““““`While just sitting here looking at the snow — and one of the fattest cardinals I’ve ever seen — I thought I’d reblog this poem from my “Ahyoka” site. I wish I could have gotten a picture of that cardinal. He was well-fed indeed.
Snow day — thanks to the weather
I hibernate with pleasure
And watch the birdies as they graze
On bounty I’ve laid out to day:
Whole grain bread in pieces small
And oats that can be shared by all,
Then crackers sharp with garlic taste
And graham crackers too — no waste.
I watch the shadows on the snow
Shifting as the sun moves slow
And contemplate my quiet day:
A gift of extra time to pray.
Tomorrow when this snow is gone,
It’s back to work and carry on,
But while I have this time of ease,
The birds and I are quite at peace.
~~~
The Happy Wordcrafter 
Great thoughts! Your cardinal was fluffing his feathers to keep warm. Must have got carried away and fluffed them more than normal. 🙂
Well, the cardinal in the picture wasn’t the one I saw today. But the one I saw — and another bird I saw today — looked really round and fat. Can they fluff their feathers and not look like they’re moving at all? It didn’t like feathers were moving or that they were even moving until they flew away.
They don’t wave their feathers, they just fluff them out. “By fluffing its feathers, a bird traps many tiny pockets of air to hold in body heat and keep out the cold….When the weather is hot, the bird presses its feathers close to its body to eliminate the insulating air pockets so that body heat is allowed to escape..”
Neat. God thinks of everything.