Brownton's First Snowfall - 21 Nov 2015

With 2-4" of snow expected during the day today it was nice to sit in the Sunroom here at Brownton Abbey and watch the Dark-eyed Juncos, American Goldfinches, House Finches, Northern Cardinals and Mourning Doves empty the feeders. You could tell that they were expecting inclement weather...

I was happy to see the American Tree Sparrow make an appearance. I saw my first one of the winter just 2 days ago. Also, the Red-bellied Woodpecker made an appearance.

Here's a super slow-motion video of the Red-bellied Woodpecker pecking at some suet. It is a 3-second capture taken at 400 frames per second and played back over a 40-second time span.

Not to be outdone, my Golden-crowned Sparrow made a brief, 1 minute appearance before leaving the scene with a White-throated Sparrow that it appears to be hanging with. I've not seen the GCSP in almost a month, so I was happily surprised that its still in the area. I can guess that it will now stick around the entire winter as long as there is a food supply.

I'm not overly thrilled w/ my image quality, but low light, snow and shooting through the window did have a tendency to reduce sharpness by a factor of "significantly".

By morning approximately 4" of snow had fallen. The neighborhood looked stunning! Blue skies, and wet snow blanketed every limb and the ground, giving us a wonderland I hadn't seen in years.

I had to clean the feeders to remove ice and snow, and the birds appreciated it! They swarmed the ground and feeders all day long. Dozens of Juncos, three American Tree Sparrows, and a half-dozen Northern Cardinals made the day a fun one to watch.

Brownton Abbey, 26340 Higgins Way, Wayne, Michigan, US
Nov 21, 2015 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Protocol: Stationary
Checklist Comments:     1st snowfall of winter here in Brownstown. Saw the Golden-crowned Sparrow for about 30 seconds before it flew off, being flushed by the flock of Juncos, Cardinals, House Finches, and Mourning Dove. Got a poor, but identifiable image of the bird from back.
11 species

Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens)  1
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)  3
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)  12
House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)  6
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)  8
Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)  6
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)  1     immature / 1st winter bird
Golden-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla)  1     Previously observed and photographed in the yard, the bird returned for only about 30 seconds before being flushed by other birds. Yellow forehead and dark patches on forehead differentiated it from immature White-crowned Sparrow. Note the
White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)  1
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)  1
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)  4

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S26415446

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)