A Sunday, Snowy, Sampling

A quick look at the what was hanging out at our backyard bird feeder a couple of weeks back, yesterday Sunday. The Goldfinch are beginning to take back their yellow feathers. The male House Finch stands in contrast with his red-color coat - he never lost it for the winter. The White-capped Sparrow stands incognito - its brown coat blending into the barberry branches and thorns that have been left bare for the winter, and the white cap, the perfect camoflague, that matches the small patches of snow caught in the shurb; the Hairy Woodpecker has adapted to picking the fine seeds from the artificial bark that the finch-feeder-mesh can substitute for the house siding in summer on a humid lake; and the frame of that large brute, the Northern Flicker, that comes and goes where it wants, hammering like a power tool on the metal rain gutters, sounding like a construction project on an otherwise quiet Sunday morning.

American Goldfinch and friends

House Finch

White-capped Sparrow

Hairy Woodpecker

Northern Flicker