Things were much quieter now that winter has arrived. The wood ducks are gone, the lake is frozen over. But the chickadees and nuthatches still come looking for handouts, as do the turkeys. The mallards are mainly down by the river, but do come up to the road and trail to check for extra food.
Comparisons
The changing seasons, and animal behaviour, invite comparisons...
Fall colours; fallen snow
Fall colours, holding on through first snow, then give up
Cross-legged ruff grouse at Shirley's Bay, cross-legged wild turkey at Mud Lake
Screech owls (look hard to see one in picture on left) had better bring a shovel, if the snow stays, should they want to nest in the spring.
(also note the fallen tree on left in second picture)
A final comparison - The raccoons apparently moved on to a shelter with a roof over their heads....
Some birds glowed/glistened in the sunlight
(male, female cardinal, male mallard duck, male wild turkey)
The Mud Lake housing market example.
A pileated woodpecker family fledged from their home in June 2019. A squirrel family occupied it in September 2019. A grey squirrel seems to have acquired ownership in December 2022.
The mid-month 35cm fall of wet snow has melted in spots making small icicles or ice
The same snowfall left one side of the trees lined with snow.
As in past years, a flock of robins over-winters as they have access to all the bukthorn berries and open water in a few areas.
The mallards hangout down by the river
The red-breasted nuthatches are fewer in number than the white-breasted variety.
Sometimes the little guys just fly too quickly....
Early in the month there seemed to be some open water around one of the beaver lodges, it was iced over by the third week.
And by the end of the month the lodge was deep in snow.
Tracks in the snow...
Left: goose/duck tracks waddling through/landing on, the snow. Right: Human tracks on very thin ice.
There are a "few" squirrels around and several rabbits in specific locations.
