Very quiet...

It was 31 degrees and overcast when I arrived at Nahanton at 8:00 a.m. No sooner did I start walking around then it started snowing lightly. It was very pretty.

A birdwatching couple arrived around the same time. I asked if they were looking for the shrike and they were!

The lower gardens were dead quiet save for a few blue jays and robins. No sign of any kind of sparrow. I did hear a goldfinch but never saw it. I was hoping for the towhees but no sign of them today.

Didn't see one bird in the upper gardens, although the couple saw a few juncos etc., so I headed down to the soccer field where the shrike had been seen. No sign of it. We did see a cardinal couple, an American tree sparrow and a few juncos.

The river has thawed with all the rain and that seemed to attract the birds as well as the feeders and suet that the kids at the Nature Center had put out. It's so nice they are feeding the birds with all the cold weather and bouts of snow. There were two male hoodies in the river. Saw some nuthatches, a song sparrow and chickadees in the trees and brush by the river banks. We heard the red-bellied woodpecker's distinctive call.

At the feeders there was quite a group of juncos, white throated sparrows, a tree sparrow and titmice. A pair of mourning doves looked down on the activity, probably waiting for their chance to catch some morsels on the ground.