A month with very mixed weather: no snow on the ground, lots of snow on the ground, some rain etc etc
A cool morning's walk in the woods near Almonte produced a few eye-catchers.
Thin coat of ice on a shallow puddle
Thin coat of ice on a shallow puddle
frozen moisture on grass
Backlit beech leaves
backlit dead fern
Black-eyed susan
Nearby NCC trails were full of photo-ops, including 8 chickadees descending on me as I stopped to photograph a large mud slathered beaver lodge. Other birds, and a mouse, were active at feeding stations.
5 foot high mud slathered beaver lodge
8 chickadees demanding a handout
male evening grosbeak
blue jay
red-bellied woodpecker
merlin
field mouse
The changing weather produced some Mud Lake comparisons with prior months.
A small flock of robins is over-wintering again at Mud Lake, not sure they can fluff up as much this downy woodpecker. Red-breasted nuthatches are few and far between and often back in the branches. The cardinal with the damaged wing feather seems to be doing fine.
Robin
Downy woodpecker
Red-breasted nuthatch
Male cardinal
Female cardinal
The wild turkeys certainly glisten in the sunlight.
There was a large flock of mallards at Billings Bridge; the (rare) Barrow's goldeneye duck was at Strathcona Park, but, strangely, what caught my eye were the pigeons.
Always something different at Parc Omega when visit. A few eye catchers from a visit at the end of the month.
A good number of crows are around as usual, along with lots of squirrels.
