Yesterday, the first herring gull of the year landed outside my window thinking it was spring. He knew the program from last year and gobbled down full slices of bologna like he was starving. I don’t know what might be available as wild food. The lakes are still ice-covered, so that source of food is out, and I don’t know what else they could eat.
Herring gull
And today is a blizzard. The squirrel’s food was fast becoming snow-covered, and so was he, but he kept digging down. For the birds, snow-covered food is harder to get. The tree next to the squirrel was full of goldfinches and pine siskins waiting their turn. I wondered if they would take anything from my hand. I went out. They flew away and were immediately replaced by seven chickadees that looked at my hand but said “No, Thank You” despite their reputation for being one of the most trusting birds. Then the siskins started to return, and the chickadees gave way and flew off. No goldfinches came back. 
Herring gullThey are less trusting than siskins but are still quicker to trust than most other birds. I stood still as a siskin hopped closer on a branch, but it wouldn’t come all the way, flew to a farther branch, came back, and finally said okay. Kind of. It landed on my hand and flew back to the branch without taking a seed. It did that several times. Then another one landed and took a seed and kept eating. The first one then dared, also. Then there were three and five and suddenly the memorable moment when the whole flock was landing all over me. Seventeen was my highest count with a whir of feathers in my ears and countable siskins on my arms, shoulders, head, and a metal scoop of sunflower seed hearts under my right arm. They completely ignored me and competed for space at the seeds. They proved their point to me. They were so hungry they would throw caution to the wind and focus entirely on the food. They were hungry, and I knew what I had to do. I moved to the railing. Some flew off as I moved, but others remained on me. From the scoop I put a long pile on the railing, more on the roof of the little feeder, and more elsewhere so they could spread out and fill up before the blizzard covered the seeds. The wind was strong enough that it actually kept the snow from building up on a couple spots. The goldfinches joined them. Chickadees squeezed in where they could. All was good with a few moments so good I wished someone was here to snap a picture for posterity. The snowy squirrel was the only picture.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center