Everything was shut down in anticipation of the storm which did not produce as much snow as the one a week ago. This snow was wetter and heavier so it may have compacted. There certainly was plenty of ice on the feeders, in fact, the perch on the seed feeder was frozen in place. A brown thrasher hammered through the ice on one barkbutter dish. The other had been emptied yesterday. So, to begin with, suet was the only available food. Warblers, wrens, a mockingbird, and downy woodpeckers queued up for it. A female cardinal joined the sparrows in the snow. Juncos were back.
Snow continued to fall in the morning though it had become light and drier. The creek was banded with frozen snow and regular ice which quickly melted leaving plates of gray snow-ice afloat. Hooded mergansers were soon fishing in the open water. Lots of small icicles probably started after dark yesterday as the rain froze. Snow was frozen on the underside of the railing and other objects. The gusty wind flipped up feathers on the birds but they didn't seem to care.
By lunch, the creek was free of ice but rough from the wind. The snow was finished falling if not with blowing around. A brown headed nuthatch wasn't in its usual hurry to leave the seed feeder. A half dozen bluebirds weren't picky as long as it was food. Juncos and white throated sparrows hunted through the fallen hulls for any bits of sunflower kernel. The male towhee reappeared, assuming it's the same bird I've seen before.
I tried to get a good photo of a pelican in flight and got a great out-of-focus plunge. Gulls also flew fish patrol as hoodies paddled and dived. One pelican rested on the dam and was joined by a crow. By then there was sunshine. More pelicans were attracted to the lake which was full of cormorants. A bufflehead drake came diving upstream on the creek. The buzzards didn't return but I saw one sail past on the wind. A couple of great blue herons settled who owned the territory.
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