Helping the birds

We are in for some severely cold weather over the next few days, and I thought I would lend a little assistance to the birds that I enjoy watching.  Before I headed out to the grocery store this afternoon, I dumped the ice out of the water dish in the front yard and added some water.  I had added water to the overturned thermometer on the deck yesterday, but it was hopelessly frozen to the deck today.  I had a good idea; I placed the rain barrel lid on the southwest side of the compost pile and poured water into it.  The lid is black, and I figured it would absorb any light rays managing to penetrate the cloud cover (and thus stay thawed).  I picked up some bird seed at the grocery store and spread it in various places when I got back home.  I noticed there was already a bird dropping on the rain barrel lid, and it proved to be a very popular spot throughout the afternoon.