Tomorrow the groundhog will emerge to tell us how much winter remains. Well, we have hardly had a winter yet! I honestly do not remember a winter like this, at least since I have been birding. The backyard feeders have been virtually unused all winter and the woodlots are quiet.
It has certainly been the quietest winter since the 1980's when I started looking at birds. Not sure what to make of it....
The Mountain Bluebird near Shetland was still around yesterday. There has been some discussion as what exactly this bird is. It is not the typical (gray) adult female for sure. It has lots of extra blue on its face and head. It does show a hint of rufous on the breast. There is such thing as a rufous adult female as depicted in the Sibley guide. There has even been talk of it being an immature male. From what I read the young male should be all blue by now. Maybe there are exceptions, but I do not know enough about them. Hopefully more information will come to light.
There are several photos on the OFO photo page of this bird from the west. Allen Woodliffe had kindly sent me one of his photos.
photo by P. Allen Woodliffe
Blake, the groundhog is not worried about seeing his shadow, but rather, heat exhaustion!
ReplyDeleteI have viewed the Mountain Bluebird near Shetland on several occasions (actually 4 separate times) and each time it struck me that it seemed much to "blue" to be a female. Maybe it is just this easterm climate that has turned it so blue.
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