Snow Birds. In the backyard this morning, I saw the northern flicker on the upside down suet feeder. Both red-breasted nuthatches were feeding. There's about eight inches of snow on the ground from this week's snow -- four inches on Monday, five to six inches on Tuesday. There was rain, sleet, and freezing rain Tuesday morning which knocked the snow depth back a little and gave everything a thin coating of ice before the semi-wet, heavy snow fell Tuesday afternoon, causing everything to be coated in snow. The perches on the thistle feeder had an inch of snow on them. It was piled in the shape of a triangle. The upside-down suet feeder had about five inches of snow on top of it. Even the bends of the shepherd's hook, where the feeders are hung, had a couple of inches snow piled in them.

Because of the snow cover this week, the juncos are feeding from the hopper and tray feeders. Before this week I had only seen one junco on one occasion feed from the tray. The juncos are also singing a lot these days with their chipping sparrow-like trill. A puffed-up robin sitting on a snow-covered wire was an interesting site this morning.

The two day, fantastic looking winter wonderland comes to an abrupt end today and the rest of this week. Temperatures will be in the 40's and 50's the next several days with some rain later in the week. The sun beating down this morning on the snow and ice-covered world made the views even more dramatic. It was a really cool morning. I packed my entire winter enjoyment for the season into about 90 minutes of early morning walking and picture taking.

Backyard Birding. Today, there's been good activity at the feeders and in the yard. I've observed 16 species either at the feeders or feeding on the ground near the feeders. The birds seen were: red-breasted nuthatch, white-breasted nuthatch, titmouse, chickadee, hairy woodpecker, downey woodpecker, red-bellied woodpecker, cardinal, crow (took an old piece of suet I threw on the ground), starling, house finch, house sparrow, mourning dove, blue jay, junco, and robin. I'm not sure what the robin was eating; it wasn't worms. It spent a long time by the feeders, pecking at the ground and eating something. The birds missing today that have been seen in the past include: northern flicker, grackle, white-throated sparrow, and gold finch. The chickadee action today is a rare treat. A couple of them have frequented the feeders.

Hawk Watch (3/23/2). Yesterday, I was doing the hawk watch count for the Black Swamp Bird Observatory from the tower at Magee Marsh from 9-12. The skies were clear; the winds SW at 15-25 mph with gusts over 30; temperatures started at 32 and by midday were in the upper 30's. The winds needed to be little more to the south. I think there was too much west in the southwest winds to allow the birds much movement. The raptors observed appeared to be struggling against the wind. The turkey vultures acted more like hunting northern harriers. They moved low, usually below tree-top height, and they were doing a lot of flapping which is unusual to see in a turkey vulture.

The count I had was 16 red-tails, 9 turkey vultures, 1 sharpie, 1 red-shouldered, 2 bald eagles (there were other local eagles), and 1 kestrel. I also counted 65 crows migrating. They also moved low. I saw more low, rocking, and flapping TVs while driving home.

There were a lot more ducks, divers, and dabblers yesterday in the marsh than last week. I saw American wigeon, blue-winged teal, mallards, northern shovelers, pied billed grebes, gadwalls, and American black ducks. The shovelers are one of my favorite ducks and there were a lot of males present. There were still a large number of American coots tightly bunched together along the causeway. Most of the water on both sides of the causeway was frozen. We've had some unseasonably cold weather this past week.

I didn't stay long nor walk far on the boardwalk. An immature bald eagle was flying low over the parking lot. I flushed a woodcock that was only a few yards ahead of me, lying on the ground along the side of the boardwalk. The sound of the wind roaring through the trees muffled the bird sounds. I could hear the little "zeeee" of several fox sparrows. At one point at least a half a dozen flew up off the ground and into small tree before disappearing again into the leaf-carpeted ground. I saw several fox sparrows, but they seem skittish, never able to get very close to them. One did pop-up into a small bush or tree right next to me, so I got some good looks at that one. None were singing.