tufted titmouse

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By Jordan Lake Neighborhood and How to tell the Weather is COLD! 5 photos, 11-28-2018
Jordan Lake Dam Neighborhood and How to Tell it is Cold without using a Thermometer!
 
Anytime a bird, like this eastern bluebird, is as round as it is tall, it is cold.
Fluffing one’s feathers traps air and warms the bird.
Having found a patch of sunlight and using the trunk of the pine tree as a block to the wind, this tufted titmouse is warm.
A well-rounded and therefore warmer, pine warbler is looking for another tasty pine seed for its breakfast.
The eastern phoebe is a flycatcher,
but in the cold weather will feed on small berries and any insect or spider lured out in the open by a patch of warm sunshine.
This great blue heron, while stalking a rival, has done just what the smaller birds do, and become well-rounded and fluffed against the cold.

By calcium dose

I watched this tufted titmouse land on the shoreline of Jordan Lake.
These birds are seen and heard all year here.
But, I had never seen one pick up a fresh water mussel shell.
He flew to a branch with it, clutched it in his feet, and held it tightly against the branch.
Then he proceeded to nip off and swallow pieces of the shell.
Birds need calcium, especially during the egg-laying time of the year.
Very interesting to watch this titmouse getting his calcium dose.
Note the piece of string littering the shoreline – I picked it up as soon as the bird finished what he wanted of the shell. I detest trash!

WALK9627 May 21 2015 08-04-30 EbenezerTitmouse mussel shell 1