Southern New England got its first snow of the season on Thursday evening, a bit earlier than usual on Nov. 15. At some point overnight, the snow gave way to a snow/freezing rain mixture. The four or five inches of snow that fell now has a hard layer of ice on top.
The harsh weather brought in a pair of unexpected, but welcomed, visitors: fox sparrows. The large sparrows, which are also a bit more colorful than the usual sparrows in New England, show up sporadically throughout the region, mostly during the winter. With strange weather gripping the region, keep an eye out for unexpected visitors at your feeder stations. Let me know what you see by commenting on this post.
Birds of New England.com 
5-6″ of snow Harpswell, ME today. We’ve had a fox sparrow stomping about under the feeders for maybe two weeks, now. Very fat, nice color on the bottom bill, solitary (it seems). Pair of cardinals hanging around, and another sparrow which I can’t quite identify which has yellow around its bill (I did not get a photo so this is from memory). Again, it was a single bird, I think, and seems to have moved on. Cardinals are very clumsy on the feeder and nervous around other birds on the ground. Fun to watch.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the comment Spike. Sounds like a busy feeder day.
LikeLike