Birdwatching: Double surprize

It was a cold one today! Broke freezing for a couple of hours but only by one degree.



Eastern Bluebird

I was taking a break inside from spending most of the morning outside working on a few things when I saw an infrequent visitor to the feeder. Actually not the feeder but rather the water tub, which has stayed nicely ice-free today, probably because it's half buried in the ground. (Our insulated well-house never seems to drop below 50 degrees even during prolonged cold spells. I credit the bare earth floor for keeping it warm in there.)



Bluebird and Goldfinch

Bluebirds have been making a comeback around here but are still a bit unusual especially around the feeder since they aren't really seed eaters, so I grabbed my camera and began shooting. Shooting through the glass can be a bit tricky; I like to photograph birds in sports mode which shoots one image after the other as long as I hold the button down, but sometimes the glass seems to confuse the autofocus, then I have to switch to manual mode which only allows one shot per button-push, so I've managed to miss some really good shots because of that glass, but I've also managed to get a few decent ones as well.



Cedar Waxwing hiding between a male and female Bluebird

It wasn't until I was going through the photos this evening that I realized that a single Cedar Waxwing was mixed in amongst the Eastern Bluebirds!





Maybe the Waxwing isn't entirely welcome??