Dark-eyed Juncos

As the temperatures start to fall towards zero (a few days yet) and the cold rain falls we are beginning to see the first arrivals of birds form the north that usually spend the winter with us. Today there was a flock of over a dozen Dark-eyed Juncos busily working the garden for seeds they can glean from the flowers we have left to stand on the “mead” for just this purpose.

One area of especial interest was beside a mown path along which I yesterday “tidied” some aster stems and undoubtedly caused them to shed many tiny seeds on the ground … those birds must have amazing eyesight.