Last weekend's Newfane Heritage Festival (I had responsibility, with help, for the 90 exhibitors) was a tremendous success - absolutely glorious October weather, wonderful crowds, great exhibitors, friendly people!!
The last week I have been recovering and catching up. A brief visit to Putney Mountain Hawk Watch (which also had a great weekend) yielded a few hawks and wonderful panoramas of the colors splashed across our ancient hills and mountains.
Birdwatching has been limited to the kitchen window. Still about a dozen Evening Grosbeaks coming around, plenty of Purple Finches, and abundant American Goldfinches - awaiting Pine Siskins which have been reported in the area. And of course, the usual resident tits, corvids, doves, etc. The number of sparrows is the largest in several years, with Chipping, Song, White-throated, and White-crowned present in various morphs, ages, and molts. (One Chipping, for example, has a distinct white collar.)
When I have traveled in the West in the winter, White-crowned Sparrows have been very common to abundant. But in my area, they are Spring and Fall migrants, sometimes sneaking through almost unnoticed. So when they appear at the feeders, I welcome their handsome elegance.
I usually post my column on Saturday morning. I am still catching up. It'll be along soon. Thanks again to all who stop by and have rolled the counter over 100,000.
I hope to catch up with comments, replies, and blog reading soon.
Good birding!
I'm pleased to say that at least 1000 of those hits are mine!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the colors have recovered. I was in Brat the two weekends prior to the Newfane Festival. The weekend before the color was washed away by the storm.
Vermont in the fall is a special place. Congratulations on your milestone!
another great post and congrats on the 100K mark, that is pretty neat.
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Great photos Chris-like the White-crowned Sparrow photo-they're hard to get around here.I'm pretty sure I saw a couple of Siskins at my feeder yesterday but they moved on before I had a closer look.
ReplyDeleteI plan to be right with you when you achieve the next 100,000. You have an exceptional blog -- barbara
ReplyDeleteGreat post again!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you had a lot of fun with the fare and your helping!
I love the colourful mountainous trees! It is starting to look like this here too!
Sparrows are declining in France in many regions but we can still see them in some small towns picking insects on car plates! quite funny!
Congrats for the 100.000 milestone!!
Cheers, Chris!
Congratulations, Chris, on the milestone! We had fun at the Newfane fair, good to mingle with happy crowds. We are one bird closer to winter: the first Junco showed up at our feeder.
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