Powder Valley

This weekend, I went to Powder Valley nature center, since I heard that siskins and purple finches could be seen there. No purple finches for me, but the pine siskins looked great in the morning light.


There were also cardinals, blue jays, juncos, titmice, chickadees, downy, possibly hairy, and red-bellied woodpeckers, along with white-throated sparrows, mourning doves, goldfinches, and an unidentified hawk.




However, the real treat came at the end, when I was walking one of the trails. There was a medium sized brown bird that I followed for a long time (mostly off the trail) until I finally got a good look at it(most of the time it had its back to me). The tail-flicking and rusty wing and tail edges (I'm sure there is a taxonomically correct word for those; possibly coverts?) identified is as a Hermit Thrush, a new bird for me. To end with, here is a picture of a carolina wren I took a week or so ago. They will sit on this chair right beside the kitchen window before going to the feeders.