"November at its best―with a sort of delightful menace in the air."
― Anne Bosworth Greene
The color of living things often keenly matches the season. Over the past few days, gusty northwest winds blew sparrow diversity south of Wisconsin. Most trees in my neck of the woods are now bare of leaves, but I still see a few bright red maples here and there. Though there will be small pockets of White-throated Sparrows and Song Sparrows that overwinter at Pheasant Branch, American Tree Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos have once again occupied the prairie―and there they'll stay as there is plenty of food for them to survive the bitter cold.
American Tree Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
The sparrows that stay will spend the daylight hours feeding on the prairie plant seeds from stalks and those that have fallen to the ground, but they will be hunted while they forage―they must always been on alert. American Kestrels and Northern Shrikes will patrol the prairie throughout the winter season. The former typically goes for small rodents, while the latter is, at heart, a songbird that eats other songbirds. I haven't seen any shrikes yet this fall, but they should be arriving soon now that the seasonal page has turned to November.
American Kestrel
With the conclusion of insect season, I'll likely do more birding and bird photography from now until April. My pace will be leisurely, though. I actually scored a life bird yesterday―the Eurasian Tree Sparrow that's been visiting a backyard feeder in Mount Horeb. Not that such lists preoccupy my nature pursuits these days, it put my Wisconsin avian species count to 327. Other birding time of late has been scoping for waterfowl on Lake Mendota and Goose Pond. Last weekend I found a White-winged Scoter and a few Horned Grebes, which were firsts for the year.
All images © 2020 Mike McDowell