The white stuff sticks around…

The dreary weather continues, but the lack of sun, and temps right around freezing, have left enough of the snow on the ground from Friday to let us have at least a white Christmas eve in Milwaukee. At this rate, it might even last until the big day tomorrow.

Let me start at the north end, for a change, and show you the second, and I believe larger, of the two great horned owls. We did see both yesterday, but they were both well hidden in their lair, and I didn’t even bother taking a picture. Today, I could see only one in hiding, and when I turned around to see if I could spot the other one, I was a bit startled to find it staring right down at me.

I did see a trio of common mergansers on the river between the islands, but they kept to the far shore, and I couldn’t find the black duck, so I headed to the pond. There, I spotted the pair of fox sparrows again, and this one was kind enough to let us have a nice look.

This red-bellied woodpecker was across the pond, so pretty far away, but I’m a sucker for anyone picking seeds from the sumac, and I knew it wouldn’t give me enough time to hustle around to the other side, so here we are.

On my way back south along the river, I was surprised to find a beaver still up on the ice and gnawing the bark off sticks. Earlier, on my way north, when the light was even dimmer, I had seen three (3!) at once doing the same. They were spread out, however, at about 50 yards apart, so they didn’t really make an amazing picture, but still, it’s great to see them doing so well.

At the river, I also searched for our hermit thrush, one of the winter wrens, or a bluebird, but all I could find today was this darling mourning dove.

A bit south of the beaver, I caught this muskrat checking out one of their breakfast spots, perhaps to see if there might be a morsal that somehow got missed. Anyway, I don’t believe I’ve seen one up on its haunches like this before.

Finally, to end on a colorful note, here’s a female cardinal picking berries from a bush on the island in the pond.