This Saturday I arrived at the park just after 11am. It was about 24º and overcast. I bundled up a bit more than normal but I'm still far from having to get out my heavy winter jacket. Though I took just 13 photos in all today, some good sights were seen. The first was this Deer on the southwest side of the park -a place not all that popular for Deer as it's pretty close to the road -West Palmer Lake Drive.
I could tell it was a young one by it's face -being slightly more chubby looking, or something I can't put my finger on just yet. Notice the trash laying on the ground? It's an all-too-familiar sight for myself and the Deer alike. As I came up to the northwest corner, I no more than thought about the possibility of seeing a Shrike again than I looked out across the cattails and spotted one! Though my experience with Shrikes is still very limited, I can point out a couple of tidbits for someone who might be on the lookout to spot one; In the winter months, look for bird about the same size and shape as a Robin.
Look for it to be perched at the very top-most part of the tree -the highest up you can go. Look for a bird seeming to have "no legs" like it has been "stabbed onto" the tree like a marshmallow on a stick. Finally look for a "bluish-grey" coloring accented by a black wing and a long tail. And if you're close enough, a black mask across the eyes and a hooked bill. My goal this winter is to get much closer to one and catch a better photo of this fascinating "predatory songbird." Not too much later I passed a larger group of people than I would normally see on a day like today. I quickly realized the group included 2 friends of mine who were participating in the annual "Christmas Bird Count" put on by the Audubon Society. I was happy to realize Palmer Lake Park was being included in this highly regarded program and hope to get involved myself soon in similar programs that help record and tally bird species.
Later on the east side I spotted a small group of about 10 birds making an unusually cheerful, spring-like noise. After I spotted a flash of white on the rump I realized they were Juncos. They were already closer than I can normally get to them so I stepped off the trail and into the woods just a bit to see if I could get closer. Here and there one would land closely for just a split second before flying off. I listened to the group's short "twittering" sound and tried hard to remember it. I also noticed that a few Sparrows were among the group of Juncos. Later I spotted a bird along the mouth of Shingle Creek with a dull yellowish color and my only guess is that it was an American Goldfinch. I will have to investigate further.
Unlike other times they decided in an instant to "high-tail" it away from me. I wonder if they'd become attuned to the fact that there's been hunters in the park since October and they're becoming less trusting of people. I don't know but they sure were unusually skittish. Parts of Shingle Creek were melting again due the warmer temps and the Robins are taking full advantage of the open water for drinking and bathing. 
The creek and the lake are about the only place where you can find any real indication of snow -which is only just a dusting coating the frozen parts of the water. On my way around the north end, I ran into a fellow birder and we chatted about what we'd been seeing lately. As we talked he noticed an odd looking "leaf" about 10 feet away and at eye-level. To our surprise it was a dead Deer Mouse! Our thoughts both turned to pondering if it was placed there by a Northern Shrike. 
Shrikes are apparently infamous for storing "caches" of food -rodents or birds- between crooks of trees -or even impaling them upon thorns or barbed wire fences. I've never come across that before but my first instinct is that they would be stored higher up in a tree than this. I later told another friend about the finding and he concluded the most obvious explanation would be a Shrike, despite the low height.
