Tree Swallows at Bennington Lake

Our Tuesday walk was rained out, so we walked this morning instead.  The "Surprise River" has returned and the concrete canal at "Cayuse Falls" had a little too much water to cross.  We went up to Rooks Park and crossed at the diversion dam.  There were several tree swallows flying around the nest box at the south end of the lake.  Unfortunately, there are only two of the boxes still standing so the swallows are competing for them.  Two more tree swallows were near the other nest box in the canal.  We watched a beaver swimming around the edge of the lake.  It looked like it was moving small tree branches that were floating in the water as the rising water level.  It was pretty quiet other than the swallows.  We did see one northern shrike and a Townsend's solitaire (two of the winter birds that will be leaving very soon).  A ruby crowned kinglet was singing it's melodic song along the trail, and the song sparrows and Bewick's wrens were happily singing their songs.  We only saw one great horned owl today.  It started out chilly, but ended up warm and sunny by the time we finished our walk.