Thoughts about winter and tough little birds

Well, winter has made an big show this year. Missouri can be brown and unpredictably mild or frigid. But this year it's been very predictable: unrelenting cold and snow.

We returned from our trip to Mississippi the day after Christmas to find a winter storm had dumped about 8 inches of snow on the Kansas City area. The temperatures weren't too bad, so it was nice to get outside the next day to shovel the driveway and listen to the birds. - Good to be home.

The next week brought incredible cold to the area and more snow. The birds flocked to the feeders outside my dining room. I've counted at least 6 male cardinals and groups of 5 titmice and 5 chickadees at the same time. This photo shows a cardinal in the big burr oak next to the deck and a pink house finch on the feeder. The snow was light but constant the entire day.

Even though it's been at least a decade since we've seen it, our Zone 5 is known to drop down to -10 or -20. The forecast high for today was 0º F. with sunny skies. The sun made the snow clinging to the trees and branches even more beautiful.

As I look out my windows, there are so many reasons to be thankful for the gardener who lived here before me. The purple coneflowers that I left standing attract goldfinches and juncos, but I have seen as many as three cardinals sitting in the plum tree as others forage among the seedheads

Today I watched as a streak of electric blue stopped in that rather scraggly plum. It was a female eastern bluebird. A few minutes later she flew to the pine trees and a male landed in her place. After reading in the Missouri Conservationist that these birds don't tolerate our coldest temperatures well, I was worried to see them out in this weather. I'm hopeful they found food to fuel them at my feeders. These spruce trees at the northwest corner of my home as well as the pines planted nearby should also provide some shelter in these coldest of days. And again I am thankful to the person who thought to position them so well.
The windows on that end of the house look out right into those trees and occasionally I'm given a closeup view of the ever-present cardinals. On the west side of the house is an overgrown forsythia that's as tall as the house. I watch the birds as they forage among the buds and wonder what it is they seek. I can hear them peeping as they congregate in what must be a favorite spot.

This morning I heard another bird that has a distinctive call - a white-throated sparrow. As I watched from one window, then the next, I finally caught sight of the little brown bird. It looks much like those very common, but not native, house sparrows. But this bird is native, at least in winter, in our area. unlike the house sparrow, the white throated sparrow has a white throat and a black and white striped cap. The distinctive call is a high thin whistle, with two notes followed by a series of 3 quick notes repeated 3 times. It sounds a little like, "old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody," or I've also seen it written as "pure sweet Canada Canada Canada." Either way works and even if it's not the entire phrase just a few notes will make me stop to look for the source.

Well, the sun is out today and it's still cold. But looking out my front door I see an encouraging future - my sunroom in progress :-)

Even though I had intended this as a sunny spot for birdwatching this winter, it seems obvious that the person here before created a solution for me with wonderful trees that bring the birds close. But next year this will be my spot, I think. My huge ficus and Norfolk pine will have plenty of light and space to grow. And I will have a happy, sunny place to enjoy a few tropical blooms and even more of the hardy little birds that seem oblivious to temperatures that even the snow-lovers among us avoid.


Meanwhile, you have my admiration and appreciation little carolina wren. Thanks for your loud and cheerful song. I'll make sure to keep that feeder filled :-)