Highlights of a late morning walk through Warner Meadows and Hillside 
Cemetery in Norwich this morning:

Location:     Warner Meadows
Observation date:     12/30/07
Number of species:     12


Brown Creeper     1
Golden-crowned Kinglet     2 (first I've seen since late fall)
Bohemian Waxwing     5
Cedar Waxwing     110+
House Finch     1
American Goldfinch     2

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/vt)

A number of the waxwings were foraging on the trunks and branches of a large, dying butternut and an adjacent white ash.  Several birds were distinctly eating snow piled in the crevices where branches joined the trunk.  I couldn't tell what they were eating, but it appeared as if they were simply eating the snow.  There was nothing to suggest the waxwings were visually picking anything from the snow, rather gulping it in chunks.  See this video of a House Finch doing the same http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbuLxNFLHh8.  Searching quickly on the web, I found a few references to snow eating by birds in the published literature, but no good explanations.  They may have been "drinking", although there was a flowing brook  <50 feet away.  Interesting behavior.

Chris

****************
Chris Rimmer
Vermont Center for Ecostudies
P.O. Box 420
Norwich, VT 05055
802-649-1431 ext. 1
www.vtecostudies.org

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