We have a European Goldfinch visiting our balcony birdfeeders. The default assumption is that he's an escape from domestic captivity, because its natural range isn't exactly close to here, but it's acting wild, hanging out with a mixed flock of Common (American) Goldfinches, Redpolls, and House Finches, and it arrived with an Arctic air mass. We're hoping that experts can establish its subspecies from pictures, because if it's from a Northern one (rather than, say, the subspecies particular to Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia), it might be judged a genuine wild bird way out of its range.

If so, the trickle of interest we've had for visiting our viewing area may get rather more substantial!

A few random observations from recent birding expeditions:

• Still not sure what that little duck way out on the Ottawa River was. Female blue- or green-winged teal? Maybe, maybe not.
• Waterfowl have a sixth sense telling them which way to turn to hide characteristic field marks.
• Hooded Mergansers are neat, somewhat funny-looking birds.
• The male Wood Ducks are out of eclipse, and beautiful. So are the Mallards, but they're more familiar.
• Cormorants drying their wings look somewhere between majestic and silly.
• Nuthatches can perch and walk on any wooden surface in any orientation.
• A spotting scope would be right handy sometimes.
• The chickadees at Mud Lake (Brittania) have no fear. One was trying to perch on my hat. Persistently.