The sun and its warmth made for a very pleasant bird walk this morning at the Arnold Arboretum. Most of the birds we saw were along Willow Path or near the ponds. Every species except one can be found the entire year in our area.
The only exception, white-throated sparrows, moves north to breed during the summer.
A house finch took a drink from one of the ponds, surrounded by the leaves of fall. Although house finches can supposedly be found here throughout the year, I didn’t see any this summer.
We saw a couple of northern mockingbirds. These birds look intense and serious to me, in contrast to their light-hearted name.
We saw about 40 American robins. Here’s one taking a bath in a stream.
Here’s another snacking on the navy blue fruit of the Chinese fringetree (Chionanthus retusus).
