More Winter Birds

I spent 3 hours birding the neighborhood in the quiet fog this morning. I enjoyed seeing some bright red Virginia Creeper on a few trees, one of our only examples of fall color so far. I covered some of the streets between my house and the T&C Playing Fields, and birded Lake Creek Trail between the footbridge and the parking lot at Braes Valley. At the corner of Chester Forest and Stillforest I found this first-year Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. (The light was low so the picture is not very good.) The bird let me get quite close and I could see that it was working on a row of existing sapsucker holes in the tree trunk. Sapsuckers create rows of holes like this and drink the sap that oozes out. (They also eat insects.) Once you know what they look like it's amazing how many sapsucker holes you can find on trees. Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are newly returned winter residents here.

Our newly returned Ruby-crowned Kinglets were numerous this morning. I found one mixed species foraging flock on Stillforest that had 15-20 of these birds in it. And for the first time this fall Yellow-rumped Warblers were easy to find and see. I saw 12 this morning, mostly by the creek where I watched some of them eating Poison Ivy berries. I got this picture of one bird near Holbrook Trail.

While I was walking back home on Broadmeade, 2 American Goldfinches flew over me making their soft distinctive call. These were the first I've seen this season.