Tag Archives: dark eyed junco

Ghosts of Atlanta Christmas Pasts

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For years Brett and I made the trip to Atlanta over Christmas to visit his family. We had lived there for years and it was like going home. The first pictures I could find from those trips was in 2009. We were heading into the city and I noticed the Peachtree Plaza Hotel (round building on the left) was missing a lot of windows. A tornado had come through in 2008 and it took 2 years for them to order and replace the windows.

The Charlie Brown Christmas Tree on the top of Macy’s at Lenox Mall.

My sister Debbie and I went to Atlantic Station and walked around. They had a huge Christmas tree that you could see from the interstate (Debbie was standing under it). The 2nd shot is from the Station. I’m sure the view has changed a lot with more buildings going up every year.

We had a cold trip in 2010. Above is me in sweats taking a picture of the tree at Brett’s parents.

The forecast called for snow but we really just got frozen rain. It didn’t stay long.

I found a chipmunk in Brett’s parents backyard. I think he thought I was going to try and steal the acorns in his cheeks. We don’t have them here in the Tampa bay area and I missed seeing them.

I saw my first cedar waxwings down the street. I went for walk before dark on Christmas eve and saw them in the trees. I ran back to the house and got my camera and they were still there.

Heading back to Atlanta for Christmas in 2011.

I had heard there were good birds at the Oakland Cemetery in downtown Atlanta so I bundled up and headed out with my camera. I saw my first nuthatch there.

I found Margaret Mitchell’s grave. She wrote Gone With The Wind in Atlanta.

Me being a tourist in my old town. My sister and I went to the Christmas Village in Stone Mountain Park. I had my old Nikon bag with my Nikon D90 in it back then.

 

Buddy always made the trip with us. This was Christmas 2012.

I went back to Oakland Cemetery for a cold walk on Christmas Eve, You can see the gold top of the Georgia capital from here.

I saw my first dark eyed junco on this trip. There were several here and they were very accommodating.

It wouldn’t be a Christmas blog without a cardinal in it even if the snow is fake and there were plenty at the cemetery.  Brett’s family eventually moved down to Florida so we don’t get up to Atlanta as much as we used to and not for Christmas anymore.

Have a Merry Christmas and stay warm if you are up north!

Last of the Arizona birds

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A blurry shot of a dark eyed junco. I saw a lot of these while we were in Flagstaff.

My 2nd sighting that week of a mountain chickadee.


Some type of yellow warblers or finches. After pouring over my Stokes Birding Guide, all of the little yellow colored warblers look the same. Any ID’s on these would be great appreciated

My first plumbeous vireo. Looked a little like a cerulean warbler but that white circle around his eye made it easier to identify.

I thought this was another white breasted nuthatch but the all white head is throwing me off. Maybe a juvenile?

This looks like a female goldfinch but it could be anything.

So many little birds. And I was snapping as fast as they were zipping around. At first I thought I was getting all the same bird but I realize now there were several different ones out there.  So many of these little birds look different in the fall than during breeding season. Or they could be females or juveniles.  Anyway, I was having too much fun running around the woods at the Flagstaff Arboretum taking pictures to stop and look them up while I was there. I’m more of a “shoot now and look it up later” kind of person. That doesn’t always work out when you are looking pages of birds and all you have is a small blurry shot.

More birds from Arizona

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We saw dark-eyed junkos everywhere we went.

I saw Steller’s jays everywhere but it was tough to get a decent picture. They were really skittish.

Ravens were also everywhere. I don’t see them around my area in central Florida. They are like the laughing gulls of northern Arizona. Always in the tourist areas, loud, they come flying in when they see food.  They are much bigger than our fish crows.

Looks just like our eastern bluebird but I was in the west. All About Birds says that western bluebirds have more rust in their throat than eastern ones.

Our squirrels in Florida don’t have that rust streak on their back.

Some of the “wild” things we saw at Bearizona in northern Arizona.

Birds in a snowbowl?

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It was Fall in the mountains of Arizona. Really, it was too early for fall. Even though the weather was cool the leaves really hadn’t started to change colors yet.  A hint of yellow was all we saw. This was the drive up to the chair lift at the Arizona Snowbowl in Flagstaff. You can take the lift up to the top of the mountain in the summer to hike around and see the area around Flagstaff. I was able to spot a few birds while we were at the top.

A ruby crowned kinglet at the top of the ski lift.

My 2nd white crown sparrow sighting on this trip.

These are dark-eyed juncos.  Not a first for me. I have seen a few in Atlanta. I’ve never seen one in central Florida. I’m not sure if they pass through us on their way south for the winter.

This looks like a yellow rumped warbler. Just my luck I travel across the country and see one of the most common birds in central Florida in the winter.

It was windy and cool up on top of the mountain and the birds were skittish. I managed to see a few but the wind was blowing pretty hard to get a good picture of anything. I did see a few other birds at other parks though so those pictures are coming.

Rare birds for me in an Atlanta cemetery

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This eastern towhee was very accommodating. He just sat there staring at me.

Another towhee looking for food on the ground.

Dark eyed junco getting some food.

Upclose. The cemetery was full of these guys.

Mouthful of seeds.

Posing on the planter.

As I was taking pictures of the juncos, this white breasted nuthatch flew into a tree right in front of me. He only stayed for a few seconds and it was the only one I saw that day.

Two days before Christmas I had a few hours to kill in the morning. I headed for the Oakland cemetery in downtown Atlanta. It was cold (35 degrees is almost death degrees for this Florida person). I had tons of layers on and actually remembered my gloves which I wore the entire time I was there. Oakland cemetery is a very old historic cemetery with a few local famous people buried there (including Margaret Mitchell who wrote Gone With The Wind). When I first got there around 8:30 there was no one else around but by 9:30, people were wandering around. Tourists come to visit and locals walk through when walking their dogs. A few joggers cut through the cemetery as well.

The cemetery was full of birds but not a lot of variety. At first I thought the above were all first sightings but after digging through some old pictures when I got back from the trip, I had seen all of the above only once before and gotten really bad pictures which I never posted. I have not seen these birds in Florida, only Atlanta so I was excited to get shots of them. There were several towhees and tons of juncos everywhere. A few other more common birds were there but more on those later.

Check out more pictures at Our World Tuesday 

Also, check out more birds at Paying Ready Attention for