Please! As I noted yesterday, they have been scant this season. This Red-breasted Nuthatch, barely seen, was the first I’d heard in months. The N. Mockingbirds make sure you see them, at least.

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The birds in my patch are few and far between this winter. There are very small numbers even of Juncos and White-throated Sparrows, a typical winter’s mob. The strident calls of Blue Jays are rare. When I heard a nuthatch the other day, I realized it was the first in several months.

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The local Great Horned Owls weren’t in their usual perching tree. (One at least was in the nest tree.) So I walked under the perching tree, and saw plenty of evidence of fine owl dining.

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The Cooper’s pictured with yesterday’s feisty House Finch had already put up with a reception committee of Monk Parakeets: After loudly berating the predator, the flock returned to Green-Wood’s Neo-Gothic pile of a gatehouse. The Coop, meanwhile, stuck around for at least 45 minutes, which is a long time in Accipiter time.

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A House Finch flew into this linden… There were already some Mourning Doves in the tree. (The finch is in the top left corner; you can expand these photos by clicking on them.) And, oh yes, over there on the right… A male American Kestrel. Which of course reminded me of a couple weeks ago…

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On a recent midday walk in Green-Wood I came across a Downy Woodpecker/Dryobates pubescens battering away at a dead looking branch of Beech. A Northern Flicker/Colaptes auratus caught me by surprise. Later I saw two more. Although one of them could have been this one. A couple of Red-bellied/Melanerpes carolinus were seen. A Yellow-belied Sapsucker/Sphyrapicus…

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The morning Red-tailed Hawk. Another American Crow came to greet this youngster. This is the third winter in a row that a young Red-tail has been around Sunset Park. This is how December 16th began. Not well-photographed through window and two different trees, but there’s the young RT again at 8:37 a.m. 9:50. Peregrine on…

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Parakeets, whatever. Forty-some of them anyway: Monk Parakeet/Myiopsitta monachuss.

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