A Snowy Day

So what does one do on a snowy day that has cancelled one's plans for a lovely tea with a friend?  I wasn't in the mood to read or to do anything truly productive.  A case of the winter blahs, I suppose, after a week of bone-chilling cold and a couple of snows (and one more predicted snow that didn't materialize).  My oldest digital camera now lives on the dining room table, and when I noticed a robin on the (heated) birdbath, I grabbed the camera and took its picture.

In the next few minutes I began to notice the variety of guests who were utilizing the birdbath and taking advantage of the extra seeds I had scattered just outside the door on the deck, and the photography began in earnest.  Here are just some of the guests who visited my yard this afternoon.

Another American robin posed for me, although I think he was actually giving the camera a dirty look to persuade it to go away.

 A hairy woodpecker joined the club. It was nice to see him, since he hadn't been around lately.  His cousins, the downy woodpecker and the red-bellied woodpecker also showed up, but I was busy doing something else and wasn't quick enough to grab their pictures.

The Carolina chickadee has developed a taste for safflower seeds and he was sharing with Mrs. Cardinal.

 Mr. Cardinal was off doing his own thing, foraging on the deck.

Even the local mockingbird decided to come in for a drink.  He didn't look too thrilled with the snow or the ice on the rim of the birdbath.

The Carolina wren seemed to prefer to share the suet with the woodpeckers.  Since he can go through the mesh to eat, he doesn't pay much attention to the larger birds.

The area was filled with dark-eyed juncos, which is appropriate since they are colloquially known as "snowbirds" because of their coloration--leaden skies above and white underneath, like a snowy day.

 Not all of my guests were avian.  Mr. Busy Tailious thought I provided a nice afternoon snack, too.  Voracious little dickens!

But the bunch that gave me the biggest laugh was the conglomeration (convocation?) of robins at the birdbath.  They weren't interested in the seed, but they certainly did gather in numbers for the water.  I wonder what their topic of discussion might have been.  My guess would be, "Where the heck is spring!"