More snow and cold for SE Colo

Boy, what a winter this is--though it snows in the mountainous areas throughout the winter, the lower elevations of SE Colo generally don't get that much snow and certainly not week after week of it. Today Canon City and this area is getting several inches of snow. Tomorrow night an arctic front marches down bringing more snow and awfully cold temps. This photo is one I took recently of the Arkansas River near here.

We are now concerned that many bird species are suffering big loses from the continued snow cover in the lower Arkansas Valley. Though uncomfortable in my area, the snow cover is not deep. However I continue feeding black-oil sunflower seed in a feeder and white proso-milet on the ground as well as keeping my bird water heater plugged in for the juncos, sparrows, House Finches and Mourning Doves in my neighborhood.

Yesterday a small flock of Blue Jays were squawking in a neighbors yard. In winter they usually are eating the food they have cached in the fall so I was surprised at their visit (they usually come in the fall to get seed and nuts to cache). I found some nuts and put out some sunflower seeds on the top of a tree trunk (they have trouble accessing seed in feeders) for them. Though I am trying to add more native plants to provide food and shelter for birds instead of feeding, I just feel that in really cold and snowy weather it might be helpful to provide supplemental feed especially since some folks who feed birds stop doing so when the weather makes it uncomfortable to them.
SeEtta

Common birds of winter--Dark-eyed Juncos

Thank goodness, temps in Canon City have been around 50 for the past 2 days with another 50+ day forecast for tomorrow. Lots of the snow from the last several storms is melting and someday my driveway will be dry. This is a good time to focus on one common bird of winter in SE Colorado, the Dark-eyed Junco.



Dark-eyed Juncos are winter residents throughout much of eastern Colorado, moving down to lower elevation areas in the fall then returning in the spring to Colorado's high country. A member of the sparrow family, they are easily drawn to one's yard by tossing some white-proso millet on the ground near some shrubbery or other protective vegetation (where they can quickly return in case a hawk comes hunting for a small bird snack).

The birds in both of these photos are of the Gray-headed race of Dark-eyed Junco. The bird in the bottom photo was just dropping down to the ground (a close look, by double-clicking on the photo, reveals that both feet are off the ground/snow)

SeEtta