We’re Here, Birdwatching

We’re still unpacking boxes, and not the kind that can go down into the basement without being opened. We’re still considering bids for several major appliance changes, like the new boiler, insulation, and a good wood stove. We’ve taken our first stabs at composting and are battling swarms of small, black flies. We’ve assembled the sofa. We’ve had a dinner party in our new dining room: all of us around the table, good friends, fantastic food off the grill and several bottles of white wine and many more topics of conversation. And toasting.

Es gut.

And I’ve taken time to sit in our living room and stare out at the bird feeders, and to take pictures. I know it’s not quite what real birders do, but it’s the only way I know I will learn to recognize the most important species.

And here are some of them:

1 At the birdfeeder (c) Katrien Vander Straeten 2 dscf2748.jpg

3 At the birdfeeder (c) Katrien Vander Straeten

4 At the birdfeeder (c) Katrien Vander Straeten

5 At the birdfeeder (c) Katrien Vander Straeten

6 At the birdfeeder (c) Katrien Vander Straeten

7 At the birdfeeder (c) Katrien Vander Straeten

8At the birdfeeder (c) Katrien Vander Straeten

9 At the birdfeeder (c) Katrien Vander Straeten

10. At the birdfeeder (c) Katrien Vander Straeten

As for identification, I’m going to need some help with some of them:

(1) Adult male House Finch (2) same Finch and adult male yellow variant (?)

(3) American Crow

(4) Tufted Titmouse

(5) Juvenile Common Grackle (?)

(6) Adult female Red Cardinal

(7) Adult female American Goldfinch

(8) Adult male American Goldfinch

(9) (?)

(10) Woodpecker (Downy, right?) and Titmouse

The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America (c) David Allen Sibley, Knopf

I use Sibley’s Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America. I am sorta obligated to, because Mr. David Allen Sibley lives in the town over, but I like the book a lot: beautiful illustrations, little maps indicating the ranges, some information on habits and on voice.

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1 Comment

  1. I can’t believe you live near Sibley! Cool. I think that it’s a chickadee but I’ll ask Gillen to help out – he is much better at this – when he comes home tomorrow.

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