In the ice storm, a cardinal skulks along in the bushes near my study window...his tailfeathers are "iced" like the twigs.	For a short time, no sleet or freezing rain fell, so I took the camera out into the cold. A single American goldfinch clings to the mesh of a thistle seed "sock" feeder...which has an icicle of its own.
On Monday the lily pond hadn't frozen yet, so the contrast between dark water and silvery ice looked even colder.	The lacy-looking ice patterns here are on kidneywood, a woody shrub from the brush country...this one is planted in the 'orchard', but we have a couple of them growing naturally up in the dry woods. The clump of tall grass behind it is one of our Lindheimer muhly grasses, one of my favorites of the big grasses.
Here's a closer shot of another of the Lindheimer muhly clump, showing the ice coating the long stems and leaves...behind is the hoar-covered east grass, with the line of trees on the north fenceline making a dark background.
Once again, goldfinches eating thistle seed--something that went on all week on all three "socks." Here, the camera momentarily distracts the bird on the sock, while a second, puffed up to the max, waits on the limb nearby for its chance. From their body language, I gather that the bird on the sock wasn't ready to share.	Back to business...the bird at the "table" works away on the thistle seed, yanking one after another through the mesh, while the other one must wait. Sometimes I've had as many as six birds on a sock at once, but we had at least one very aggressive American goldfinch during this winter storm who would not allow even one other bird on the sock while he ate.

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