Rarities!

First, the snow really did come, and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that we received a full eight inches in Estabrook Park. I know some locals are about as thrilled with it as the mourning dove looked yesterday, but I am very happy. Even better, temps were in the low teens, winds were light, and there was not a cloud in the sky, so I would have had to work at it to take a bad picture today. Even the mourning doves looked happier this morning, but I suppose that could simply be because they’ve found each other.

As for the rarities implied by the title, the grey catbird, whom I haven’t seen since the first of the month, and I haven’t been able to show you since January, finally put in an appearance. “Welcome back, Sweetie!”

Once again, I couldn’t find anything to photograph at the north end, even on a day like today, but the pond made up for it. Here’s a female northern cardinal sampling the sumac.

Here’s our young white-crowned sparrow, who ebird now considers to be a rarity, too. Woo hoo!

Not to be outdone, a dark-eyed junco also posed on the sumac and even managed to squeeze in some snow.

Finally, I am now sure that we have two hermit thrushes, one by the river, and a second one at the pond. I saw both this morning, and ebird now considers them to be rare as well. Here’s the one at the pond posing like a pro. I wonder if they know about each other.

Lastly, I saw several birds enjoying the fresh snow, and here’s a robin just about to take a big bite.