A Warming Trend for December?

Believe it or not, 20 degrees above zero feels pretty good about now. After having an unusually cold and snowy November, we are apparently in for a steady warming up over the next couple of weeks. Highs of 40 and even 50 are predicted –but I'll believe it when it happens. Though it was still below freezing this morning when I arrived at the park the sun was out and there was no wind. I actually didn't see much for birds however for quite a while into my walk. But when I arrived at the "duck pond" on the southwest corner, I spotted an unusual one. Being that 100% of it's plumage was snow white in color, I would think it would likely be an albino, though I never quite got a good look at it's eye which should be pink in color. I remember seeing a pure white duck here in the exact same spot in the past so I wonder if it could be the same one? After the pond, I hiked up the wood chip trail and started to finally see a few birds in an area of thick Buckthorn bordering a field of cattails. I decided to hike in and realized it was an area of the park I'd never visited before. Here in one small area I saw 7 species including; Dark-eyed Junco, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal, Black-capped Chickadee, American Tree Sparrow, American Goldfinch and House Finch. So it seemed that all the birds were in one place today. Every time I'd move forward on the sun-drenched, icy snow it would creak and crack below me making it tough to get close. But I managed to grab a photo of a male House Finch which made me happy simply because I don't have many good photos of them. Later on another Woodpecker was busy up above me and posed briefly against the nice blue sky. I know for sure this one is a female as she lacks any red coloring at the back of the head. However, I thought for sure that this was a Hairy Woodpecker and not a Downy. The reason being is that the outer white tail feathers on a Hairy should appear white with NO dots –just like this photo shows. However in looking at a photo from another angle I can see dots on the underside of those white feathers! So now I'm second guessing my ID and thinking this is actually a Downy Woodpecker. It was quite small in size and also has the smaller, thinner bill of a Downy I believe. Later on the north side I decided to go up the extra paved trail just a bit. There are actually lots of Oak trees here that make very good hiding places for Great Horned Owls. I walked up and down the short stretch not seeing anything. But just as I was about to meet up with the main trail, a large dark blob caught my eye. I walked backwards a few steps, looked through my binoculars and sure enough, one was perched here facing the other way. I was quite literally behind the Owl and so I decided to hike in a ways then turn left, hoping to get a view from the front. Well I did just that and found myself almost right underneath it! It was a little closer than I wanted to be and immediately after I took this one photo, the Owl took off for a new perch. I didn't want to chase after it today –especially after bumping it once already. But it is always nice to see one at the park.