot showing the cedar bird house feeder in the dogwood tree covered in snow on Friday, Feb. 12, 2010. I think this is a non-breeding adult male American goldfinch [spinus tristis], although Franklin thinks it is a male pine warbler [dendroica pinus]. According to the photos in the Cornell Bird Guide, if it is a pine warbler, it must be a female.

Glynn Wilson

This little brown-headed nuthatch [sitta pusilla] is my favorite new addition to the Regular Suspects gang who frequent the feeders and birdbaths year-round…

Glynn Wilson

Always the stars of any suburban yard, the Northern Cardinal [cardinalis cardinalis] is perhaps responsible for getting more people to open up a field guide than any other bird. You can’t miss that bright shade of red that catches the eye. They don’t migrate or molt into a dull plumage, so they’re still breathtaking in winter’s snowy backyards. In summer, their sweet whistles are one of the first sounds of morning. That’s the female mate in the background…

Glynn Wilson

I’m partial to the lady cardinals as well [cardinalis cardinalis], especially for their trilling song during the mating season in spring…

Glynn Wilson

These fat and flashy little dark-eyed juncos [junco hyemalis ] come around every year about this time on their way north for spring. That’s a white-throated sparrow in the background…

Glynn Wilson

Of course the Carolina chickadees [poecile carolinensis] showed up, as usual. A bit shy today…

Glynn Wilson

The house finch [carpodacus mexicanus ] is a recent introduction from western into eastern North America (and Hawaii), but it has received a warmer reception than other arrivals like the European Starling and House Sparrow. That’s partly due to the cheerful red head and breast of males, and to the bird’s long, twittering song, which can now be heard in most of the neighborhoods of the continent. If you haven’t seen one recently, chances are you can find one at the next bird feeder you come across.

Glynn Wilson

The kid next door made an attempt to build a blind snowman. We snuck out in the night and gave it some eyes from an old set of Mardi Gras beads, a scarf and a cowboy hat, and it seemed to come alive as a Snow Cowboy. We measured three-inches of accumulation over here, no comparison to Snowmageddon in DC. But it’s a lot for Middle Alabamaland…

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Tags: Great Backyard Birdcount 2010, Snowy Stars

This entry was posted on Friday, February 12th, 2010 at 6:22 pm and is filed under Sidebar Photoblog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.