This is one time of year that I like to make sure our feeders are filled because food for birds is not as readily available as usual.

A female red-bellied woodpecker enjoying suet.

I can tell it’s a female because she has gray on her head. A male’s head is red up to its beak.

Dark-eyed junco

I expect it is a male, because the females are not quite so dark gray. Their feathers are more brownish-gray.

January 14 was a gray, rainy day, so I enjoyed seeing the male cardinal when he came to feed.

The female cardinal gave me a better photo-op.

Female house finch.

They are fun to photograph because they come to feeders close to the window and are patient with my camera lens.

Thursday morning, January 16 presented an interesting sunrise.

In the evening I saw this when I looked out our kitchen window. Cerwin thinks the smoke on the horizon is from a recycling plant about twenty-plus miles away. Or, he said it could be from the Brunner Island Power Plant.