Groundhog day

Despite a prediction of rain and a sky more white than blue, the sun is casting shadows.  Does it matter that no groundhogs live here, or any other animals that hibernate in burrows? A little googling informs me that this is the half-way point between the solstice and the equinox, celebrated as Candlemas, Imbolc, and St. Bridget's Day. 

Squirrels were hoovering up fallen seeds as they emerged from the snow.  Then the birds arrived: the ubiquitous trio, plus the wren, song and white throated sparrows, and a female towhee.  There is still ice on our side of the creek but Canada geese stuck to the water along with some ducks, probably mergansers.  Crows were busy.

The sparrows and others were back for lunch.  The birdbath emerged grom the snow.  A squirrel teetered on the wren's favorite perch on the gas hose like it wasn't sure why it had gotten up there.  Geese and mergansers paddled in the open water.  The ice now covers less than half the creek and no longer looks milky.

In the late afternoon, I glimpsed a junco.  Sparrows, and the wren joined the regulars.  On the creek, gulls fished beside hooded mergansers, buffleheads, and small brown divers - ruddy ducks?  The ice is nearly gone.