Winter Birds

If there's one thing I love, it's winter. The -40'C we hit with windchill? Well that's just a badge of honor to me. I wouldn't live in Winnipeg if I couldn't handle winter...it lasts 6 months here...sometimes longer.

I'm the first to admit that I miss the hoards of brightly coloured birds that frequent my feeders during the warmer months. There's something special to me about house sparrows though.

They're the only bird that stays at my feeders all winter long. I get the occasional woodpecker and starling, which is fantastic, but what is it about these little birds that makes them so special to me?

Maybe I see just a little bit of myself in them or maybe I see them a as symbol of tough Winnipeggers, facing tough winters. Even in the most adverse weather they survive...call them the cockroach of the bird world if you like...but they do what needs to be done in order to keep going.

And today I think that maybe I'll take a page from that playbook...