a flock of visitors on a snowy day - common redpoll and a lone red-breasted nuthatch

It's Monday again, and snowing again. It's cold out too, about 10 degrees, and so the snow is soft and powdery. It's just been sifting down steadily all day with no signs of stopping any time soon. It's very beautiful, but not exactly my favorite type of spring weather. 

We're stuck at home today because of the snow, but we had some nice visitors stop by to say (a rather loud) hello this morning. A huge flock of Common Redpoll having been coming to our bird-feeder over the last couple of days, and this morning it seemed like there were twice as many as there were yesterday. I could just sit and watch them for hours. They are so very busy, and loud and constantly in motion.

one lone Red-Breasted Nuthatch was in the group

the rest of the flock,
waiting for their turn at the feeder

Riggs loved watching them, he laughed and pointed and then just silently stared while they hopped and swooped and flitted about. I loved seeing the wonder on his face, such a special moment. I think we'll put up another bird-feeder outside his winter at some point this summer so he can watch them when he wakes up in the morning.

These little birds are pretty feisty, and it was very interesting to see their little power struggles playing out over the food. There seemed to be a few in particular that were very bossy. This poor little guy was just sitting on the fence, minding his own business, and one of the bossier birds stopped eating suddenly, and flew over to chase him off.

I shot some video too, the first video I've shot with my new camera. I need to work on my videography skills, but I think the video's accurately demonstrate how loud and how busy these little birds are.





I hope you have a very happy Monday, and if you're in the Anchorage/Valley area, stay safe out there in the snow!