A winter weather advisory was issued for our area today. The funny thing is, I don’t need the news to let me know when bad weather is headed my direction – I have my backyard birds! If there is sleet or snow in the forecast, they tend to get a bit frenzied.
Today was no exception. In the morning hours, before the icy rain started clinking down on the deck, my mini-meteorologists were frantically flitting about. The feeders were all occupied, but the most sought after spot was the heated water dish. Bird after bird showed up for a drink. I think their instincts must let them know that fresh water might soon be hard to come by.
Here are several birds that stopped by to take advantage of a free, unfrozen beverage.
I think this layout makes it look like I had the Brady Bunch over for a drink!
Backyard Bird Nerd 
It does look like The Brady Bunch! I agree with you too; I notice my birds start getting frantic too when bad weather’s on the way. We’re under a Blizzard watch! argh! Love your photos, Kathy (as always). I think the bluebirds are my favorites of this batch. Thanks for sharing!
The birds were moving so fast it was hard to get them in focus!
Any snow there yet?
Nope, not til tomorrow night, according to the current prediction. Blizzard watch up! I’m still hoping & praying it blows out to sea hehe. How about you?
Love the brady bunch layout of birdie beauties! How did you do it? You must be studying that book! 🙂
Indeed – the book has been helpful. And if you want to set up photos like this – when you are writing your post, click insert media and then click create gallery. It will give you options on how to lay the pictures out, but you won’t see what it really looks like til you hit the preview button. 🙂
Thanks for the tip!!
A beautiful showcase of birds Kathy, and yes they know before we do when the weather is changing. If our Aussie Kookaburras do a special laughing episode in the middle of the day (because they always laugh at dawn and sunset anyway) it means rain is on the way, and usually within 8 hours it will rain, even before visible clouds. The ants are running also, so it is true it will rain here this afternoon or evening. We could do with some icy rain at the moment we are in a spell pf heat waves. of over 100 degrees F each day.
Shared that bit about the Kookaburras with my family…pretty interesting stuff!
It always astounds me how animals know when trouble’s on the way, like bad weather or floods. If only humans were so tuned into nature, we might not have done so much damage…
Oh, I’ll bet with all the animals you get to see you have some stories to tell!
Wow I wasn’t aware of this fact about birds! Thanks for sharing Kathy👍🏼😊 Beautiful photographs as usual 😍😍😍
You’re welcome. A couple of years ago we had a big snow storm hit out of the blue here in Georgia. My birds were acting so crazy that I went and picked my daughter up early from school. Was so glad I did – we missed getting stranded by about ten minutes!
Oh My God! That must be scary for a moment!
Party at Kathy’s! Lovely photos as always!
It was quite festive!
I don’t know how you catch these birds in all their splendor with such focus. Do you have a tripod set up close by? And, heated water bowl for the birds? Never heard of that. Anyway, great pics.
No tripod. I think they just get used to the hand that feeds them! And trust me, for every ten pictures that I post there are ten times that many that I trash!
And you can buy a water dish that, if you have an outside outlet, you can plug in and keep the water from freezing. It is wonderful!
LOL I had a big laugh on the brady bunch similarity! 🙂 Awesome captures, so glad our birds know and can prepare for upcoming inclement weather.
Prefer your version of the Brady Bunch, much cuter by far. But I am showing my age if I admit I did watch The Brady Bunch as a kid living in Australia, I was fascinated with American TV shows. I just look at the ants for the weather forecast, they usually know when its time pack up and move to higher ground. The birds seem to disappear here.
You are the second person from Australia who has told me they watch the ants…that is actually quite cool.
Over here in the United States, Australia (and the lovely accent of those who live there) holds such allure!