Alders and Birds

I was outside today and noticed a sizable flock of small birds that I was not able to identify moving from alder to alder. They would flit about in the tops of the trees, but I was not sure what they might have been finding there. A little later I happened to walk back toward one of the large alders behind our place and noticed on the snow numerous little brown specks. Upon closer inspection, they looked like they looked like a mature version of what I had found in green aldercones earlier in the year. They were small, circular and flat with a papery margin and more solid middle. I suspect that the birds were going after the seeds.