Monday, January 07, 2013

Summer visitor in January

I'm home sick with the flu, which really sucks. I'm feeling quite sorry for myself, actually, since this is Day 5 of feeling like crud. The good thing, though, is that I was sitting on the couch and I heard a strange bird call outside, so I decided to check it out. There, in our hopper feeder, sat a male Northern Flicker.

It's so strange. We've got winter birds everywhere - Redpolls (yes, still), Juncos, American Tree Sparrows, as well as year-round visitors like Goldfinches, Blue Jays, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpeckers, and far too many Mourning Doves (seriously, they're pretty birds, but they're horrible feeder hogs). And all of a sudden this Flicker shows up. I know it's not completely out of the ordinary for them to stick around for some of the winter, but this is the first I've seen outside of April - September.