We Again Interrupt This Program...

As a famous woman named Dorothy once said, "There's no place like home."  So you might have guessed that I'm again interrupting the Panama/Cost Rica trip for some birds I photographed in our yard a couple of days ago.  I considered it a banner day, not only because of what I photographed but because of the quality of the photographs.  These images cost me about two hours of sitting in the cold trying to keep my fingers viable for operating the camera. 

Here we have a male Hairy woodpecker...

This is a photo of a female Downy woodpecker.   These two woodpecker species are virtually identical but for two factors... the Hairy is larger and the Hairy's bill is considerably longer and perhaps stouter than the Downy's. 

This is our beloved White-throated sparrow that has been in our yard off and on for the past 2-3 weeks.  It was a new yard bird when it first reported to the yard!  I'm going to miss it dearly when it finally leaves! 

This is a male House finch, a common bird but this photo shows not only the color on the head but also the red patch on the rump which is often hidden beneath the bird's wings. 

This is a female Varied thrush that has been with us for the past three weeks or so.  While we often have both sexes here in the winter, especially in colder weather or snow, the male has not been a regular visitor lately.  Thrushes (which include the American robin) are primarily insect and berry eaters.  This female seems very content to eat the sunflower seeds that fall from the feeder.

Finally, what must be a male Spotted towhee.  These birds are with us year-round but it's sometimes difficult to get good photos of them since they generally prefer the interior of brush piles or thickets and when out of that environment they are fairly active.  I managed at least a dozen very good photos of this towhee while it was touring our brush pile.