Deer Print

It was a beautiful day today at 7:30 a.m. 28 degrees. Calm and clear.

As soon as I entered the lower gardens, I was drawn to some activity in the little triangular, wooded area near the meadow. There was a very busy bird in there, flitting here and there. I could hardly keep my binoculars on it. I ran around to the other side and finally got a better look. I was so hoping for the redpoll that Matt had seen. Turned out it was a golden crowned kinglet, however it's crown was almost a brilliant orange. It was absolutely stunning.

I wasn't there long, when Mary Lou appeared and later Ian, so we mostly walked around together. I heard and then saw the red-tailed hawk which has probably been busy. There was a set of footprints in the snow and for quite a distance there were various sized gray feathers that had fallen into them. I couldn't really say what type of bird had been attacked or whether it had eluded the hawk or other predator ultimately.

There were a few robins, starlings, chickadees, a cardinal, a song sparrow and juncos. A couple of American tree sparrows hung out together on a shrub. The golden crowned kinglet then appeared in the scrubby tree in the middle of the lower gardens where I got to watch it some more. Mary Lou spotted a couple of Cedar waxwings.

The upper gardens were dead quiet. No redpolls in the birches today, so we headed down to the soccer field where we saw a lone mockingbird. Mary Lou mentioned that she had seen a fox recently, playing on the frozen pond! On the path to the river, Ian spotted a red breasted nuthatch and a white throated sparrow. A small goldfinch family was busy eating tiny pinecones or something on an evergreen in Woodcock meadow.

If you haven't read Matt's posting below, please take a look. The photos are fantastic.