This morning I heard a familiar but raspy cheer cheer cheer but without the expected pirdy pirdy pirdy. After another minute, though, there it was: a cardinal’s birdsong

I had only recently read how birds might lose their voice in winter, so this was kind of cool to hear the warm-up….

Some long-tailed ducks with their winter plumage taking off with their running start to get out of the water. #birds #birdphotography #winterbirding #birding

"Winter Song" is my new #painting about those bright winter days of lemon and pink skies, when the air is clear and cold, and the #birdsong rings louder than ever.

As well as the little robin belting out his sweet song, I've included other winter birds: fieldfare, waxwing, redwing, and (my favourites) starlings.

Thanks for looking.

As we finish a successful and fun #Christmas tour we reflect on how we also made time to admire some of the commoner but no less amazing wintering and resident species in #Extremadura with our guests!

Common Chiff-chaffs literally everywhere ! Crag Martins downtown and Griffon Vultures in the face !

Winter birding thing that I love:

Pine Warblers, which usually spend their time wayyyy up in the tall pine trees, come down low in the colder months to feed on seeds on the ground.

How do they make themselves feel more comfortable doing this? They flock together with the Bluebirds! So you get these lovely mixed flocks of little bright blue and bright yellow birds poking their heads up from the grass.

Just one of those really nice “animal calendar” moments

Belted Kingfisher

02-08-2023

American Crow

01-21-2023

If you're in Hamilton, Ontario area and enjoy counting birds -- we have three Christmas Bird Counts coming up next week. One for Hamilton, one for Flamborough, one for Saltfleet/Grimsby/Lincoln.

Sign up here: https://forms.gle/7NnHzV2qUt1z8HeE8