Winter Birds

There's not much happening in my January garden outdoors, so I've been taking a few photos of the birds that have been visiting my patio feeders. Most of these have been taken through my dining room window and doors and let me tell you, it is a real challenge to keep the glass clean and lint free, not to mention all the reflections. The first photo is one of my favorite birds, the black capped chickadee, always difficult to photograph because they're always on the go. They live here year round and sometimes I'm blessed to have them raise their family right in my backyard.

Next up is the most common BC bird-feeder visitor, the Junco. These birds like to eat seeds from the ground, helping to clean up the mess other birds leave behind.

Black Capped Chickadee

Junco

Pine Siskin

Sometimes I get large flocks of these little finches called Pine Siskins, and boy can they empty a feeder fast! One day I counted 30 on my patio.

Another one of my favorites are the Anna's hummingbirds that live here year round. I don't see much of them in the summer, but two little females come by regularly in the winter, about every 15 minutes or so. They don't like to share, and chase each other off whenever they both show up at the same time. One day last week I was blessed to have a male come by. I grabbed my camera real quick and took a photo even though I was several feet away from the window. It's also interesting to see how different their feathers look in the sun compared to in the shade.

Anna's Hummingbird

In the Sun

The Male Anna's Hummingbird

House Finch male

Here is a male house finch at the sunflower feeder. They sing a lovely song in the spring.

Below is a small flock of bushtits hanging from my suet feeder. Feeding upside down is no problem for these little acrobats.  The females have yellow eyes. 

Bushtits

Stellers Jay

The pretty blue Steller's Jays still come around to collect their peanuts.

Finally Winter

Winter finally arrived in Southwest BC last week, and along with it snow, wind, and cold weather. I brought my container grown pieris  in to the garage, and tucked up my other containers right next to my patio doors. I hung the hummingbird feeder on the butterfly bush's  branches, only a few inches from the door. I have been bringing in the feeder at night, but even so the nectar has needed thawing out during the day. The cold weather has brought a large number of birds to my feeders, so I have been busy taking pictures of them all. I was really surprised to have a varied thrush visit my feeders for the first time.  He's a cute fellow even if he is a bit of a bully.

Pine Siskins

New Visitor, the Varied Thrush

Anna's Hummingbird carefully guarding the nearby feeder

Anna's Hummingbird

Varied Thrush

Song Sparrow

Junco in Pink Dawn Viburnum

Junco sitting on my sad looking pansies

Junco trying to stay warm

House Finch