Snow Bunting Row
These Snow Buntings are all lined up and ready to launch to the north soon as they continue to molt into a brighter, whiter snowy color every day. Birds are getting their feathers set for spring and to look their best when finding a mate. What does this arrangement on the roof look like to you? Caption it!
Read MoreSnow Buntings
It is early enough in the avian wintering season that both the earth and the birds – in this case, Snow Buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis) – are brown. We do not have a solid snow cover yet, and it is amazing how well this plumage is designed to help them blend in to the ground. The Snow Bunting camouflage looks like brown grass and, somehow, a rocky, sandy and rough earth, with their wings showing off the darker pattern of what the tundra and short grasslands look like now. Notice how well these birds keep themselves just off the surface even while engaged in feeding, hiding their...
Read MoreWhite-throated Sparrows massing and feeding
White-throated Sparrows have arrived in tremendous numbers across the region, ready to eat you out of house and home all winter long! Before then, while the grass and earth is still exposed, without being snow-covered or frozen, they can feast on more natural meals. I took a bunch of photos of a few individuals in a group feeding on the lawn last week. There would not be much to chow down on if this were uniformly treated bright, green grass, one species that was chemically induced to look like the perfect lawn. These monocultures are taking up valuable habitat real estate and often consist...
Read MoreRed Admiral butterfly and neonicotinoids
Please be mindful of what you’re using in your yard or garden and keep bees, birds and butterflies like this Red Admiral in mind. I have seen a lot of needless and costly spraying of various chemicals by residents, commercial operations and municipalities all over the Northeast this spring and summer. Most folks do not know what they are using could be killing so many other forms of life besides the weeds they’re targeting and probably hurting themselves in the process. Neonicotinoids need to go!
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