Who's coming to dinner?

On dreary and cold Sunday, January 18, with pouring and freezing rain and 27 degrees, we had over 12 different species visit our backyard feeder in just an hour, between 10 and 11:00 a.m. This is even with the main bird feeder not filled.

Here is the breakdown, including visits to the feeder. I've counted visits rather than number of different birds feeding, as it's hard to determine if it's a different bird each time.

Dark-eyed Junco - 13 visits
Song sparrow - 1
Tufted titmouse - 22
House sparrow - 5
Mourning dove - 6
Black-capped chickadee - 4
Carolina wren - 1
White-breasted nuthatch - 4
Northern cardinal - 4
Northern flicker - 1
Downy woodpecker - 2
Red-bellied woodpecker - 3

It definitely is the day for the Tufted titmice, who hung around, eating, even grooming at the feeder. The Juncos spent additional time on the ground feeding throughout the hour. They were not bothered by other visitors. The Woodpeckers came within a few minutes of each other and really filled up. In the hour, only the Tufted titmouse used the squirrel-proof feeder. By in large, the birds don't like feeding from it.