We're going that-a-way...

Sometimes the blips just find me, like today. It was shaping up to be another cardinal blip (I got one doing the hokey-pokey which you don't see just every day) but then it started snowing and the juncos showed up, en masse. And it reminded me that they will be leaving to head north very, very soon so best blip 'em while I can.

This is a male junco and I honestly don't know what he was doing. He stood on the railing of the deck and tipped his head back, opened his beak and starting fluttering his wings, exactly the way a fledgling would do if begging for food. I don't know if it is perhaps some sort of early breeding display or if he is a first-year youngster who just lost his head for a moment, or if maybe it was some sort of defensive display. Whatever the case, I had the camera firing continuously and this was my favorite of all the shots. Looks like he's telling someone to get out, doesn't it? Or maybe pointing north, making sure everyone knows which way to migrate...

A few other shots I liked on Flickr...

A female dark-eyed junco - notice how much more brown she has than the male I've blipped

blue jay, the ultimate grab-n-go artist

blue jay giving some corn the stink-eye

House finch, showing off his colors

Thanks for sending my pileated woodpeckers to the Spotlight page today. That was such a thrill to see the two of them yesterday. The only other time I've ever seen two together was last summer when I was with Sue, Journey Through Time and two pileateds landed right above us at Ridgefield NWR! We were both so excited, it was a miracle we didn't drop our cameras!

We are having another spring snow - forecast is sketchy so we'll either wake up to a dusting or a half a foot of the stuff. Hoping the former as Hubs has to drive to the airport for a trip early tomorrow.

xxoo
Debbi