Birds feet in winter (1 Viewer)

This topic was something that I came across earlier in the year, and was reminded of by the photograph of the Sparrow with ice crystals. Maybe as most of you appear to be northerners that get a proper winter maybe you can help me.

In July this year we were banding at Wee Jasper (NW of Canberra on what we Australians desperately call mountains) and the weather was reasonably cold (-4 to 5 Celsius overnight with frost on the ground until about 11 in the shade). However the days were clear and relatively warm. On the first round of the Sunday morning we caught a couple of Superb Fairy-wrens that had ice on their toes. By the time they were processed the ice had melted and they happily flew away.

My questions are:
Is this anormal occurence?
Is it caused by water condensing on their feet and freezing overnight?
Are the birds stuck to the branch until the ice melts or can they wriggle their way off?

Cheers,
Peter

Interesting thought, but I don't know the answer myself. One thing along a similar vein is that birds seem to occasionally get frozen in place. In the town centre the cleaning staff frequently pick up birds that have obviously died overnight from the cold, usually Pigeons and Blackbirds. I recall once an instance of several Blackbirds having been collected, some of which were still frozen to a fence top. As to whether their feet froze before or after they died I don't know.

Perhaps they panicked when they couldn't move their feet and passed away or died of the cold and then froze to their perches ? It was strange that several birds were caught this way.

Bird legs seem to be particularly resistant to all sorts of damage.
We had a tame Blackbird which would perch on a particular brach of one of our trees and 'stare you out' until you put some currants out for him.
One morning he appeared with one of his legs at right-angles, from the 'ankle' joint pointing away from his body. We named him 'Peg Leg' after this. He still managed to beg his food, though walking and hopping involved a great deal of wing useage.
Gradually his leg straightened and after a few months appeared just about normal, as was his use of it (though the name stuck!)

Had there been a break in the bone then this would not have healed and the bird would have been left with a stump.

It is also quite common in the UK to see birds early on a very cold morning with toes bent, obviously from the frost. But, again, these will straighten as the day warms up.

So my opinion in your questions is:
1 Yes.
2. Possibly, or from water already on the branch
3. Possibly stuck, but no evidence to support this opinion.

This raises another point, do birds have feelings in the legs? There is a Chaffinch in our garden since last spring with puffed up flaky feet. It is not bothering him at all.

Clams have Feelings Too, Gorgon?

From what I've read about our chickadees, they can shut their main systems down on bad weather nights so the body heat goes to the most important areas... hence, almost no heat reaches the legs or feet. We had a chickadee here a few years ago that had one and a half legs.... and he managed just fine. Took a bit of extra technique on the feeder but he was okay with it.

I think I have read somewhere that in winter birds can slow down or stop circulation to the legs and feet. Thus conserving body heat. This may be just water fowl.

There must be some senses on the feet, how else would birds climb and maneuver so expertly. So there must be nerve endings for hot and cold as well. Maybe they have high tolerance for temperatures.

I have definitely seen birds with missing parts (or whole legs) surviving well. Superb Fairy-wrens, various waders, Silver Gulls (these supposedly get taken by Kingfish in the ocean). The last do OK around parks because there is plenty of food to scavenge - not certain how they would do "in the wild"
Thanks for the comments.
Cheers,
Peter

P.S. seb_seb is on the right track