Sunday, December 8, 2013

The Cold Continues

As the sun rose this morning the temperature is all of 3F (-16C).

We still look very much like a Winter Wonderland.

I finally got the chance to see my Acorn Woodpeckers at the feeders.  This is the female.

There are lots of Song Sparrows

and Towhees...

and Scrub Jays...

...and female Juncos...

..and male Juncos...

...and the ever-amazing Anna's Hummingbirds.  
We're having to change out the feeders every hour to keep them from freezing up. 

There are numerous Golden-crowned Sparrows as well.

My little male Downy Woodpecker has been eating his fill.

The California Quail though may top the charts as the most remarkable winter birds.  Do you see all the long narrow paths in the snow?  The quail created them acting as little avian snowplows pushing the snow as to create paths from the berm to the bird food at my feeders.  So much work!  They had to  push over 8" of snow around to make their routes to the food.

This cold will continue a couple of more days, and then we will finally, finally, finally warm up!

10 comments:

Melody said...

The cold has made it's way to us as well. Way too cold for December! These temps are more what we see in January and February! As always, I love seeing your birds.

Snow is falling this morning, but we aren't supposed to get much. Your house is so pretty.
Hope you have a good week!

Giovanna said...

Goodness, that's cold... Your birds must be very grateful to you, you're a real angel for them :-)

Maggee said...

Look at those paths the quail made--I never knew of that behavior before--how cool! Thanks for the beautiful picture of your house... and the trees... all so pretty! Hugs!

Catherine said...

So beautiful! Finally getting some snow here today ~ tight of you as I had a pair of cardinals at my feeder!

Pam in IL said...

Our air is super cold, the snow is falling and the ground is white. However, unlike you, we won't be having any warmer days for a long time to come.

Love seeing your snow and birds though.

Margaret said...

My gosh, those poor birds! So cool how the quail made those paths. I bet you can't wait for the warm up!

Barb said...

I will be so glad to get to warmer weather. You must be colder than we are. Our feeder stays liquid almost all day. It is in what little sun we have. My DH gets it out very early after dark when we take it in, it has frozen. We have seen our little bird thank goodness!

Carol said...

Oh, that is unbelievably cold for your area, Beth!! And here I am complaining about our 20 degrees this morning!! Hope the birdies are learning to adapt :)

Andrea said...

- 16!!! Good grief!

Athena at Minervas Garden said...

And not a moment too soon for the rain to return (I can't believe I said that!) The birds are amazing. Quail are so beautiful--we don't have any here, but my parents do on their farm in Eastern Washington--so pretty.