A major winter storm system swept across the midwest last night. We were predicted to get a couple inches of snow but here in the northern suburbs we hardly got a dusting. But one thing they did get right was the extreme cold following the system. Our wake-up temp this morning was -5ยบ and I was really thinking I would just stay inside today. BUT because the sun came out and we've seen so little of it lately, I decided what the heck. When I arrived at the park at 2:30pm we were just hitting our high temperature for the day of 0 degrees! As if that weren't bad enough, it was windy as heck on top of it. I really had one goal in mind today and that was to find and photograph a Cedar Waxwing. When I started out I wasn't really seeing much and I started second guessing why I was here watching birds on such a day as this. Off to my right I noticed what looked to be a bird frozen to the side of a tree.
This White-breasted Nuthatch was just sitting motionless on the side of the tree facing the sun. I hiked in closer, almost underneath it and the bird never bumped, making me think it was just trying to warm up. A bit later I spotted a mature Bald Eagle perched high in a tree near the center of the park. It was too far away for a good photo, but is my first BE of the year! When I stopped at the Duck Pond on the southeast corner I wasn't too surprised to see Mallards, but wow was there a lot of them!
I loosely estimated that there were at least 450 of them swimming and diving and flapping and chasing each other in water that had to be much warmer than the air temperature today. In fact the water was steaming in the cold temperature. Finally on the south side I located my Cedar Waxwings. In fact the first one I saw from a distance stayed put the entire time as I crept closer and closer to get a photograph.
There were about 6 to 8 Waxwings in a Buckthorn tree busily picking and gulping down the berries along with a dozen or more American Robins. I couldn't have asked for better lighting conditions but it was hard to get an unobstructed view of them in such a thick tree. I took quite a few photos and this is just one of my favorites. The Robins were also busy eating the same Buckthorn berries and they looked quite colorful against the clear blue sky.
I decided today that I really appreciate Robins more in January than any other time of the year. Ha ha.
Here is my checklist for today.
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