Still snowing

An American Tree Sparrow and an American Goldfinch gathered breakfast of black-oiled sunflower seeds on my window sill on the east side of the house yesterday.

These two species often arrive together along with dark-eyed juncoes, chickadees, house finches and once in a while the pair or two of purple finches and some white crowned sparrows augment the group. The little birds' numbers have increased with this squall activity caused by the lake effect snow. Blue jays and woodpeckers - both hairies and downies as well as the red bellied pair abound as do mourning doves - there must be at least 20 of them on the ground under the feeders or sitting in the tree waiting their turn.

Today we have streamers coming in from Georgian Bay and the kids in most of the three counties along the shoreline of Lake Huron and the Bay will be delighted to have a true snow day. None of the buses are running into the schools. The snow is very heavy and the roads get filled in quite quickly.

I'm just going to enjoy watching the birds today and see who visits. Of course dogs will want to go out and play and snow will be down my boots and over my knees again... but it's all part of the joy of winter. I dislike the slop of mud and rain, and much prefer to be out on my snow shoes or skiis to wearing rubber boots.

Lots of hot soup on the go this week I think.