Birding in the Snow - Daily Birding 📷 22 (Special Edition)

All photos in this post were taken through my binoculars

Yesterday I went out into the beautiful cold weather in search of local winter residents.
I knew a place that offers a much needed ingredient to keep warm, food. Feathers + food is the key to avian survival in the winter. I bundled up with high hopes and was not disappointed. I had previously seen plenty of American Robins and Cedar Waxwings at the location and thought I would see more of the same.

The American Robins were abundant and bold, flying from tree to tree to find the best spot for berries. They were chattering their 'tut-tut' call to one another and together they made quite a racket. With the snow piled on the branches and the birds hopping around almost constantly it would have been hard to get good shots if there weren't so many of them.

To choose good berries the birds would pick one up in their beak and move it around with their tongue. If they decided it was not up to their test they would toss it away.
In the photograph above, look carefully, you can see the bird's tongue manipulating the berry for inspection.

This bird is demonstrating a great feature of feathers, thermal protection. Fluffing out feathers creates air pockets between them that trap in body heat and keep cold air out. They pair this method with consuming a lot of food to produce more body heat, and they look adorable doing it.
Providing regularly cleaned feeders all winter long, that are protected from predators (from the ground and sky), will help keep your local residents fed and warm, and provide you with a great place for viewing. Make sure you are purchasing quality seed or most will end up on the ground just like the discarded berries.


Once I sat down to look though my photos the next couple came as a surprise. I wouldn't display them on their own but I wanted to share this moment with you. The black circle at the top of these photos is due to the camera lens slipping against the binoculars during shooting. The quality of the photos is not high enough to crop.

I didn't see the Cedar Waxwings until the end of my observations and shooting. They were up towards the very tops of the trees, keeping a pretty low profile. Once I noticed them, though, I found that their amazing acrobatics to get berries made it difficult to photograph them. I did get a few shots that I consider to be decent.

I was so grateful for the opportunity I had to photograph these inspiring winter residents.
I really adored the robin's rust color against the blue berries and crisp snow. I hope that these photos bring a new appreciation and awareness of this common North American species the American Robin.

Working closely with birds brings me a great deal of happiness.
On your adventures with birds make sure to give them their space, and do not pursue or harass them for a better look or picture, especially during their nesting season. These beautiful creatures deserve our respect as well as our love.


Thank you for visiting my daily birding photo-blog and check out my introduction post.

!steemitworldmap 40.692007 lat -111.814907 long d3scr