Watching the birds is a wonderful daily fascination for us. As the seasons change, so often does the bird species that visit and feed here. It is only during the winter months when we get to view Cardinals daily.
Chickadees are all season visitors. the
Bluejays seem to disappear during the summer months but they are here in full force daily during these cold winter days. Also we most often have
Nuthatches daily, both the
White-breasted and the
Red-bellied and the Red bellied. Woodpeckers seem to be quite scarce this winter, but we used to often have the
Hairy Woodpecker and its little look alike cousin, the
Downy
almost daily during winters. We have not seen any Juncos this winter, which is surprising as often with a fresh sprinkling of snow we could predict the arrival of little
Juncos.
This winter we have experienced visits from
Common Redpolls which seemed to be missing from Bird Alley during the past two winters. And I have a tendency to forget to mention
American Goldfinch which are not here daily but frequently. We have not seen any little`` finch cousins, the
Pine Siskins yet this winter. And also missing is my favourite little northern sparrow, the Tree Sparrows. Last winter I saw a Tree Sparrow only once in Bird Alley and that was at the end of the winter or early spring. Starlings
are seen occasionally but not often. Crows
of course are daily visitors feeding on food scraps thrown in the driveway for them to feed on.