With yesterday's harsh wintery weather, I wondered if birding this morning would be a gloomy experience. Would I find Ruby-crowned Kinglets struggling on the ground searching in vain for insects that weren't there? I wondered how the birds were faring in the cold and snow, but I thought it might be too depressing to watch. The curious naturalist eventually won over the sentimentalist and I'm happy to report that the birds are doing fine. I observed Yellow-rumped Warblers eating dead insects on frozen puddles. Kinglets were finding bugs on honeysuckle. Hermit Thrushes were turning over leaves and finding food items. Insects that hadn't succumbed to the overnight cold were under bridges where Eastern Phoebes and Yellow-rumps were making meals out of them. Another group of Yellow-rumps were hunting through the rocks under the Parmenter Street bridge, just like the one in the video during the bad weather on Saturday. It was also interesting how comparatively easy it was to spot thrushes on the snow-covered forest floor.
Hermit Thrush © 2011 Mike McDowell