This Week at Nixon Park - November 1-7
This is the week that autumn began looking a little more like winter. The thermometer fell below freezing here for the first time since last April, the wind strengthened and stripped many tress of their fall colors, the shadows are steadily lengthening as the sun tracks lower in the sky.
Winter is Red Squirrel season, two different Red Squirrels keep a wary distance from prying eyes.
The winter birds have settled in. The first is a Yellow-rumped Warbler (I've seen them in some numbers), next is a House Finch spotted drinking from the pond. The Dark-eyed Juncos are back to comb through the thickets until spring. Song Sparrows are year-round residents but join the herds of birds scouring the woods, as do Purple Finches who like this female eyeing the rose hips.
The Woodpeckers have been around all summer, but they are much easier to spot in the winter when the leaves are off. Red-bellied Woodpeckers are especially numerous and noisy this time of year, this one is caching an acorn. Downy and Hairy woodpeckers can be tough to tell apart. The first pictured is a Downy, the second with the longer beak is a Hairy. I've yet to spot a Pileated Woodpecker this fall and I am waiting to get a good picture of the other two that call the park home - the Northern Flicker and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
As always the usual suspects are accounted for: Cedar Waxwing, Blue Jay, Turkey Vulture, Bluebird and White-breasted Nuthatch.
