Song Sparrow

Two pair of hooded mergansers investigating duck boxes today with six pair of
wood ducks. There were three wood ducks standing on the flat roof of #1. They
love flat roof nest boxes. First song sparrow of the year, a beautiful
specimen in the full sunshine, working in the wetland shrubs at the edge of
the floodwaters. Heard and saw a Belted Kingfisher and saw Glaucous Gulls
(breeding and first winter juvenile), much larger than the thousand Herring
Gulls feasting on Gizzard Shad as they thaw and are released from the ice. A
very large beaver enjoyed the sunshine swimming in our wetlands back yard.
The wetlands are thawed, but Richmond Bay remains frozen over. A Gar swam
past our pier while a mature Bald Eagle watched over all.

Mike Houle    LaCrosse WI USA on an island in the Black River