Less than a week ago, we waded through a foot of new powder snow to get out to the river.
Lots of melting and new arrivals on the river this week – and it’s a great time to anticipate warmer and better days ahead.
March Backyard Birds – 1
Category Archives: Winooski River North Branch
Hoodies in the Snow
Midst a major snowstorm, hopefully the last of the season, we’ve had a lot of activity in the backyard including the resident Carolina Wren, dozens of goldfinches, and even a mink and a beaver. Today, a pair of Hooded Mergansers showed up on the open river, so I donned boots and went out to see them. Unfazed by the snow, they foraged away, and cruised like it was July.
Perhaps we’ll see them with chicks in a few months. They’re a nice sight on a snowy afternoon.
Note: I am having trouble having photos show on the email posts. If you click on the url, they show. Working on it ……
February Swimming Hole
We have had a pretty rugged winter, with lots of subzero temperatures and several significant snowstorms. Most ponds and our river out back froze quite solid. Only in the last few days, have we had temperatures in the forties to allow some thawing.
Today, on a walk with Ginger, I found a group of about 40 Mallards hanging out in one of few areas of open water, in downtown Montpelier.
The weather up ahead is forecast in the teens and below – hunker down folks.
Backyard Birds 2
Some of the visual treats for us are the mergansers, both hooded and common, who motor past our spot on the river. The last few days, between snow squalls, some handsome Hoodies have been out and about. They’ll head south soon.
Ice patches are starting to form along the river’s edge — it will be months before I can get shots like this in Vermont. Happy Thanksgiving.
Backyard Birds 1
Living next to a river is great — we paddle on it, ski on it some winters, and have an ever-delightful array of wildlife to watch. On perhaps my last paddle of the year, I flushed these mallards just upstream of the house.
We’ve had a summer-long affair with a Great Blue Heron who shows up for a while, is gone for weeks, and returns and day after day is right out back.
