From snow on April 16, to a heavy “dusting” of snow on the ground April 22, to a half foot of heavy wet snow creating a “winter wonderland” on April 27, I present photos from our Etna, NH yard during this interesting stretch of time. Although social distancing was very much on our minds, I made several trips along the Connecticut River to photograph birds during these weeks. You can see photos from those trips if you CLICK HERE.
To my eyes and ears, one of the prettiest sparrows with one of the most interesting songs (“Old Sam Peabody”) is the White-throated. A pair, though it seems like a trio, might be considering nesting in a brush pile in our yard. I sure hope so. If so, this would be at the southernmost part of their breeding range. Perhaps all the recent snow makes them think they are in northern Canada. Here are some photos from the April 27 snowstorm through April 29 that include three photos of a White-throated Sparrow perched on a brush pile.
Two other sparrow species visited our yard: a Song Sparrow
and a Dark-eyed Junco.
Purple Finch were present on and off during these two weeks.
I managed to get a Black-capped Chickadee launching off a dry mullein stalk I had planted.
We have had varying numbers of Mourning Doves all winter and spring. A few days ago my wife and I watched a pair mate, but it was consummated so quickly I was not able to grab a camera.
Our most surprising avian yard visitors were a pair of Evening Grosbeaks. We hadn’t seen them in our yard since April, 2014, and January, 2012 before then. This time they stayed only about 10 minutes after I first spotted them.
As I did earlier in the month, I took many photos of American Goldfinch perching and flying from mullein stalks. You can see earlier “Mullein Adventure” photos if you CLICK HERE.
Below is a slide show of American Goldfinch on the days that did not have snow on the ground, although in at least one of the photos something like snow is evident.
In the sequence below you can see an aggressive male taking over the spot that was occupied by another goldfinch.
On April 22, the morning of the “dusting”, I got these goldfinch flying around.
And then, the night of April 26 and 27, it snowed. Big time. Heavy and wet. I’m glad our driveway did not get plowed because the plow would have moved a lot of soft gravel along with the snow. We were in no hurry to go anywhere this day. Below is a view of our upper driveway on the left and a look at the downhill part of our driveway on the right.
Here is a goldfinch after the storm.
Two days later, the first warbler of the season arrived in our yard. This is not a great photo, but it is a Yellow-rumped Warbler, the start of a promising wave in a season when we need the sights and sounds of birds.
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