{"id":3038,"date":"2022-02-12T22:40:38","date_gmt":"2022-02-12T22:40:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jimhphoto.com\/?p=3038"},"modified":"2025-03-20T21:01:31","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T21:01:31","slug":"birds-in-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimhphoto.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/12\/birds-in-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"Birds In Winter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Blue Jay looks out into a Minnesota snowstorm…<\/p>\n\n\n

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Here in Minneapolis, there aren’t many colorful birds, but we have something else that’s special: a harsh, snowy winter. I photograph birds dealing with winter adversity – by staying calm and conserving energy, avoiding the wind, and finding enough food to sustain their high metabolisms – and also by facing right into the storm when necessary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minnesota birds know how to find enough to eat – except on days when the weather makes it really <\/em>difficult. In sub-zero cold they have to eat more often and move around less; but the real threat is snowstorms that blanket their food sources, sometimes under impenetrable ice. On those days, birds can die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I don’t see fear in the eye of his Cardinal, just determination; he’s been through it all before and knows what he has to do.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Bird species vary in their food requirements, and in how long they can go without <\/em>food if necessary. Larger birds can last days, but for the tiny ones the margin is thin and winter mortality is higher. In a particularly bad year, half of the birds may not survive, and human-supplied food supplements can make a critical difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A bad storm can cover up the natural food sources that a particular bird depends on, pushing it out of its comfort zone. Flickers usually stay high in the trees and eat only on the ground, but this one sat on a low branch for a while, waiting out the heavy wet snow coming down.<\/p>\n\n\n

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In very early spring, a snowstorm can hit just as birds are getting ready for the breeding season and need to put on weight – so they visit feeders more frequently. The big flakes are photogenic, and the sun is higher, sometimes even peeking through the clouds as the snow is still swirling around. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Birds may seem stoic, but they feel the stress of uncertainty in harsh conditions. Sometimes, after eating a feeder, a bird may move to a nearby branch, fluff its insulating feathers and just rest for while. This Northern Junco is looking around, calmly… maybe reflecting on what sort of a winter it’s turning out to be…. and on what the sky is saying…. <\/p>\n\n\n

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A Blue Jay looks out into a Minnesota snowstorm…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[653],"tags":[364,643,642,644,645,300,277,339],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-3038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-myphotography","tag-birds","tag-blue-jay","tag-cardinal","tag-flicker","tag-junco","tag-minnesota","tag-photography","tag-winter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimhphoto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimhphoto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimhphoto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimhphoto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimhphoto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jimhphoto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3038\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimhphoto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimhphoto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimhphoto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3038"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimhphoto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=3038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}