Frieda in cold South Carolina.
Had a large flock of Blackbirds and Robins fly in for a few minutes.
They made a sweep of the front and back yards before moving on. A few
Blackbirds tried out my feeders, which caused my regular birds to stay
away.
How the birds live in this cold weather is amazing to me.

NEXT----------

Birds are much tougher than we ever give them credit for, Frieda.

I'm here in chilly Northern Ontario with my Evening and Pine Grosbeaks,
Blue and Gray Jays, Downy and Hairy woodpeckers and BC Chickadees.

Tammie in sunny but cold Northern Ontario

Nan here in DE:
6 - 8 inches of new snow Saturday and down to 12 degrees lastnight.
Brrrrrrrrr.

The birds have been the usual crew, our cardinal couple +1, Juncos,
Chicadees,Tufted Titmice, White Throated Sparrows, Mourning Doves, Red
bellied woodpecker, Hairys, & Downies.

thank God for good heat!!

Is it spring yet???
Nan

FriedaFro...@webtv.net (Frieda) wrote in news:21128-4B66EBBA-1805
@storefull-3172.bay.webtv.net:

Tammie's right: birds are amazingly tough.

That said, it's pretty balmy in the Seattle area. We had a REALLY cold snap
in early December -- well, for here, anyway: several days in a row without
rising above freezing -- but now, the crocuses are up, the witch-hazel has
been blooming gloriously for a couple of weeks, and the birds are singing
and then looking around as if to say, "Did I say that?"

Juncos galore, along with chickadees and red-breasted nuthatches. The
occasional visit by a towhee or four, Bewick's wrens swaggering around,
Steller's jays yelling hoarsely every time I open the door. Frankly, I
expect to see the first trickle of migrants in the next few weeks.

-Josh in Seattle

 > Frieda in cold South Carolina. Had a large flock of Blackbirds and
Robins fly in for a few minutes.
 > They made a sweep of the front and back yards before moving on. A few
 > Blackbirds tried out my feeders, which caused my regular birds to stay
 > away.
 > How the birds live in this cold weather is amazing to me.
 >
 > NEXT----------
 >
It warmed up to 32F this morning. Vultures and crows were flying when it
was 18F on the ground and windy enough for them to fly backwards. I
don't see many smaller birds, but they're around.

Jerry
--
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.

"Frieda"   wrote

I've wondered if birds of any given species up here are "built" differently
than their brothers and sisters in warmer climates, allowing them to
withstand the harsh winters. I posed the question to a naturalist friend,
and this was his reply:

"As I understand it, yes. And also, studies show some bird brains grow
larger in autumn to give owners an advantage.  Chickadees, for instance."

So there.

Howard in northeast upstate NY where it is sunny and cold. "Sunny...
yesterday my heart... was filled with rayyyyn..."

People too. The number of active sweat glands a person has depends on
the temperature in the first few weeks of life. People in hot climates
sweat more, or so I've been told. An Inupiat Eskimo I took a class with
seemed to bear this out.

Jerry
--
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

Rick in cold Fargo,ND,
Same old bird crew here Hairy and Downy WP House Finches, House
sparrows,B-c Chickadees, W-b Nuthatches and 1 D-e Junco.
I just mailed off Potholes and Prairie Bird Festival registration,
decided it was time to see Brewer's Sparrow, Sprague's Pipit, and
Nelson's Sparrow.

--

Rick
Fargo, ND
N 46°53'251"
W 096°48'279"

Remember the USS Liberty
http://www.ussliberty.org/

Reply to: fholbrookatcableone.net

Hi all and all of Y'all,
We have a Cardinal invasion! At least a dozen Cardinals out there, and
they're hungry. Juncos and the usual birds are also out there.
Temps in the low teens F and a very light snowfall that probably
won't amount to much.

Excuse me for a moment, I have birds to feed.

Dick in MN

Snowed again this morning, right around 30 according to the GWM on the
bell-pole.

We have had way more Cardinals and way more Chickadees and a few more
Downy and Hair Woodpeckers this winters.

And a Flicker and a bunch of Collard Doves (new to us). and a few
Starlings.  And all the regulars (Turkeys, LBBs, Gold Finches, Junco's,
a Redbelly....).

And a few more Squirrels.

--
"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to
take everything you have."

Remember:  The Ark was built by amateurs, the Titanic by professionals.

Requiescas in pace o email
Ex turpi causa non oritur actio
Eppure si rinfresca

ICBM Targeting Information:  http://tinyurl.com/4sqczs
http://tinyurl.com/7tp8ml

"Jerry Avins"  wrote

I was born in the winter in a cold climate, so... maybe that's why I
couldn't take the heat of southern AZ. But people there told me about
people's blood thinning and thickening depending on where one lives. Is that
a myth? Specifically, I was told my blood would thicken after I moved here.
?

H

Hi Howard,
It may take some time before your body has "acclimated" to colder temps,
but when you sweat on a 10°F day, you'll know you have arrived.
:-)

Dick - cold blooded and proud in Minnesota

On 2/1/2010 3:51 PM, Larry Sheldon wrote:

Oh yeah--a Red-winged Blackbird dropped by yesterday.  And the usual
bunch of Mourning Doves stop by.

And how could I forget the Blue Jays--they might belong up there in the
"way more" group.

--
"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to
take everything you have."

Remember:  The Ark was built by amateurs, the Titanic by professionals.

Requiescas in pace o email
Ex turpi causa non oritur actio
Eppure si rinfresca

ICBM Targeting Information:  http://tinyurl.com/4sqczs
http://tinyurl.com/7tp8ml

What?! You don't take blood thinners? Seriously, you will acclimate
somewhat, but get an assortment of sweaters. Our weather hovered around
20F for the better part of a week, and 32F felt balmy this morning. I
didn't even put on my gloves during a 3/4-mile walk with my dog. In a
culture that doesn't let us walk around nearly naked, it is easier to
dress for cold weather than for hot. I have jeans and flannel shirts
with quilted linings under my sweater and coat. (Mooch has only her fur
and she is at least as comfortable as I.) So cold with proper clothing
is easier on me than hot, although I bear that pretty well sitting down.
One 99/99 day in class (99F and 99% RH) my Eskimo class mate were the
only ones not dripping with sweat. I asked him how, given his background
-- he was born in an igloo -- he could seem so unaffected. He answered
with a cherubic smile, "I've been too hot and I've been too cold. Let me
tell you: too hot is better." That made me aware that there was a whole
dimension of "too cold" that I knew nothing of and hoped never to learn.

Jerry
--
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

On Feb 1, 11:15 am, bthache <btha...@yahoo.ca> wrote:

That's because they're really dinosaurs.

Or what survives of the dinosaurian stem.

230 million years and counting.

On 2/1/2010 4:26 PM, Larry Sheldon wrote:

Nuthatches!  How can I forget the Nuthatches that sit in the mystery
tree cheering me on when I out restocking?  ENH!  ENH!  ENH!

--
"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to
take everything you have."

Remember:  The Ark was built by amateurs, the Titanic by professionals.

Requiescas in pace o email
Ex turpi causa non oritur actio
Eppure si rinfresca

ICBM Targeting Information:  http://tinyurl.com/4sqczs
http://tinyurl.com/7tp8ml

I'll I've really spotted for days, in the yard, are juncos everywhere. Crows
on the wing and maybe the flash of a few blue jays.

Spotted a smaller hawk yesterday. I suspect it was a sharpie. Last week,
while stuck behind the trash pickup I saw something small and very blue. No
clues there.

Cheryl
In frigid southern NH

Cold in central NC too, with snow and ice melting slowly.  Saw the
first ruby crowned kinglet of the year on the suet feeder.  We have
almost no vultures this winter.

Steve
Fearrington Village

On Feb 1, 9:56 am, FriedaFro...@webtv.net (Frieda) wrote:

"Cheryl Isaak"

What were you doing stuck behind the trash pickup?

But seriously, folks.... Around the house I typically wear layers of a long
sleeve T-shirt, a flannel shirt, and either a fleece or a down vest. The
thermostat's set at 65 or 66 during the day. On a calm 25 or 30 degree day a
down jacket and gloves will suffice, and flannel-lined jeans keep the lower
half toasty. A fleece hat's a good idea, too. For blood thinners I keep a
bottle of Thunderbird.....  (kidding, just kidding)

When it's ridiculously cold I put on the big Eddie Bauer parka with the
hood, and a pair of Hotfingers gloves. Ooooh, that's nice. Maybe I'll
acclimate enough to wear just a t-shirt and shorts. Uh huh.

Spring's just around the corner, right?

Howard

Here in North Central Ohio at Dogwood Dell Farm,  we have had a rather mild
but cold Jan. with mild in the volumn of snowfall.  Feb. started by warming
up yesterday with sunshine and clear skies taking the temps up to 32°F in
the afternoon but back down into the teens last night.  Today Buckeye Chuck
did not see his shadow so perhaps winter will end early...fine with me.  It
got up to an overcast 40° F here this afternoon but back down to 32° at 7:30
pm.
Birds seem to be fairing well with Tree Sparrows, B.E. Juncos and Am.
Goldfinches being the most previlant followed by the usual visitors of
t.Titmice, Sparrows, h. Finches, Cardinals, Blue Jays..which have thinned
out along with the Morning Doves.  Lot of various kind of woodpecker have
pecked their way through lots of suet blocks with a nice male Red Bellied
visiting this PM.  He reminded me of the Golden Fronted ones we seen when we
went to TX (just no gold).  I have not seen or heard any Carolina Wrens this
winter either.  The snow has melted off the hillside again so may be a robin
might show up looking for some grub...  The farmer who rented our field came
to pick his corn but couldn't get his combine up the hill to the field due
to the slip and slide condition of the path going back there so the critters
still have their banquet table to eat from until then.  He was going to talk
to our neighbor about coming in from his side which is not as steep.
Our two Australian Shepherd pups are nearly full grown at 10 months and
enjoy giving the squirrels a chase out of the yard when they visit the
feeders along with a wayward glance at the birds that also fly away.  They
act just like kids who have been cooped up all day.

On 2/2/10 7:42 PM, in article hkagro$mt...@news.eternal-september.org,

Going to the library....

NOPE!

Cheryl

"Cheryl Isaak"   wrote

Damn. Well, at least this area's been pretty light on the snow so far. I do
like the snow, though - it "prettys" things up. Got about a half-inch
overnight, and a cardinal was at the hopper feeder. I hadn't seen him in
weeks.

Now here's something: I put out an upside-down tube feeder filled with
nyjer/nyger/thistle/whatever seed for the goldfinches. Not a single taker.
It's been over a couple weeks now. Is it the wrong season for this? The
goldfinches are eating only bosf's from the other feeders.

H

On 2/3/2010 9:09 AM, Howard Lester wrote:

We have two nyger (or what ever the PC name is this week) feeders
("right side up", I suppose--pegs below the slits).

One is a long-tube version some distance away fro the main feeding are
of the deck.  Last Spring, Summer, and Fall there was a queue for
seating a good lot of the day.  Now--no traffic.  I have not been able
to get to it safely because of snow and ice on the bridge and that part
of the deck.  It is only down a couple of inches--could be loss due to
banging around in fierce winds.

The other (short-tube version) is in the middle of the traffic between a
very popular BOSS feeder and a suet block that attracts some traffic.

This feeder needs (and gets) "topping off" every two or three days.
There is seldom a crowd, but one or two pegs occupied a good lot of the
daylight hours.

What does all that mean?

I have no clue.
--
"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to
take everything you have."

Remember:  The Ark was built by amateurs, the Titanic by professionals.

Requiescas in pace o email
Ex turpi causa non oritur actio
Eppure si rinfresca

ICBM Targeting Information:  http://tinyurl.com/4sqczs
http://tinyurl.com/7tp8ml

On Feb 1, 8:56 am, FriedaFro...@webtv.net (Frieda) wrote:

Going through 15 or so pounds of BOSS and another few pounds of
cracked corn daily.  Remnants of snow, with thaw and freeze, thaw and
freeze, etc.  Cardinals; black-caps; purple finches; titmice; downy's,
harry's, and redbellied woodpeckers; varieties of sparrows; MY NEW
CAROLINA WREN; junko's; swarms of winter uniformed goldfinches; and a
number of unidentifiable little brown snow scratchers.

All pushing and shoving at the feeders, lined up on the pulley-mounted
rope from which the feeders are suspended, rooting around in the
hanging baskets of table and cooking scraps -- they love bacon grease
poured over a shallow dish of cracked corn.

The pond is frozen with all kinds of interesting critter tracks in the
light snow covering it.  Not many deer, turkey or other guys visible.
They are probably holed up in the cedars over the hill.

Fireplace, feeders outside the windows, cheese, crackers and Scotch
within reach.

Life is good

cheers

oz, deep in the Ozarks