Winter Continues...

It seems like winter wants to hang on. It remains cold, and we get snow almost every other day. Everything is still very frozen. There will be lots of ice to come down from the northern lakes in the weeks to come.
Today I checked out the St. Clair River. It was open, so the ducks were spread out. Many were dozing in the sun. Nothing unusual, but two White-winged Scoters were at Port Lambton. They may be the same ones I keep seeing all along the river. The American Wigeon pair was at Lambton Generating Station. I managed to get a photo of the male in the ice.
Driving the back roads home, there were lots of hawks. A large flock of Common Redpolls was flying over at one point. I wish they had set down so that I could have looked at them closer for a Hoary, or other subspecies.
Along the creeks, evidence of higher water a week and a half ago was seen as “ice shelves” were attached to the tree trunks.
My last stop was at a local conservation area. I checked out the Wood Duck boxes and one contained a large vole. It seems Screech Owls like to use them as storage boxes! Sometimes they roost in them during the day. This same box had a dopey owl in it a year ago (see photo).
Another nice day to be out!