It seems that one reader or another always comes through when we run out of photos. (But after today, we’ll be in that situation again!) The helper today is Pratyaydipta Rudra, a statistics professor at Oklahoma State University. Pratyay’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them. Pratyay and his wife Sreemala have a big bird-and-butterfly website called Wingmates.
There was a terrible ice storm in North-Central Oklahoma in October, 2020. It was extremely cold, raining all day, and the trees were having a hard time surviving with all the ice on them. Several trees fell in our neighborhood, and a lot of others lost big branches. The birds had a tough time. It was good to see that the tough little Yellow-rumped Warblers were quite resilient. This particular bird was actually quite active hopping around the icicles to catch insects (frozen food?). Here’s an image of it posing with a catch.
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata) with a spider catch:
The icicles on the branches and the leaves created some interesting shapes with “frozen hearts” and “ice covered pecans” abound! Everything was quite photogenic, but it was hard for the birds.
A Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger) navigating the icy terrain:
I found several hungry Yellow-rumped Warblers jumping around among the icicles.
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos):
Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) in the rain:
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina):
As this was not enough, a huge snowstorm rolled in 3 months later which nearly killed off all our local bluebirds. I have not seen a storm like that one in Oklahoma, but that’s for another day.
Oh wow ice like that is sooo beautiful … I want to photograph everything!
Beautiful!
Thank you for these unique photos in the weather and for the link to your very nice Wingmates website.
Very nice. Love the Eastern Bluebird picture! It is amazing to me how such small creatures with such high surface-to-volume ratios can survive and even thrive in the cold. You’d think they’d use up all their energy and then some just to keep from freezing.
It really is amazing. Some of them drop their heart rate to go to a state almost like hibernation for preserving energy.
Loved them all, especially the Eastern Bluebird in the rain. Looks like it’s not at all happy with the rain.
Did the birds have any noticeable problems traversing the ice-covered branches?
Good question. I didn’t see any, probably because these small birds mostly hop along instead of running therefore keeping their center of gravity well positioned and the claws come in handy when they land. I have seen bigger birds like Sandhill Cranes slip on the ice when they try to run.
Beautiful photos! I love the ice sculptures with the birds.
The animals are beautiful as is the ice. Thank you.
Beautiful!
Pratyaydipta Rudra, you should publish a book of your stunning photos.
Thank you. You are too kind.
Your pictures are gorgeous. Unusually sharp and aesthetic. So sad about the bluebirds.
Appreciate all of your comments. Thank you, everyone!