Montana birds

Winter in Montana is for the birds, literally. As long as we have black oil sunflower seeds and suet out, we get daily visits from chickadees, nuthatches, nutcrackers, flickers and 2 species of woodpeckers. An ocassional magpie will also come by and take advantage. Flickers are very skiddish, flying away at the least indication of human approach. Nuthatches are nervous nellies, constantly moving and making their barely audible chirping noises. Chickadees are the irresistible champions of winter in the Rockies, voicing their signature song and comfortably approaching their food, even when we are close by. Here is a female downy woodpecker in single digit temperatures showing off some high speed wing motion, examining its meal, and pecking at the tree trunk for bugs.