Lazy snowflakes were falling this morning.  I went out to fill the feeders that the deer emptied overnight.  When I opened the garage door, I noticed that the squirrel helped himself to breakfast.  It ripped open the plastic, chewed up the paper wrapper and nibbled on the extra peanut bell that I had stored on a shelf.

I filled the deer dish first.  There is one fawn that is an outcast from the 'herd' that visits my yard.  When it tries to come in with the group, it gets stomped on and chased.  It looks like it has figured out that it can feed in peace if it watches when I fill the dish.  This morning it came into the yard when I was still out there filling the bird feeders.  As it ate, it kept looking toward the trees.

There was such an assortment of birds participating in the feeding frenzy.  The grosbeaks were at the tray feeder so the chickadees had to go elsewhere.  The hairy woodpecker arrived and chased the grosbeaks out.  The magpies hopped along the ground, picking up the grain that the deer spilled onto the snow.

It is shaping up to be a great winter for birding in my backyard.