WINTER IS BACK!


Male Dark-eyed Junco

…and with it several dozen birds I thought had moved further north already. A fresh layer of snow, about 2 -3 inches, covered everything up last night and made our first Schneeglöckchen (snow bells) disappear again. :-(

During the last eleven winters I lived here in Iowa we learned that winter is not over as long we see the Dark-eyed Juncos. Here in Eastern Iowa we see the slate-colored form of this sparrow during the cold season. Their breeding grounds are up in Canada and usually they take off as soon the days get warmer. Well, today there were lots of them below our feeders and in the trees around, and that means nothing but winter is not over yet… ;-)