Remembering Snow Day 2009

It’s now fairly obvious to us in Cary that the odds on additional frozen precipitation this winter are getting vanishingly small, leaving us with the memory of a mere five days with flurries or very light snow and just one day with significant snow (5” here). That was January 20th, which was also cold—for Cary (a 35 degree F high) and breezy (up to 20 mph sustained). As expected, it was a very lively day at my feeder station. I recorded 14 species on the BirdCam pointed at my tube feeders, and I spotted several others visiting other feeders during the day, including those birds normally averse to feeders such as Chipping Sparrows and Rufus Sided Towhees. This was not a record performance: my best day was 16 species photographed (on a suet basket last February.) But it was a very interesting show for this observer. And Jennifer thought that I “made a lot of friends” that day. That more than made up for the inconvenience of the snow.