A Stranger at the Feeder

The frigid weather – and the fact that the ground is covered with snow – brings lots of birds to our feeders. Unfortunately, many of them are starlings. The other day, however, I noticed a red-brown speckled bird on the ground I did not immediately recognize. I consulted my new book, “Lives of North American Birds” by Kenn Kaufman, and feel pretty confident that the new guy is a fox sparrow. The book says that it makes forward jumps and then scratches back with both feet at once. That’s exactly what struck me as odd about this sparrow. We have never seen a fox sparrow before, but since we are just north of its usual winter grounds it’s entirely possible that a fox sparrow is visiting our yard.
I would love to get a photo of this stranger, but my fingers are already ice cold inside the house. I therefore need to find a good pair of gloves/mitts with removable finger tips to operate camera controls. Don’t worry, I would not expose my bare fingers but instead wear liners underneath the gloves. Liners give me the necessary dexterity to turn buttons and focus the lens. It will be a while, though, until the weather is decent enough for me venture outside for more than filling our feeders. Until then, I keep watching the birds from our kitchen window–and try to figure out how to get rid of starlings.