11º BELOW ZERO AND SNOW BUNTINGS

Yes, the porch thermometer read -11 Saturday (Jan 4) morning when I took Blake for his morning walk.  Chilly!  And invigorating!!  Nice to have some real winter.  I know, I know, I am probably in the minority here, but I love the way the snow crunches and the brisk feel when it is truly cold.  Just bundle up and don't stay out too long and it is great!  Not so good for our homeless, though...  Hopefully, they all found someplace to get in out of the cold.

And Sunday, Snow Buntings!  Two of them.  It is a life bird for Linda & I.  I took Blake to Haskell Field to do some cross-country skiing (I skied; Blake ran).  Got out of the car and was greeted by two birds doing the most gorgeous aerial patterns!  No binoculars (sigh), but I could tell I'd never seen these birds before.  Skiing would have to wait!  I've never seen the Snows before, but "Snow Bunting" was the first thing that came to my mind.  Actually, that isn't true - the Killdeer was the first bird that came to mind because of the way they ran around and the breastband, but I quickly realized it wasn't Killdeer.  Snow Buntings?  No, couldn't be.  I've never seen them here.  Hmm... my phone apps say they winter here.  The picture of winter adults kinda looks like these birds.  Maybe.  But there are no pictures of flying birds so I can see the underside of the wings; these guys had gorgeous white wings with large black tipping.

They hung around for a long time, flitting from one place to another and back again.  Seemed to be eating from the bare spots where there was some grass, seeds or gravel, and sometimes on the snowbanks where there was gravel pushed up with the snow.  I watched for 10 or 15 minutes then decided to ski.  Out on the snow I realized that these guys acted like they would be staying around here, so I called Linda to see if she wanted to come down with the binoculars and added, "Bring the new Crossley; it will have under wing pictures!" (A Christmas present!).  Blake and I continued our skiing/running until she arrived.  Perfect snow for him - soft, but not too deep.  He was so happy to finally be out running that if the snow hadn't been getting sticky, I think he could have easily pulled me!

Linda showed up maybe a half hour after I had first arrived and we easily found the birds again.  Yup.  Snows.  COOL!!!  After we watched for a while, I went home and got my camera and came back.  The pix is a bit grainy cuz it was getting dark and I had to shoot ISO 1600 with a longish lens.  According to the books, the Snows tend to stay in one place, so maybe I can go back and get better pictures later this week.  

If you go looking for them, go into the parking lot off Fairbank Road and go strIGHT back to the fields, staying on the Hudson Road side of the lots.  If you stand facing the main fields, Hudson on your left and the playground on your right, they were flitting around in the corner of the parking lot where the trash receptacles are.  They were on the snow banks, in the gravel/grass, sometimes near the dog bag area and sometimes on the side of the parking lot, opposite the playground.  Watch for very light-winged birds flitting in the air and running on the ground.  When they eat, they are hard to see - they blend right in.  Let me know if you see them, meanwhile, enjoy the cold and snow.  (Oh... it is raining.  ICK!)

Our Pileated Woodpecker is still here and active.  :-)