Winter Birds Have Finally Returned

For the last couple of months my backyard has been virtually absent of birds. Other than a flock of House Sparrows and Crows that roam the neighborhood as well as a few Chickadees, Titmice and a pair of Inca Doves that have been coming to the feeders every day or so, it's been awfully quiet. Even the Northern Cardinals, which I usually have in large numbers year round, haven't been around.

That all changed yesterday morning with temperatures in the high 20's. This last cold front has finally brought my winter migrants to the backyard feeders. In all, I had eight varieties of migrant birds in the backyard yesterday morning that I haven't seen since the early Spring including several Chipping Sparrows & Dark Eyed Juncos, an American Goldfinch, two Orange-crowned Warblers, a White-crowned Sparrow, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and a Yellow-rumped Warbler. I also had several other non migrant varieties that have been largely absent since early September including Cardinals, Downy Woodpeckers, a pair of Mockingbirds, a Carolina Wren, an Eastern Phoebe, a pair of Eastern Bluebirds, and a Blue Jay. And this morning, I had an American Robin at the bird bath. All in all, quite a change from the last two and half months. Hopefully, some of the other migrants that usually frequent my feeders during the winter months (House Finches, Pine Siskins, Harris Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, Fox Sparrows, etc.) will start showing up in the next week or so. Guess I'll have a bigger bird food bill for the next four months, but don't mind at all.