Winter visitors

It's so wonderful to see more visitors from the tundra, and other migrating birds in our garden, foraging for insects, seeds and berries.

Currently most of the migrating visitors are White-Crowned and Golden-Crowned sparrows as well as Hermit thrushes and Townsend warblers.

As you can see, I let the upper backyard go to weeds for the winter. This provides birds with the nourishment they need.

Here is a White-Crowned sparrow during its daily morning visit to the yard.

The birds are attracted to a very small birdbath that is positioned among large potted plants.

When I realized that they were happily bathing in the rusting cast-iron bowl of the bath I put in a small white bowl that we had used as a cereal dish.

The birds accepted their new bathtub.

One morning this Hermit thrush enjoyed the bath so much that it splashed out most of the water.

You can see the water drops on nearby leaves and dripping off the the edges of the bath.

The thrush spent quality time in that bath.

After the thrush and other birds left the garden, I refilled the bath with fresh, clean water.