Found some first of winter species feeding yesterday afternoon during a freezing rain not far from the lake. Their numbers are low this year at my traditional sighting location near home.

How many species can you birders find, and can you name them?

Jonathan

Larkspur?

I think I see three.
Horned lark
Lark sparrow
Snow bunting

You guys did pretty well. The two birds to the left in the first photo are Snow Buntings

Here is a close-up of a Lapland Longspur (left) and a Horned Lark.




Jonathan

We get snow buntings and horned larks here. The snow buntings often fly in a loose gaggle of maybe 50 birds, especially when snowing and blowing.
Horned larks also hang along the shoulder of the road after the grader scrapes it clean.

Coonlove, Thank you for your comments. The same is true.

Today at the location I worked yesterday, a pair of Red-tailed Hawks was preying on the Horned Larks picking gravel on the shoulder of the road.

Jonathan



Video
https://flic.kr/p/23doJny

Jonathon, caught this guy on the barn roof this evening.

Wish my head could swivel around backwards like that.

Are the darker snowys young ones, some are lil bit dark, some all white

If I recall, the all white ones are male and the females and juveniles are mottled. I have seen some heavily mottled, some barely mottled and some white as a snowbank.

Had a snow day here last week and my yard was full of Eastern Bluebirds, couple hundred maybe. Don't know if they are slow going south or way early going north but highly unusual here in February.

I haven't been out and about much this winter to spot any Snowys, but my daughter has seen some. We get lots of the L. Longspurs with the Snow Buntings too, you just have to look close. You will find the H. Larks in most open areas like fields, especially those that have a lot of dirt showing through the snow. They are year around in most of the farmland south of me.

Had this Barred Owl hanging around all spring - now he's back and have seen him a number of time on his "perch" looking for field mice.

Here is a winter snow bird. They love carcass fats and I have put out coonfat up high for them. I have recently buttoned up my chicken coop to keep them out of there and that is where I found this one.

I have no idea what they are though. They can survive 30 below up here.

They look dead, didn't survive? Looks a little bit like a starling but different

Here’s one from a Snowbird living on the Gulf, not a rare sight at all.

Les, That doesn't look like a woodpecker, unless it was since you saw it as "a bird in hand". The bill appears too long and narrow to be a woodpecker. Any chance it might be a shorebird?

Jonathan

Looks like a starling, Les ?

Nice shots shared by everyone -thank you .

I don't know my starlings I guess. I found it dead in the coop, and have since shored up the holes in the exterior. I wondered if it was a starling though. These birds wont stand for a photo shoot, and fly away from suet at the sign of a shadow in a window. Very messy too.

That bird layed in the back of my pickup for a month as I was to attempt to get a positive ID. Starlings aren't protected here either, not that I would shoot in town, lol. People don't like them, I hear .