Wearing his golden crown...

Golden-crowned kinglet (Regulus satrapa) - the first I've ever "successfully" photographed! I glanced out the window this morning and saw something flitting in the little pine trees next to our deck - so out I crept, Big Daddy clenched in my hand. And I was thrilled to find not one, but TWO GC Kinglets busy foraging in the tree. I had a hell of a time getting a photo - in part due to the distance and the dismal light conditions and in part because the little guys are just incredibly fast. I got a lot of empty frames and blurred images and two keepers out of about 30.

There is something quite distinctive about the way birds like kinglets and warblers feed by darting out of branches and gleaning insects in the air, or hanging upside down on a branch foraging. They are a tiny bird, only 4 inches (10 cm) in length, not much bigger than our hummingbirds. They eat insects, fruit and tree sap and are found in our area year-round. Which makes it sort of surprising that I rarely ever see them. Anyway, it had to be blipped.

And I can't find a RC Kinglet on the BlipBigYear list, so is it possible this is a first for the year?? Hard to imagine.

Marilyn Mockingbirds is perched right outside my office window as I type this, having had a bit of suet from the feeder that I keep there in winter. She is all puffed up, maybe bracing for the extreme cold weather headed our way this weekend?

Last year I was contending with all kinds of Squirrel's Union problems at this time, as some of you may recall. Amazing what a proliferation of wild nuts will do to the labor unrest amongst the rodents! Nary a squirrel has been seen near my feeders in several months, too busy gathering hickory nuts and acorns. It was unseasonably warm today so the chippies were out gathering nuts, too - very busy in the yard/woods!

There was a huge flock of robins and waxwings (several hundred is my best guess) on the Lane this morning - the sound of fall birdsong was amazing when I went out to get the paper. I really should have recorded it - maybe I'll think of that next time. Anyway, an hour later, they'd all moved on.

Several other shots from today on Flickr if you'd like to have a look.

House Finch Squared (and my second choice for a blip today)
One-note White-throat

Dinner tonight is curried cauliflower and potatoes, both from the local farm. Scratch that! Some friends just called and we are meeting them for Thai tonight instead - the curry will be perfect reheated tomorrow night. The perfect way to kick off the weekend!

I'm completely far behind in comments but hope to start getting caught up this weekend...

Have a great weekend!

xoxo
Debbo