Thursday, October 30, 2014

Waiting for Halloween and juncos


I’m calling today’s photo my Halloween picture.  The colors are Halloween-ish, and the trees that are bare are like gnarled hands reaching towards the sky.  The weather is appropriately like Halloween, too. Clouds of all colors between white and gray race across the sky, accompanied by a blustery wind. It’s the kind of weather that brings the Rough-legged Hawks and Golden Eagles south.

Oddly, though, I have yet to see a junco.  For a while I blamed this on a busy schedule, the late dawn and early sunset. I don’t think that’s the entire story. I’ve been as diligent as I ever am in awaiting the arrival of these northern snowbirds, and I haven’t seen any yet.  I am hoping the ever-dropping temperature that’s a result of the latest cold front will bring them.  I don’t think I’ve ever gone into November without finding them. 

A few times, I thought perhaps I had seen one, with their familiar white outer tail feathers, but when I got closer or got a better look, either the birds had vanished or it had turned out to be a trick of the light.  So I remain junco-less here on the mountain for today.  I still have one more day to find them before Halloween arrives and October ends.

4 comments:

Scott said...

Carolyn;

Kali and I went for a walk in my preserve on Tuesday evening before dinner and we saw plenty of juncos--the first time for us this fall. Maybe all yours are further to the east--for now!

I always like to tease Kali about the arrival of juncos because, for her, that means winter is not far off, and she hates winter.

Sharkbytes said...

they're hee-e-e-ere

Pablo said...

Now that I consider it, I don't think I've seen any juncos at my Kansas City feeder yet either.

Carolyn H said...

Juncos finally arrived! I saw a flock of 20 on Halloween day. Looks as though they all came at once, instead of in onesies and twosies.