Survivor of the cold

The morning I took this photo the temperature was 6 degrees above zero. During the night, it had fallen to -2 degrees. I found a starling laying in the snow frozen to death, and I wondered why more little birds had not suffered the same fate.

How their tiny toes keep from freezing solid is a marvel of nature.

The songbird I photographed here is a female house finch. The male was close by, but I wasn't lucky enough to get them both in the same picture.

Finches have short sturdy beaks made for cracking seeds. They love black oil sunflower seeds and will come to a bird feeder crowded with other feeding birds such as titmice, chickadees and sparrows. Sometimes a house finch will fuss with a cardinal that tries to muscle its way into the feeder.