Winter time is such a special time at the river. With the leaves mostly fallen, the ground littered with still-yellowed leaves, the air cool and the water freezing. My favorite part about this season is the visibility of the birds without all those leaves hiding them. The Ruby Crowned Kinglet is busy and flashing its pretty ruby-head.
The “Common” Yellowthroat, which is such a delight to see (sneaky looking black mask and yellow chin, not so very common to see). The Red-Winged Blackbirds have all gathered together for the over-wintering. The Starlings, high up in the trees notify me of whenever the Cooper’s Hawk comes by. The Great Blue Herons seem to hang out more in the fields hunting the gophers right now instead of the river – not sure why that is. Unfortunately I’m way too slow at pulling out my camera to capture them, but I found some online for you.
By Dan Pancamo – Flickr: Common Yellowthroat, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14954421
So many mysteries out there, so many reasons to sit quietly by the river. If only I could convince Strider of that!
Beavers have been busy, too. Everywhere I look new fresh chews!
