Return of winter

 Here we are, almost the last day of the month.....and winter has come back with a vengeance.

this is the way the estuary looked yesterday after more than a foot of snow fell in the previous 24 hours.  

Nevertheless there was a fair bit of activity including....

a few Trumpeter Swans and Mallards

a Great Blue Heron on the prowl....

and even a Northern Shrike!

Prior to the snow's arrival, things have been pretty much the same....

with large numbers of mainly Cackling Geese in the fields...

and Canada's as well.

there has been activity at all of the Bald Eagle nests....no one settling down for nesting yet.

Today....

the American Robins that have been around in large numbers pretty much all winter, were eating the berries of the holly trees...

out in the fields there were large numbers of Trumpeter Swans and Northern Pintails, along with some geese....Cackler's I think.

also saw a small flock of these little guys - Golden Crowned Kinglets.

One more day and it will be March....I expect once this current weather pattern breaks, signs of spring will happen quickly.

Long month.....

 February may have the least number of days of any month, but somehow it feels like the longest month of the year!  I guess because we know that spring is right around the corner and we can't wait for it to get here.

There just hasn't been a lot happening.  We've had some nice sunny days....

Other's not so nice but no snow....at least so far.

Some days there have been hundreds of Canada and Cackling Geese, other days none, partly due to Goose hunting opening for a month.

in the last week or so, there have been a large number of Northern Pintail, sometimes in the fields and sometimes out on the river.

it would normally be considered a sign of spring, but American Robin's have been hanging around all winter, although they are being seen more frequently now.

Downy Woodpeckers have been quite active, seen almost every day

and Great Blue Heron are seen regularly....

the fact that we are seeing Canada Geese on pilings, checking for nesting sites, is a definite sign that spring is coming....

as are the Pussy Willows that are starting to show up....now we need a dandelion to flower!

Ground Hog Day

 February 2nd, not only Ground Hog Day but also world Wet lands day.  We don't have any ground hogs around here, but we do have wetlands....

and this morning, they were still a little 'white' from the snow we had a couple of days ago.

the Red-wing Blackbirds calling though, predicted an early spring - at least it sure sounded that way.

over at Harrison Bay....the beach didn't look very spring like.....

but look the other way and the fields are greening up and full of very restless Canada and Cackling Geese

a Northern Flicker was down foraging on the ground...

as were European Starlings....but the real 'sign of spring'

were the American Robins!  Mind you it has been a strange year for robins.  Normally we don't expect to see them until towards the end of February but this past winter, they haven't really left, in fact the Christmas Bird Count for the area counted a record setting 575!  It will be interesting to see if we get another influx of them at the usual time, or if this is it.  

Woodpeckers have been quite active as well, especially the little Downy Woodpeckers.

while yesterday it was a Pileated that was busy working at the top of one of the broken off trees.

One thing for sure, spring will come....we just have to wait and see how quickly!