WINTER COLOR

It was almost the end of December but there was still Autumn-like weather on our last  "Covid-country-drive" of the infamous year just  over.  Sunshine turned the willows to amber and the blue sky made a beautiful backdrop for hundreds and hundreds of Canada Geese.

 

And we spotted the handsome raptor below while we were admiring the fields.  

 

 

 My extensive research  comparison with pictures on the Internet leads me to think this may be an immature Cooper's Hawk.  ( It has a yellow eye.)   But as always I am open to  help. 

I have learned so much  from fellow bloggers who are real birders and I am so grateful.  Back in September I posted the pictures below without any idea of what these little acrobats were.  Thank you so much to all of the bloggers who told me in their comments that they were Bushtits.  

 

Bushtits 2020, our daughters and son-in-laws' backyard.

 So this was new bird for me — and one I hope to see again so that maybe I can identify it "all by myself."   I'm pretty sure they were just migrating through the area when we spotted them.

Coming back now to the present day (or at least closer to it), the gray backdrop on the  collage below is more typical of what our skies have been like since that day in the country at the start of this post.

 

 

All of these birds (and more) were spotted along what I call the path to the path — it's a neighborhood walkway behind our apartment complex that meets the river-bank path I show quite often.     Since the trees and bushes are bare now, I  see more small birds along this section — house finches, chickadees, juncos, and towhees (not pictured).   And the neighborhood pair of mallards is hanging out in the back channel almost every time.  

 

 

It's a different Winter season for us, but there is still a little color in our world and still some closer-to-home explorations waiting to happen.   We are grateful.

 

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