The wind is howling, the thermometer is at 10 degrees, and I’m sticking close to home. Fortunately, I filled the feeders yesterday and today, and the neighborhood birds are flocking to them.
My wife and I looked up from our cheesesteak lunches to find a beautiful Northern flicker perched on one of the shepherd’s hooks. The bird’s yellow tail feathers shone brightly in the sun. Intermittently, gusts of wind fluffed up other feathers, reminding us of the wind-chill effect, at -9 as I write this sentence.
The flicker didn’t seem to mind the chill, nor did the dark-eyed juncos clustered on the ground plucking the nyjer seeds dislodged from the tube feeder. I did watch a white-throated sparrow seemingly tuck down into the snow below one of our shrubs as a wind gust blew in.
In the back corner of our lot, a red-bellied woodpecker hammered insistently in one of the trees below where a branch had been sawed off.
We also had a surprise visitor, the first American goldfinch of the year. It appeared to be a male in winter plumage. It chomped nyjer seeds from the tube feeder.
I’m glad these birds are hardy enough to withstand the bitter cold. I’m grateful that they found sustenance in our yard and wish them well on this, likely the coldest weekend of this winter. 🦅
The Jersey Birder 
I like the double in the lead photo!
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