Sunday Afternoon

After days of rather dreary weather, it finally cleared this afternoon. We attended the Brattleboro Literary Festival in the early afternoon, went for early Sunday dinner, then home - where the afternoon sunlight through the fall foliage was wonderful.

The yard has been especially busy with woodpeckers - multiples of Downy Woodpeckers, at least one pair of Hairy Woodpeckers - and others that are, or soon will be, migrating. There have been several Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers working the trees; most likely they are young. This one is certainly a juvenile with just flecks of the red cap and red chin beginning to appear ...

Norther Flickers (yellow-shafted) are flying through the yard constantly. They are feeding heavily on the berries of the many viburnum that my favorite companion has planted throughout the yard. They are very skittish, and it was sheer luck that the camera focused quickly on this one ...

There were few migrating songbirds present. However, I did coax this Ruby-crowned Kinglet down - every so briefly - from the crown of the apple tree where it was feeding (note the broken white eye-ring) ...

I have to include one of the birds that does not fly south. The White-breasted Nuthatch helps lighten the short December days and warm the cold January days, and I salute him/her, even though many seeds were tossed out before one was chosen ...

And finally, just a touch of the autumn colors that are coming to their peak ...

Good birding!