Fretting about the Birds

The temperature was a bit nippy yesterday and I fretted about the welfare of the birds that have to deal with it.   I kept telling myself they are built to withstand the cold, otherwise they would have migrated with their distant cousins to places where the temperature isn't 23 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.

Nonetheless, it was an occasion for extra provisions for the magpies, Steller's jays, pine grosbeaks, chickadees both black-capped and boreal, and the red-breasted nuthatches that visit my front deck.


Fluffing up their feathers to create warm air pockets is one way they stay warm.  The colder it gets, the rounder the birds get.  

Yesterday, there was a new indicator of cold affecting birds.

Meet Frosty the Steller's jay.

Even the black-capped chickadees found some surfaces too cold for their tootsies.

Some took it in stride.

And others, if they get any rounder, their feathers will be sticking straight out.