We woke up to about 2" of snow this morning - the first here in several years. Bird activity has been intense around our feeders and heated birdbath. I imagine most of the rest of you got more than we did.
Anyway, the snow brought us 2 new yard birds, an unusual thing now, as we have lived here 6 years. First was a Wilson's Snipe. It flew in onto our covered patio about 1:45, and walked out onto the adjacent pea gravel, then abruptly flew off. It seemed to be attracted to bare ground, but there was nothing to probe.
The second around 4:40 was 2 Rusty Blackbirds. They mostly hid in our big loose hedgerow, but 1 walked out on the snow under one of our feeders.
The connection seems to be that both are primarily wetland birds, and their usual haunts around here are frozen solid and blanketed in snow.
