We dodged a bullet as we did not get the full force of hurricane Sandy that merged with a cold front to form a superstorm that moved up the eastern United States. We had 36 hours of strong winds and about three inches of rain. All of the local areas above 2000 foot elevation had snow and were in blizzard conditions. The wind died down a bit this afternoon, and in between periods of drizzle I headed out to see what birds might be out and about. Most of the birds were still hunkered down, but there were flurries of activity at our backyard bird feeder. We had Carolina Chickadees, Purple Finches, American Goldfinches, Tufted Titmice, Dark-eyed Juncos, Northern Cardinals, White-breasted Nuthatches, Blue Jays, American Crows, and a Red-bellied Woodpecker at the feeder or on the ground below the feeder. At one point about 15 to 20 Pine Siskins were fighting for spots to land at the feeder.
Pine Siskins - can you find 11 of them in this photo?
I arrived at the trail at 9:00 this morning. There was almost complete cloud cover. The temperature was in the 40's, and there were 10 to 15 m.p.h. winds with stronger gusts. I was dressed for the temperature but not for the wind chill, and quickly felt cold as I hiked the trail. It was weird to see higher elevation snow covered mountains behind lower elevation mountains with fall tree colors.
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Vesper Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Flicker
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-winged Blackbirds
Carolina Wren
Rock Pigeons posing for a group photo
Today's RV Trail list (37 species):
White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Eastern Towhee Vesper Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Swamp Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Field Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Hairy Woodpecker Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Flicker Turkey Vulture Red-tailed Hawk Red-shouldered Hawk American Crow Starling Purple Finch Tufted Titmouse Carolina Chickadee Carolina Wren Ruby-crowned Kinglet Golden-crowned Kinglet Blue Jay Bluebird Yellow-rumped Warbler Canada Goose Belted Kingfisher Great Blue Heron Red-winged Blackbird Mourning Dove Rock Pigeon |