MA - yard surprise

Well another morning below 20 deg F left me feeling a bit despondent but I probably should have known better. The volume of bird song along North Cross Road in Gill was enough to suggest that spring-like changes were on the way. At lunch time, the squat shape of a Red-breasted Nuthatch caught my eye through the kitchen window - certainly a yard first and all the more remarkable considering that 2014 was a relatively poor autumn and winter for this irruptive species. It didn't linger and I thought I'd lost the opportunity for an image but it reappeared in the middle of the afternoon. With my old Canon Rebel by the window I was able to snap a couple of record shots before it disappeared once more. In the same moment, another season first for our Northfield yard - a Turkey Vulture overhead .

Red-breasted Nuthatch - Northfield yard, Franklin Co., MA. March 24th, 2015.