A mini-murmuration!

Well, that is not really accurate .. but there were 25 or so vultures congregating in the woods behind our house, as well as the neighbor's deck railing (yea, tell me that's not freaky!) It was very cold this morning and the vultures were perched in the sun, warming up. I know that many people don't care for vultures, but I like them - for one thing, they clean up road-kill and other messy things. And for another thing, they are just amazing when they soar and glide overhead accompanied by a gentle whoosh of wings. It's freaking magic.

This shot was my favorite of the morning - I loved that I got two in a frame, and one in flight. Accomplishes my mission of capturing birds in flight this week.

I was also very excited to see two common redpolls (carduelis flammea) when I checked the feeders this morning. This one let me approach within about 10 feet which was pretty cool. This is considered to be an irruptive year in our area for redpolls so it is a treat to have them here. I will, hopefully, be blipping one soon. Also found a blue jay in th eChristmas tree that we put out on the deck after the de-decoration (too snowy to haul it into the woods right now.) Based on this, I'll be leaving it on the deck for awhile - good for photo ops! And here is my other in-flight contender for today, a blue jay in all his splendor.

Last year's blip was reflective Phoebe...

Thank you so very much for all the lovely comments on my woodpecker yesterday - so glad you liked him. Didn't see him this morning, but I'm sure he'll be back as they tend to stay in a specific territory year-round.

Hoping everyone's year is off to a great start! Lots of wonderful blips out there - really enjoyed catching up last night. Hubs is still off (yay) so we are going to head out shortly for some errands and than a hike in the woods (brrrr).

See you later!

xxoo
Debbi