Each fall we leave the coneflowers alone in the garden hoping that finches will come by and get a nice meal. Until last week we had not had a finch visit. Well that all changed as a lone American Goldfinch wandered by and quickly took a liking to dried, but full of seeds, Coneflowers.
A little tribute to a good friend that we often hear singing from the junipers and shrubs which line the fields close by. Dark-eyed Juncos keep us company rain or shine and through wind and snow.
How did the Trump administration celebrate National Bird Day yesterday?
With yet another egregious action to destroy what remains of the natural world as we know it thats how.
Although this action is expected to be reversed by the incoming Biden administration the assaults on our natural world will continue.
Understated elegance.
That is how the overview page on All About Birds puts it and we wold have to agree. Gadwalls mix with other dabbling duck on the bodies of water we frequent and might be easy to overlook. We sometimes see them stealing food from diving duck and American Coots much like the American Wigeon will so there is more to Gadwall than that understated elegance suggests.
Light as air.
It’s the only explanation.
This girl just has it all a bit of sweetness mixed with that sassy hairdo. Hey guys what’s not to like here.
A female Hooded Merganser swimming in a small melted patch in an otherwise frozen pond.
A Belted Kingfisher perches above the river soaking up a bit of morning light.
The Rough-Legged Hawk is a resident in our area during the winter months as they breed in the Arctic and migrate south to the Northern United States and Southern Canada for winter. We usually see them soaring and sometimes hovering in the air hunting in a similar fashion to the much smaller American Kestrel. It was nice to see this one sitting still for a bit so we could get a nice look as like many hawks identification if difficult and something we are not very confident in.
It is always a bit shocking to see a Golden Eagle perched up high on a power pole. From some distance away you can notice those broad shoulders and instantly identify them. They are just so darn large.
We are lucky to always have a few Golden Eagles living nearby especially in the non-breeding season. Especially when the weather is mild like it has been so far this winter.
Golden eagles typically hunt small mammals including rabbits, ground squirrels, marmots and prairie dogs. Golden eagles are found from sea level to higher mountain regions but typically regions of open space such as grasslands, desert and high steppe regions. This Eagle was perched upon a power pole overlooking a large expanse of winter farmland waiting for the next meals to appear.
Usually the locals fly away before we even get the camera pointed out the car window but this day we were lucky as this Eagle allowed us a nice long look and several photos as well.
Reference:
Katzner, T. E., M. N. Kochert, K. Steenhof, C. L. McIntyre, E. H. Craig, and T. A. Miller (2020). Golden Eagle(Aquila chrysaetos), version 2.0. In Birds of the World (P. G. Rodewald and B. K. Keeney, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.goleag.02
A mountain Chickadee pauses in the junipers as the sun shines bright on what to now has been a much drier and warmer winter than usual. We suspect the snow will come and temperatures will drop but until then the birds are catching a break and we can all use a break from time to time.
nature has no boss 
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