In this snowy and cold weather, birds depend on your feeders for their survival; the food they get may be that little bit extra that helps them survive.

Leonardo da Vinci does not make it into the bird news too often! He is well known as an artist. He is not so well known as a scientist.

This past week has produced five species not seen on the Christmas Bird Count: American kestrel, redpoll, bald eagle, redhead and piping plover.

Probably the best bird of the week is Dick Jennings’s observation of a common yellowthroat. It was hunkered down along a border of liriope.

A flock of seven or eight long-tailed parakeet types visited some caged parrots on a hillside between the Allen Farm and the Keith Farm.

There were some unusual sightings last weekend, including a Nashville warbler, but my impression of the past week is that birds were scarce.