Winter Bluebirds

Eastern Bluebirds are regularly inspecting one of our two nest boxes. A few weeks earlier I had cleaned out this one after seeing the bluebirds enter them. They often emerged from the entrance to discard some of nesting material left over by the Tree Swallows which nested in it this past spring. I had let nature take its course and allowed the Tree Swallows to usurp the original occupants. The bluebirds had offered little or no resistance against the swallows, although they did occupy the second nest box.

Male Eastern Bluebird:

Female bluebird perched on lawn chair in early morning light:

Female at nest hole as male approached:

A pair of Pileated Woodpeckers appeared briefly in the adjacent woodlands. This is the male, distinguished by his red moustache:

Dark-eyed Juncos are now abundant:

A lone Common Grackle perched in view from the window. Although they are indeed "common," they prefer more open land to forage for seeds and insects:

A Turkey Vulture warmed its toes on a neighbor's chimney:

Window view of White-throated Sparrow gleaning under the feeders:

There have been a few snow flurries, but much rain. One morning, fog filled the valleys:

The western sky at sunrise:

Again, I need to reach into the archives to illustrate the reflection meme. These two Gray-headed Swamphens ponder their images (Pembroke Pines, Florida, October, 2014):

This week's header: Sky to west at sunrise, December 7, 2023:

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Linking to:

Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

Garden Affair

All Seasons

Image-in-ing

Nature Notes

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Wild Bird Wednesday

My Corner of the World
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Please visit the links to all these posts to see some excellent photos on display
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