A cold dreary slushy day- clear weather is out for today. We're due for a few inches of snow and slush later this afternoon after this morning's 1/4" of wet heavy snow. Suet feeder was empty this morning, so a new cake went out in the cage. The local pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers usually discover it pretty quickly, as do the Starlings. Most of the time the woodpeckers drive the Starlings off as shown- but the Starlings sometimes prevail by weight of numbers. I noticed that the Starlings were taking baths in the small pond this morning when the temperature was only about 35 degrees or so, getting pretty wet in the process. The water in the pond can't be much warmer than freezing- the only reason there's any open water is that there's a pump circulating water from the big pond into the small one to keep an open area for oxygenating the water.
I have to give starlings credit, if grudgingly, for their ability to not only survive but thrive in our presence...one of our camp followers in habitat degradation.
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