Grosbeaks In The Snow

Day 162: Given the amount of activity at the feeders yesterday, I should have put more faith in the weather forecast, but they've been wrong more times than they've been right lately, often missing my nighttime low temps by as much as 10 degrees, so I simply didn't believe them when they said snow was a possibiility. It was coming down hard when I got up at 4:45, although only about half an inch had accumulated. By 6:30 when the first birds came to feed, it had piled up two inches deep. In conditions like these, it's interesting to observe the different foraging methods of the various species. The Towhees, the Quail and two Northern Flickers set to excavating, quickly clearing the ground down to the grass. The Juncos chose to forgo small seed, preferring a high-fat breakfast of suet, but the Grosbeaks focused on their favourite black-oil sunflower seed. The Mourning Doves sat moping on the fence, waiting for someone else to do the hard work, and then moved in to clean up the others' scraps. Very little goes to waste around here!