Birds in Winter

I am always impressed by how well our feather friends deal with the bitter winter weather. I noticed down at Bosque that the grackles were congregating on a heated railroad substation at night crowding onto the roof while the cranes were content to be frozen into the ponds at night!

Then this magpie was having a sauna on my furnace vent the other day!

Whatever it takes I guess!

I agree Bill. It is very impressive that these little creatures can survive in freezing weather. Seeing ducks along the Credit River (near Toronto, Canada) in bitter cold weather on one leg and approximating a sphere (minimum surface area to volume ratio) with their bodies, I figured that they were minimizing heat loss. They do. However, a bit of research showed that they do these things in summer too, partly for the same reason but also for others (e.g.: they’re comfortable that way). I guess it just means that sometimes their coping behaviors can have more than one origin.

When heat is going to waste, e.g. someone is keeping a door open in winter, we say that "the heat is going to the magpies"

Thanks Katja, oddly enough my daughter in law is from Finland and she is flying there today from Switzerland where she now lives. I guess she is going to the cold!! Hopefully they'll keep the door shut!
I was out birding with a group the other day and I made the observation about how the birds do so well in the freezing water and said why don't humans wear "duck coats". Then someone pointed out that I was wearing a down jacket! Silly me.