The daytime temperature has dropped to the thirties. I can’t complain. November was mild – no snow, many warm days (in the fifties), and little rain. Today, I walked four laps around the pond in mid-afternoon, as the sun began to set. It was quiet as I walked. I heard few bird calls. But in the stark branches I saw what I thought to be “winter birds” – birds I don’t know from my warm season sightings or that I don’t recognize in their winter feathers.
The bird in the two photos above and the three below was loving the abundance of bittersweet. It would peck at a berry and eat the fleck that peeled off in its beak. Its snow-white belly showed off the red of the berries and its tail feathers had beautiful, rounded ends. I invite readers to help me with the identification of the birds in this post. My Stokes Field Guide has helped with the blue jay below. But the others remain a mystery to me.

I think the photo below shows a different bird. I did not forget to rotate this photo – the bird pecked away at something in this upside-down position. It’s slate blue with pale orange tuft changing to white down its breast just inside the wings. It’s about five inches long.
With the phot below I become a little confused with identification. Though the soft orange I mention above is on the birds chest, the head seems to be black and white, not the slate blue of the bird above. The size is the same. Again, look at the lovely rounded tail feathers. (P.S. It’s not lost on me that the photo below is a bit silly looking. But – and there’s a pun – I take whatever shot I can get! And there is wonderful detail in this image.)
In this next photo of the same bird as above, you can see the distinctive color variation on the head. I imagine it’s enjoying the sweetness of sap from this cut branch.
And the image below is cropped from the lower right corner of a much larger photo. The bird above dropped down from its perch and flew off. I love this photo. My camera caught what my eye did not see. I often try to time a shutter release with a bird’s take off. I watch for, or more exactly, my senses anticipate, the telltale curtsy that a bird does before it launches. And sometimes I do catch the bird taking flight. But this shot was a pleasant surprise to me and a dismounting technique I don’t think I’ve seen before! (Imagine my frustration with the obstructed view of the bird’s face. I’ve become used to this kind of disappointment in my nature shots.)
I was stumped with identifying the bird below. It’s nearly a foot long. The Stokes book came to my rescue. It’s a blue jay – that’s not blue. It’s gray and white. I think it’s a juvenile.
I think the bird below is the same as the upside-down bird in the photo above. What I like about this picture is how the bird is nestled in the weave of protective branches.

I encourage readers to click on the photos in this post to enlarge the photos for better viewing. Use your back arrow to return to the post.