Ovenbird back in Longmont!

[Bill Schmoker]

Folks- I about sprayed my coffee on the kitchen window this morning when I glanced out to enjoy the snowy vista and saw the long-missing Ovenbird having a drink from the heated fountain on our back porch.  I last saw the bird on 11 December, and certainly haven't missed it for lack of trying since.  I can only interpret this to mean it has been nearby but rarely if ever coming into my yard during the fairly mild weather we've had since mid-December until today.  We have about 6" of snow now and it's still coming down- I'm guessing it's preferred haunts got buried so it returned to my heated water source and protected feeding areas.  I put out some dried mealworms and hulled sunflower chips on bare ground beneath a covered play dome and within minutes the Ovenbird had joined some juncos in the feast.

I've also enjoyed a mob of Bushtits (14 or so) raiding my suet and shelled peanut feeders along with hordes of other birds sensing the need for calories.  When I shoveled my driveway I was delighted by a tolling Townsend's Solitaire and the tinkling trills of the Bushtits as they gleaned a neighbor's Aspen and Chokecherry tree branches.

A few pics of the Ovenbird:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9047968@N02/11762270496/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9047968@N02/11761362165/

And a digiscoped video:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9047968@N02/11762120066/

Enjoy- Bill Schmoker, Longmont

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