The creek was half iced and the thermometer read 14°F when I got up to a mostly clear sky whit a few puffs of sunrise-tinted cumulus. A white throat crouched on the step, keeping its toes covered with feathers. I poured hot water in the birdbath and scattered some chopped peanuts. Hungry birds included titmice, then sparrows, this Carolina wren, juncos, chickadees, a pine warbler, and both downy woodpeckers. Out on the open water there were hooded mergansers, mallards and pintails. Gulls and a heron flew over.
By lunch time the birdbath was refrozen. The creek still had ice over half its surface. White throats and juncos were still busy on the ground and titmice, finches, and chickadees were joined on the seed feeder by more white throats. On the suet, the woodpeckers were interrupted by a brown thrasher. A Cooper's hawk flew past, pursued by a crow. Apparently the feeder birds knew it was no threat. Meanwhile several egrets and a great blue heron stood in a row along the bulkhead downstream in the sun. They often do this when it is very cold.
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