Early squirrel

It found the peanuts.  A junco and a couple of white throats were also up.  The melting proceeded apace as the temperature rose twenty degrees during the morning.  I saw a field that was subliming directly into vapor. 

When I returned in the late morning, a haw flew swiftly upstream.  A flock of geese occupied the bulkhead.  Then another flock landed on the ice and made their way over to the open water along the bulkhead.  A couple fell through the thin ice and had some difficulty extracting themselves from their icy potholes. The two flocks did not get along, then the dog got out and chased them all joyously.  That revealed that hooded mergansers were also in the open water.

Then the Carolina wren appeared.  A flock of robins followed.  They were joined by grackles and blackbirds.  Finches, cardinals, chickadees, sparrows, and titmice flocked to the feeder.  A blue jay landed on the railing.  Later a dove did the same.  I also glimpsed a hairy woodpecker on the dogwood across the pool

By mid-afternoon, clouds covered the sky, proving once again that winter is only sunny when it is cold.   After dark rain began and the snow is turning into fog.