Birds

The Rose-breasted Grosbeaks stayed two days, but they were gone today.

Last week, at a friend's house, we saw a Ruby-crowned Kinglet flitting about in the trees. I've never seen one up so close. It seemed completely unafraid of us. She sent me a great picture of it:

There is a Peregrine Falcon nest box up on a platform between the MGE smokestacks by the bike-path parallel to Willy St. I haven't been there yet, but I hope to get there. Friends of ours had even better luck than seeing the falcon on its nest. They had one come by their street and catch a grackle! Go here to see their pictures.

We are still seeing and hearing White-throated sparrows in our yard. Here is a better picture than last time:
You can really see the white on its throat, and maybe even the yellow between its eyes.

I was getting overconfident in my bird identification, and just calling all the birds with white stripes on their heads white-throated sparrows until I took a closer look at another bird and found this:
This is a white-crowned sparrow. It has no white on its throat and no yellow between its eyes. I wonder how many days this kind has been around?

Today we were at the Arboretum, and I saw two birds in Longnecker gardens that I'd never seen before. One was tan brown on top, and gray underneath, and the size of a Robin. Maybe a Veery? If not that, I think it was some other thrush-like bird. The second bird had a dark, crested head, and yellow belly, and was about the size of a cardinal. My guess is a Great-crested Flycatcher. If not that, some other kind of flycatcher. Anybody know if these birds would be around in Longnecker gardens?