As winter winds down and spring arrives...my yard birds are beginning to change. All the Rosies continue to come and no longer ONLY when it snows. Apparently they know a good food source when they find it. Yesterday, while there was still snow on the ground, it is receding and hasn't snowed in a week yet a visiting birder counted 240 Rosy-finches...all three species. He also was granted a visit by the unusual winter Lewis's Woodpecker, who is still around. The day before I'd seen two Cassin's Finch feeding near a bush under a feeder, their bright red crests shockingly identifiable as the sun back-lit the little, pale-breasted birds. And as I got up early to fill feeders before the visitor arrived, I walked out to find a Great Horned Owl calling from the very top of the huge evergreen...and another answering nearby. Yup, spring is coming!

February birds:

Pine Siskins, Red-winged Blackbird, Western Scrub-Jay, Cooper's Hawk, Brewer's Blackbird, Song Sparrow, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Common Raven, American Robin, Lewis's Woodpecker, Cassin's Finch, Evening Grosbeak, Black Rosy-Finch, Brown-capped Rosy-Finch, Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch, Blue Jay, American Crow, White-winged Dove, American Goldfinch, White-breasted Nuthatch, Mountain Chickadee, Hairy Woodpecker, Black-capped Chickadee, Dark-eyed Junco, House Finch, Northern Flicker - Red-shafted, Downy Woodpecker, Black-billed Magpie, European Starling, House Sparrow, Eurasian Collared-Dove.