After the snow of the past several days, Saturday dawned clear and sunny, eventually reaching a high of around 60 degrees. At 8:30 am, the muddy paths were still frozen, and we crunched along through the crusty snow. Unfortunately, both ponds were almost totally frozen. Highlights included a Northern Shrike sitting on the uppermost top of a tree, and an owl, most probably a Great Horned Owl, flying through the denuded cottonwoods. In all, we counted 22 bird species. Also of note was the beaver lodge in the lower pond and the large-but-almost-gnawed-through tree trunks in the area.

Maybe because of the storm, everyone was quite anxious to get outside and soak up some sunshine. Ten people participated in the field trip. We all agreed that this site would be an excellent place to bird during spring migration, and intend to come back then.