Winter has stayed around this week as it was minus-22 degrees this morning (2/17.) But by the time you read this, it looks like Mother Nature might be giving us a little break.
There is a lot of slush on some of the lakes, so be careful when you are snowmobiling, skiing or snowshoeing.
I got in some of the slop while checking traps the other day and broke my snowshoe binding. It took a little time with some beaver wire to get me back on my shoes.
I hope some of you got to see some great birds during the Great Backyard Bird Count, because I sure did.
I have plenty at my feeder but there are also lots of birds out in the woods and fields.
I went over to Addison, VT yesterday to participate in a snowy owl count. I worked with Ellie George who has been watching these owls all winter. We had the section south of Route 17, west of 22 and east of 125, which I believe is Lake Shore Drive along Lake Champlain.
We covered every road and crossroad in that section from nine in the morning until about four in the afternoon.
There were several other volunteers working different sections who were also counting owls.
We saw 13 different snowy owls—some sitting on the ground, some on fence posts, some on power poles and some on farm buildings or on equipment around the barns.
This is a big farming area with lots of open fields, which to the owls look just like the tundra.
Plus there seems to be lots of mice and voles for them to eat.
Before I get to the birds, I have to mention some other things we saw when we were there. It was a beautiful day with a clear blue sky and very little wind.
But at the end of the day when the temperature dropped and the wind picked up you would have frozen your nose off if you stayed out in it too long.
It snowed a few inches since I had been over a couple weeks ago, so it was harder to see a white owl sitting out in an open field.
As we cruised around we saw farm animals, hunters chasing cottontail rabbits, snowmobilers, snowshoers, sledding parties and all kinds of different birds.
As we drove by one place we saw several cats sitting out in the sun on top of the wood shed. I believe Ellie got nine of them in one picture.
Then we saw a beautiful red fox hunting mice on top of a row of round bales of hay.
Ellie took a couple pictures before the fox ran to length of the row and jumped out of sight.
Other than the snowys, there were birds everywhere. Some were in the open fields: snow buntings, horned larks and Lapland larkspurs.
In fact, we had lunch near a field that had over one thousand snow buntings flitting around from one place to another looking for food.
Horned larks were sometimes among the snow buntings or in small flocks working the shoulders of the highway.
The Lapland larkspurs were also out in the fields among the snow buntings. They weren’t in breeding colors yet but were still nice to see.
We saw flocks of robins, bluebirds, English sparrows, starlings, cedar waxwings, cardinals and rock doves.
Looking over most of the open fields we would see a red-tailed hawk or a rough-legged hawk perched in a tree watching for prey.
We only saw one coopers hawk and one kestrel.
The first snowy we saw was on the ground at the Goose viewing area.
Several people came in to see it while we were waiting for other observers to arrive and get assignments for the day.
This bird is the most photographed snowy in Vermont. I’ll bet yesterday over a thousand shots were taken of her.
I talked with one fella at the end of the day who had taken over 500 pictures with an 800 millimeter lens.
The second owl was sitting nicely atop a fence in back of a barn and gave us some nice shots.
Some of the owls were a quarter of a mile away across an open field.
They were sitting in the top of a tree and looked like just a white blob through the binoculars but they all counted.
We had one sitting on top of a power pole, which was the closest one of the day.
It was very cooperative and Ellie got some good shots of it when it flew to the top of a nearby silo.
Another bird was in the top of a tree out in an open field. A lady was not far away taking its picture.
The bird flew up to a tree not far from us, then it flew to a building and then to a bell tower on top of a school which gave us lots of photo ops.
They were all great. It was just nice to see that many in one day—and all the other birds too.
The Annual Chili Bowl Luncheon fundraiser at View is Saturday, February 22 from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., so come get a great new pottery bowl and some good chili.
Some other birds seen on the Great Backyard Bird Count, but that’s another story. See ya.