All Work and No Play...

...makes me a dull birder, but there it is! I spent the day at the office working on my PhD dissertation with only occasional glimpses at birds out the window. I was able to see a couple new 2006 office yard birds (Purple Finch, Common Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird, and Brown-headed Cowbird), but nothing out of the ordinary. The Purple Finch was the first I've seen since late last Fall. It was a beautiful wine-colored male, a real stunner. I was a bit amazed to see a Downy Woodpecker feeding on the ground beneath a feeder--don't recall ever seeing one of those on the ground before. And it was fun to watch the Blue Jays pick up a sunflower seed with their beaks, place the seed between their feet, and holding it there while they peck it open and extract the meat.