Every morning when we went out for a dog walk we filled up the bird feeders. The birds would be watching and chattering, as if they knew. It is interesting to observe their behavior in these harsh times. They maintain their hierarchy. Black birds, woodpeckers and nuthatches chase off the smaller tits and finches. But all the birds had their turn feeding. And all the kilos of high energy bird seeds bought made the local pet shop owner a very happy man. 

Our small garden pond had frozen over, but every morning we created a hole in the ice so that the birds had access to water. Because the birds eat more seeds to keep warm they get thirsty. So in spite of subzero temperatures, the birds came out to drink from our pond or where simply eating snow. While doing so the birds were quite skittish as if the knew a sparrow hawk was watching them.

It is cool that by simply spending more time in the garden you get to know the animals around. This offers photo opportunities, but it still takes a lot of patience to get nice pictures of them.