After The Bath

This dark-eyed junco spent the winter with us and one day when the sun came out I caught him taking a bath.

I love watching birds take a bath.

They take such joy in the process and I find most of the birds will bathe every day or even twice a day.

I have a whole series of pictures of different birds bathing that I’ll have to post sometime.

But what I loved about this picture was after he was finished his bath he flew up on a branch that I had laying over the birdbath and proceeded to fluff and preen.

Eventually getting all his feathers in order, he gave one last shake and off he flew.

Interesting Junco Facts:

You can always tell a Junco when it flies across the yard as the two outside feathers on its tail are white which makes it easy to recognize.

They are ground feeders. I never see them at the bird feeders but always around the bottom of them picking up the seeds that the other birds tossed away.

There is a huge range of colour variations amongst the Juncos.

From the one pictured above with the dark head, brown back and rufous sides to ones that are slate gray and another with pink sides.

It all depends on the location as to their colouring.

Around this time of year, they pack their bags and head into denser forest areas to breed and nest but I have 2 pairs still sticking around so maybe there will be babies this year.

Jigsaw Puzzle

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