Festive Song Sparrow
This is one festive Song Sparrow…even though it didn’t know it. The reds and greens in the background are Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans) that can linger through the fall and into the winter, providing very late nectar for anything that needs it.
Read MoreRed Fox
I had not seen any Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) friends for a while, but this one is clearly as healthy as any can be and looking great. Take a look at that exquisite coat with no sign of mange and no visible injuries to the animal. That in itself is very rare to see in a Red Fox, and without knowing too much I would hazard a guess that this is one of the pups born last year. It spotted me before I spotted it – per usual – and when I stopped it stopped and relaxed. I really do think they know “who” we are, like any dog would after a while, and it knew I was only going to...
Read MoreEastern Towhee
Have you had an Eastern Towhee in your yard yet this spring? They seem to be here, there and everywhere that they should be – feeding stations to shrubs to forest edges. This male was watching me and occasionally telling me to drink my tea. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreRed Fox
This Red Fox is one of the kits that I enjoyed watching grow up before our eyes last spring. It is not doing so well now, and is probably one of the two that I saw had returned to their natal den at the beginning of the winter when things got tough outside. Both had some mange and looked rather thin. This individual has been hunting and stalking prey, still engaged at feeding regularly and apparently doing enough to keep itself going. While its tail has little to no fur left and it is patchy throughout the body at least the days are getting warmer and the sun is getting stronger. This...
Read MoreFlicker Feather
This feather is another find from exploring the outdoors this weekend with my dog Zach. The number of birds with long yellow feathers around in the autumn or winter seasons is relatively short, and it looks like a Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus). Roger Tory Peterson saw this brilliant flash of gold in a flicker’s wings and it helped inspire him to change the world. What always makes me use my imagination is thinking about seeing a deep red explosion coming from a Northern Flicker bursting from the ground. The red-shafted forms fill the American west, and someday I hope to go see...
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