The only thing worse than being scooped on a “Patch Bird” is failing to successfully “twitch” it. Therefore, when a Boreal Chickadee was reported from Florida Lake Park on Wednesday, it wasn’t a surprise that I was there first thing on Thursday.

However, after a couple of hours intensely pishing every Black-capped Chickadee flock I encountered while walking each and every trail of the park, I was still "BoChick"-less. Oh well, there’s a lot of woods for the bird to be hiding in. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a whole lot else to show for the outing, save for a single Bohemian Waxwing.

The combination of an early morning meeting and steady cold rain today resulted in my first missed morning of birding in well over a month. But, feeder watching has been productive today. As the low-pressure system is pulling away, cold air is arriving on northwesterly winds, and rain is changing to, or at least mixing with snow. There’s snow on the ground even in the foothills, but along the coast, it has been all – or mostly – water.

Here in Yarmouth, we’ve only seen the occasional period with some light wet snow mixing in with the rain. However, even here the feeders have been much more active. Nothing “new” has shown up, but activity has been steady, and our Carolina Wren has been here on and off. With the colder temperatures coming up for the weekend, I would expect feeders to remain fairly active. Plus, if you do have snow on the ground, you want to pay particular attention to the feeding station. The first snowfall of the season often brings groundfeeders – like juncos and other sparrows to feeders, and even the occasional rarity! So, keep those feeders stocked and your eyes open!