Unprepared

This afternoon, I didn't have my camera ready and missed a shot of a new bird in my back yard tree. I sketched him with my awful drawing skills but can't seem to find him in any of my guide books. He (she?) was a brown bird covered in spots - black spots everywhere! He had a long pointed beak and was a medium sized bird (bigger than a sparrow, smaller than a dove). He seemed to have some girth - not a thin bird - but he might have just been puffed out due to the cold. He was perched in the tree, and there were two of them. They only stayed for a few moments before flying away.

In other bird news, the red winged blackbirds made a visit today! I haven't seen them since the summertime. Two visited the tree and feeders, and it appeared that there was a whole flock of them in the lawn of the golf course.

A bunch of mourning doves, finches, and juncos joined the usual mob of house sparrows today. It has been a busy afternoon at the feeders!

I even spied the Cooper's hawk fly overhead - again, without my camera ready. :-/