Are they becoming a pair?

The drifting has been stupendous during the last two days. The Juncos are sinking into the snow in some spots again when they land. They're having to do the Junco Swim in some cases in order to get their feet back to the surface.

11:20am Doorstep Dove drops in for an early lunch with Friend in tow. (All times Central.)

2:46pm The minute and a half of sun we got today. The Birds used it to sing like mad things.

5:50pm I look out and Doorstep Dove and Friend are having dinner. Unfortunately I get too close with the camera and Friend takes off. DD watches him go, looks at me, then continues to peck more seed. After a few minutes she disappears as well.

5:55 Wait, there she is and there Friend is too-in the frozen Bird Bath.

5:58pm If you squint your eyes their bodies make a heart. (Sorry, sappy quotient is a terribly high, but it really does look a little like one if you squish your eyes a lot.)

Sunset is pink tonight against the clouds. As they're looking the wrong direction, they're probably not waiting for the eclipse. It would be in vain anyway. The sun only found a crack in the clouds once today so the lunar eclipse was completely obscured by them in this area.

6:00 They continue to sit together and watch.

6:19 I must be too active for Friend as he looks at me and then attempts to get up. Somehow he can't. He flaps his wings but doesn't go anywhere for a second or two. Then he's off. Is it possible that his body heat melted the ice in the bath slightly, it refroze as the temperature dropped, and his feet were stuck?

Doorstep Dove continues her late day ritual of "watching the sunset". (Even if Friend hadn't come out to the bath, if DD really were really watching the sunset she wouldn't have been able to see it from the step as the drift across the picnic table is too high. She wouldn't have been able to see it. I lay down on the step and checked. So I got covered in bird seed and snow. It's all for science, right? I did loose the chance though to find out if not being able to see the horizon would make a difference in her when position when she decided to follow Friend.)

7:01 Sunset is over. Doorstep Dove stands up, looks at me, then looks up at Friend.

7:02 Then she's off and to the N and no doubt, a roost. Friend, waiting in an adjacent Maple, hot wings it after her.

Donegal Browne