Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 23:30:51 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Jason Waanders Subject: Snow eating/drinking MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable To avoid cabin fever, I took a neighborhood walk today, going down = Soapstone Valley into Rock Creek Park. Without a walk to shovel or any = need to drive anywhere, I was able to just appreciate the beauty and = novelty of the snow. No unusual species around, but I did see one thing = of interest. =20 A female Hairy Woodpecker was working on a trunk right on the edge of = Beach Drive (just past the gate, closed to cars today). After posing = nicely for a minute, she flew to a neighboring tree, paused, and then = reached over and ate some snow off the top of a branch. I guess it = shouldn't have surprised me to see a bird get water this way, esp. since = Hairies range into parts much colder than here. But still interesting = to see. Jason Waanders NW DC jwaanders@starpower.net =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =========================================================================