Chirps and Cheeps

We've been enjoying an uncommonly warm and mild winter here in Western New York. Today, however, brought a blast of winter with over 40 mph winds and at least 6 inches of snow in our neck of the woods.  Snow always brings the birds flocking to the feeders, so, taking a break from some tedious work with Regular Expressions and screen scraping, (geek talk), I took a long lunch with my camera in front of the kitchen windows and grabbed some photos of the birds enjoying all the treats I set out for them.  Barth's Bird Bistro was bustling!

Oh, and you'll note that in one of the pictures, a male House Finch is sitting on top of our discarded Christmas tree.  I read that a good purpose for your tree is propping it somewhere near your bird feeders or heated bird baths to provide additional cover from predators for our little friends.  So, that's just what I did - I put it right near the heated bird bath.  Yep; we have a heated bird bath!