Birds, Mice, and water

Water

It's been pretty damn cold here lately, cold enough to freeze water at night anyway.  This morning the condition manifested itself in two ways. I went to fill Reagan's water dish, and there, floating, was a drowned mouse. We've had winter mice before, but usually catch on to their presence early on because Reagan's kibble starts to pile up in the corner of the pantry.  With Roomba at work, however, such evidence, if it even existed, is swept away likkety-split.  My guess is the mouse was after water, not kibble. Even though I filled it yesterday, the heated tabletop bird bath was sucked dry.  I filled it, and as soon as I was back inside, this is what I saw.  It looked like Easter morning mass.  All the seats are taken by strangers we haven't seen for a whole year, but are happy to have.  Last year we didn't get Cedar Waxwings until March 21st, so maybe the Hummers will show up early too.  Another benefit of global warming.