And how do songbirds sit on metal perches with no problem?
Recent research into three North American woodland bird species shows, however, that birds dining early and heavily may lower their life expectancy. Twenty-five years ago, there were twice as many Lesser and Greater Scaup in North America as there are today. Beginning in the Sixteenth Century, local lads would go forth for a yearly wren hunt.
The expected winter birds flutter past: chickadees, juncos, robins, even the lovely Varied Thrush.
And the rewards of feeding birds in your yard are mutual: smaller birds, which have high energy demands, benefit greatly from the food you provide during the colder months. The evidence and theories are complex.
The ducks seem oblivious to the cold, even as they stand on ice-covered lakes and streams.
Only a few are harmful. One crow is just a crow.
And scaup love to eat them. The prey may change hands several times, perhaps from harrier to Peregrine to eagle.
But throughout history, the owl has received mixed reviews.
There is an element of luck in birdwatching, and sometimes that luck is mostly bad.
The Tundra Swan is a bit smaller. The ducks seem oblivious to the cold, even as they stand on ice-covered lakes and streams.
Ornithologists generally agree that they are Scarlet-fronted Parakeets, thousands of miles away from their native Central America.
Twenty-five years ago, there were twice as many Lesser and Greater Scaup in North America as there are today. The smallest woodpecker in the United States, it turns up everywhere there are a few trees, except in the dry deserts of the Southwest and in Hawaii. Urban owls escape the harsh weather of northern Canada or the Cascade or Rocky Mountains, spending the winter in somewhat milder climes.
On one of these islands, Mauritius, these sailors were the first Europeans to lay eyes on the odd, flightless bird known as the Dodo.