It was a relatively warm -10°C Christmas morning, Santa had already visited so it was time for some fresh air at Mud Lake. The day old snow had covered most of the ice on the trails so it was a fairly easy walk.
Someone was kindly shoveling out the trail entrance and was feeding the turkeys. (Generally it's suggested not to feed the turkeys as they can become bothersome to visitors). One of the two toms was bossing the juveniles around. All turkeys seemed to be accounted for, so none disappeared on to someone's Christmas serving platter. 😊
The (same?) male pileated woodpecker I had seen a few days before at the bridge was hammering away by the trail entrance.
A much smaller downy was busy insect hunting further down the trail
The small birds were lying in wait for people with seeds. The nuthatches were calling as they came down the trees, one chickadee seemed to be acting a bit coy
But two downy woodpeckers (only one of which wanted to be photographed) were ready to get onto a willing hand
And soon joined by the chickadees and nuthatches. It looked like the chickadee was telling the woodpecker off!
Aside from the ever-present turkey tracks in the snow, raccoons had been out and human tracks were going down the trail
The fresh snow was evenly piled on the fallen tree trunks except where the squirrels or other animals had crossed the trunks. We saw one squirrel scampering along upside down on a log to avoid the snow on top.
Not sure if it was the sun or wind, but the snow on the bridge "railings" looked neat. Started as a full rounded "pile" and then curved back into a vertical pile cut in half.
The fresh snow had been caught in some pine trees, including one that never finished dropping its old needles in the fall
A lichen covered branch still held onto a small bit of snow
Two dead tree trunks were showing off the fungus they were hosting
Some asters were standing tall against the snow, while others were feeling the weight of the snow
The snow was starting to bend the goldenrod stems
Looks like a spider on a staghorn sumac seed pod didn't get to wherever spiders go in the winter to survive
A family was enjoying a Christmas morning mug of hot chocolate (?) out in the middle of the lake.
Another mother and son were out practising their skating
The mallards, who had re-appeared after few being around a few days before, headed towards me hoping I might have some corn for them
Out on the river the goldeneye ducks had been joined by a not commonly seen male common merganser
But the hit of the day was a male wood duck who had forgotten to go south with all his friends
