Pinyon Jays Galore! Scaled Quail Too! My yard in Santa Fe County, NM 11-13-14

After several days of record, or near record warm temperatures last week now we are in the grip of record cold! We are on the edge of the frigid polar air deepening across the country, and at 7,000 feet it can get pretty cold. In fact it was 15 degrees this morning and snowing when the "neighborhood" flock of Pinyon Jays - some 70 birds strong - came bombing in early! It's a good thing they we love them because they clean out the feeders in just a few minutes!

When they take over the yard the house finches, dark-eyed juncos, white-crowned sparrows, canyon and spotted towhees, plain titmice, mountain chickadees, red-shafted flicker, ladder-backed woodpecker, pine siskins, American goldfinches, Cassin's finches, western scrub-jays, white-winged and Eurasian collared-doves, bushtits, western bluebirds, American robins, curve-billed thrashers, and several other local denizens patiently await their turns. This said, as you can see, the 8 or 9 scaled quail are unfazed by all the hoopla!!