Bird News.

3-30-16 SHORT HILLS: We had some rain a few days ago followed by high winds that lasted two days. The trees tops were dancing around and whacking each other. In the yard branches were raining down, some fairly large, and some are still hanging in the trees. I was afraid to be outside in the branch storm, and so I missed a workday. Today I was again doing pruning and trimming. I keep thinking that I’m almost done, but then find a spot I forgot to do. Some of the trimming I have to defer until the leaves are fully out to determine what is dead and what is alive.

The feeders have been SRO and have needed refilling almost every day. Since I was trapped inside yesterday, I took bird pix. There was nobody unusual at the feeder, but when I was outside for short periods during the day I saw a pair of raptors making big circles high in the sky. They were around several times. I assumed they were our usual red-tailed hawks, but I didn’t see that red tail color. Color can be hard to see when the birds are high and silhouetted against the sky.

In the late afternoon I saw one of them for the third or fourth time facing into the west wind and just hanging out in one spot, letting the wind do the flying. He/she was facing into the sun, and I could see an all white head from a couple different angles as the bird began to move. They were eagles, but I didn’t have a camera, so no pix. I looked for them a lot today, but no more raptors.

New blooms: daffodil, pear, Yoshino cherry, squill.


Daffodil says spring.

Flowering pear is the first of the fruit trees to bloom.

House finches are here in a flock of a dozen or so.

Nuthatch are usually perched on tree trunks upside down.

Ms. Cardinal out without the hubby.

Red-wing blackbirds visit in the spring and fall on their way back and forth.