We were the first visitors in the morning after a 6"-8" daytime/overnight snowfall. Turkey tracks were all over one section of trail, but no turkeys were seen. However the little guys were VERY welcoming.
There was a strong breeze working itself up, but it hadn't yet knocked the snow off the trees etc along the trail
The squirrels were having to high jump through the snow to get anywhere, while the humans just slogged through it.
But some good sized little creature was making 3" tunnels under the snow. A mink?
The breeze was starting to blow the snow off the pine forest
Most of the squirrels had stayed in bed, but one grey squirrel was up hoping for a handout
There were certainly a good number of chickadees and nuthatches looking for a morning snack. As well, a couple of male cardinals and one female. The cardinals want to come to hand, but are too wary. The nuthatches seem to be the top of the totem pole when it comes to feeding. There were several male downy woodpeckers, one female and unexpectedly a hairy woodpecker.
The hairy woodpecker is identical to downy but larger. The easiest way to recognize a hairy, when not sitting next to a downy, is the length of its beak. Almost as long as the head is front to back. The downy's beak is much smaller proportionally
The fresh snow made a nice setting for the downies, and other birds. (Note the shorter beak)
The male downy woodpecker seemed to be storing some the seeds in nearby tree trunks. The downies did this at several spots when we stopped to feed them.
There is an acorn woodpecker that lives in Arizona and Mexico that stashes acorns in trees, so perhaps some of their genes are resident in the downy woodpecker.
One of the downies seemed to be doing an imitation of a miniature penguin, but quickly broke the stance and flew off
The robins were looking for buckthorn berries
The male cardinal was a standout against the white snow
A female cardinal (and nuthatch friend) were happy to have some seeds
When we first arrived, there was one lone duck and a single Canada gooses down at the river
An hour or so later, more ducks had arrived, and more coming in
The common goldeneye ducks were floating down the river with a couple of black ducks. The goldeneyes are diving ducks, they ride the current, diving for food as they go down the river and then fly back to the top and ride the current again.
View towards the east from the river at Mud Lake
