Back to Winter : Back to The Sanctuary

After spotting the first crocuses of the season while "out & about" this past Wednesday, and then seeing more while walking sunny slopes with a friend on Friday, I was excited to head back out this weekend for more crocus hunting. March ended up acting like March does which threw a monkey wrench into the focus on crocus!  I was at The Inglewood Bird Sanctuary on Monday and it was a joy to meander there with it looking and feeling and sounding like a lovely spring day.  Throw a monkey wrench into the thought of the experience being similar for today's meander there.  

The sky was dull, it was grey, yet the sights were blinding from the white, bright, new snow that covered everything after hammering down on us all day Saturday. March will be March and March it was!   

Through the bright white and the dull grey, there were sweet sights to be seen!  You have to have an eagle eye to spy what I saw! On future visits, I will use this tree and the branch as the marker for where a new Bald Eagles' nest is. See the two orange stars?  The one on the left marks the nest and the one to the right marks where a Bald Eagle is perched in the trees.

I zoomed into the nest and look what I saw!  A Bald Eagle is nestled down in there.  I was excited to see this!  This was the best I could do with getting a photo.  It is quite far away.  I will now monitor this location when I visit again.  

The ducks are all paired up!  This is a female Common Merganser and her partner in the photo below.  I appreciated their red shades on this dull day.  

The Wood Duck pair!  He was keeping a side eye on her!

On this very cold day, the Common Goldeneye had the hots, he had the hots for a female close by and did his little ditty dance to impress her. She fluttered about a bit but kept her back to him so I am not sure how impressed she was.

Black-capped Chickadee

always a bright sweet sight

Northern Flickers were doing their dance!

This pair were very entertaining!  

White-Breasted Nuthatch with a a snack!

someone placed seeds on a branch

There were many Robins at The Sanctuary today.

This one appeared to be extra puffed up!    

I was lucky to see two Woodpeckers very near each other.  This first one is a male Downy Woodpecker and the second is a male Hairy Woodpecker. At times when I see them separately, I am not always able to distinguish between the two but when they are near to each other, the difference is very obvious.  The Hairy is larger with a longer beak.  

male Downy Woodpecker

male Hairy Woodpecker

There is always something that motivates me to get out there and as we are on the verge of April, I want the snow to be gone so I can focus on the crocus. There is lots of snow that needs to melt before the crocuses will be visible again though.