Snow Birding

Last weekend it was too cold to go birding.  This weekend it was too snowy.  Although the temperature was better for birding (only -9°C compared to -19°C), it snowed all day on Saturday and all morning on Sunday. I can’t say that I am impressed with the weather so far this year; good birding days  – at least during the weekends – have been few and far between. 

In defiance of the snow, however, I decided to go out to Jack Pine Trail on Saturday morning.  I haven’t been out for a walk in the woods in a while, and this time when I arrived the feeder was humming with activity.  Several chickadees, a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches, a White-breasted Nuthatch, a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers and a single Downy Woodpecker were all visiting the feeders.  At least one Dark-eyed Junco was flitting about in the shrubs behind the feeders, and I even saw two Blue Jays and a brilliant male Northern Cardinal patiently waiting in the trees nearby.  While I usually see one or two jays hanging around the feeders, the cardinals don’t stop by very often.  In fact, the cardinals are more frequently seen – and heard – during the warmer months of year.