It has seemed like winter for weeks now, with periodic snow and often cold temperatures. But it really is winter by the calendar now, and the temperature hovering at around 0 degrees (F) made that very clear. The skies, however, were blue after the sun finally started lighting up the mountains, and it was another lovely day. My birding was again limited to backyard birding. Too much other stuff to do.
The Pine Grosbeak male seems to realize how beautiful he is in the rime-covered birch branches and spends much time there when not munching on sunflower seeds. He’s the closest thing we have to a male cardinal up here.
The Steller’s Jays emptied the peanut jar repeatedly today, but also vied with each other for time on the mealworm feeder. For today, Beaky (with only a partial beak) was top bird there.
It was a normal winter day in our back yard and many more are left this winter.
307 species so far (although I do enjoy backyard birding, I really would love it if a rarity would appear somewhere in AK, SOON)
Lynn Barber's Birding Blog 