I feel like a broken record… but incase you missed it – we are having a VERY snowy winter!!! So its not really a surprise that we’ve seen A LOT of snowbirds this winter… aka the Juncos.

Sun or cloud, wind or snow, at any given time, on any given day, there are between 10 to 30 juncos in the yard and around the feeders. This is the first time that I’ve noticed that there’s a difference between the male and female birds, with the female birds being lighter and just a touch brown.

I’m terrified one of the cats is going to bring one in any day now, because they love to hop in and out of the catio, even though I got rid of the coneflower seeds heads in there so they wouldn’t be tempted. They just love to hop along the snow drifts.

The Mourning Doves are back too… I don’t think they actually leave, but I don’t tend to seem them in January/December for some reason.

There’s something very elegant about them. And they almost always hang out in pairs.

Another regular visitor are the Starlings.

I know many consider them pests, and they can be bullies at the feeder, but I love their speckled feathers.

I love their calls too. Our first winter here, we had them nesting in our attic, and you could hear them through the ceiling. I made Dave wait until the babies fledged in spring before evicting them and boarding up their access. They seemed to have moved into the neighbours next door, so we see them around a lot, though I don’t often get pictures. Fun fact: Starlings have blue eggs, very similar to Robins.

And of course, my army of Jays are about as long as their are peanuts in the ring.

It’s always a delight to watch my bold, brash blue friends.