Backyard wildlife

The mild winter (so far) means that my backyard bird feeders have seen very little activity.  We have the usual suspects visiting on a semi-regular basis: nuthatches, goldfinches, sparrows, house finches, downy woodpeckers, cardinals, chickadees, etc.. The most exotic birds to visit the feeders have been a pair of Pine Siskins - which seem to be rare in the state right now.

The most dedicated visitor to our feeders?

We have a group of three to five (or more) Fox Squirrels that spend a lot of time depleting our supply of sunflower seeds.  I don't worry too much about them.  They need to eat just like the birds and so far we have only bought a single bag of sunflower seeds this season. 

Backyard Bird Watching

I am currently home sick with a horrible head cold.  That doesn't mean that I am completely separated from all things natural.  The backyard is full of birds (and squirrels) gorging on sunflower seeds.  We have recently had a huge flock of mixed finches (American Goldfinches, House Finches, and Pine Siskins) attending to our feeders.  A few of them are shown in the pictures below, along with at least one Downy Woodpecker and a Fox Squirrel.