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Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Mystery Solved!

For the past few days I've been sitting on my couch enjoying the view and wondering about these little birds:












I have been watching these four little charcoal gray birds, enjoying their antics. Watching them flit, float, fleetly flee and fly (no reference to the song in The Sound of Music ...ahem) I have never seen them at our feeder previous to this year.

Until this morning, I have been unsuccessful in determining the species, but then finally found them after googling "gray finch Pennsylvania."

May I present - the Dark-Eyed Junco. A bird which summers in Canada and winters in the northern United States. I guess we'll be feeding these precious little birds all winter. They are typically ground foragers. Since our ground is presently covered with a foot or more of snow, I'm sure they're enjoying the seed in our feeder!

The following photos are not mine - I found them on the web - a closer view! Our birds are darker in color, especially the males.





I will have to research which type of seed they prefer and keep the feeder well-stocked for the winter! ....my new hobby...sitting on the couch, watching the Dark-Eyed Juncos!

2 comments:

Jada's Gigi said...

fun! we watch birds over the winter too...my mom loves it..so does J.

Pat said...

First..the view remains lovely at the state park.
We have this little bird up at our cottage. For a long time we too wondered what it was, we have several books that identify birds up there so Hal kept looking till he found it!
Bird watching from a recliner is a wonderful thing!