Flicker of yellow.

[shapeshft]

The goldfinches are back. I saw the first one early this morning, still a bit drab with its winter colors, but the yellowish head and breast still give it away. It won't be long before the males are sporting a bright lemon yellow

Comments

[skitten]

ooh! pretty icon :)

[shapeshft]

Thank you!

[shapeshft]

BTW, it was taken by someone named Jan Parker.

[daisyrainwater]

I finally saw some robins - at least I think they're robins. And some very black birds with colorful tips on their wings.

I think I need a bird book. There are tons of birds here.

[shapeshft]

Robins have a rust-colored breast, brown back and often run around on the lawn eating worms and insects. If that's what you saw then that's what they are.

The black birds... in what way were the tips colorful? Were the colors iridescent? Could they be these?
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Common_Grackle.html
Or did they have solid patches of red and yellow on their wings?
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Red-winged_Blackbird.html

[harry53]

I love red-winged blackbirds. They remind me of 19th-century Russian military officers with their fancy epaulets. Very dapper fellows.

[shapeshft]

That makes a lot of sense, especially with the way they play "king of the hill" by clinging to the tip of a tall reed and defending their territory vigorously from all intruders... even humans.