Long-tailed Tits on ice

On Friday I searched for Pine Grosbeaks in the valley without finding any or anything else of note but with luck I will find some also here before the winter is finished. The Scaup and Great Grey Shrike were still going strong and a small flock of Long-tailed Tits were interestingly searching for food on the ground. I have seen them very occasionally on the ground before but here the whole flock of ca.8 birds was on the deck and it wasn’t a forest floor but on ice with a thin layer of snow on the top with vegetation sticking up through the ice. I’ve no idea what food they were finding here but would imagine that it was insects of some sort – not that there are many around at the moment.

Long-tailed Tit (stjertmeis) finding food in the snow

Great Grey Shrike