A Cold and Gray Morning

We walked around Bennington Lake this morning.  The lake is still mostly frozen.  There was one spot that was open, and a great blue heron was there looking for food.  We saw two northern shrikes, a great horned owl, several Townsend's solitaires, black-capped chickadees and red-shafted flickers.  Two common mergansers flew over looking for open water.  We watched a downy woodpecker hanging upside down from a rose bush working on a gall.  Dark eyed juncos and robins were plentiful, and there were a few Bewick's wrens and song sparrows.  The house finches and goldfinches have finally left the old sunflower patch - we only saw a dozen or so all morning.  One spotted towhee was in it's usual spot (although it wasn't there on the Christmas count).  A red-tailed hawk and three American kestrels were in the tree tops.  It was a pretty typical winter day at the lake.....  Ginger