Dim, warmer, wet and breezy. Highs in the low 40s.
Temperatures warmed sufficiently and enough rain fell that main roads which had seen reasonable traffic were clear of ice. This was not true for sidewalks and less traveled roads, even where they had been plowed.
Over the past week, two different people mentioned that juncos don’t seem to eat the sunflower seeds in the bird seed mix they put out. I was surprised, since we generally only put out sunflower seeds and have always had plenty of juncos coming and eating.
Connor replenished the feeder recently, and in addition to the juncos, a Northern Flicker visited the feeder. While in the feeder it seemed to scatter seeds out and about. Connor said there were many more out on the snow/ground than he had put spread. A little later the flicker had gone to the ground, so maybe that’s what it prefers.
I ventured out a bit further this afternoon. I saw the coot at Swan Lake but not the Wood Ducks.
On my first stop at Moller I did not see any birds. I didn’t venture over to where I could look at the track due to the ice on the parking lot.
At Sealing Cove I saw a tan-striped White-throated Sparrow and American Tree Sparrow in addition to the White-crowned Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos I’ve been seeing.
When I returned to Moller, there were some juncos a Golden-crowned Sparrow, and a Lincoln’s Sparrow in the thicket. The Sandhill Crane was also probing just inside the edge of the salmonberries where there wasn’t any snow. It did not seem very comfortable trying to push through the salmonberry canes, and only really stuck its head in a bit without trying to move in further.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
