Yet another snow storm slammed us with up to 10” Sunday night into Monday morning. Therefore, yet another morning was spent clearing the driveway – about 9 inches fell on us in Pownal, and the warm temperatures of the last few days provided enough melting to form a nice solid sheet of ice underneath the snow. That was nice. Jeannette had the day off (since I got the day off on Sunday to play with Ed and Doug on the Freeport-Brunswick CBC; see Monday’s post), so my birding was limited to feeder-watching at the store (plus 6 Pine Grosbeaks passing over Pownal Rd on my way to work) - which included the continuing flock of Cedar Waxwings (about 75), now with at least 5 Bohemians mixed in. The feeders themselves continued to be very active, as well, with much better diversity (19-20 species a day) than we usually have in mid-winter.

On Tuesday, I spent the better part of the day sitting in my recliner watching bowl games and the outdoor NHL Winter Classic (which was a lot of fun to watch an exciting game in the snow of Buffalo). Believe it or not, however, this was not by choice! Originally, we were planning to head to Cape Ann to look for the Slaty-backed Gull (which, of course, was indeed refound this day, along with a bunch of white-winged Gulls, and a Thayer’s Gull) and some of the other fun stuff in the area. But, the approaching snowstorm – and our disinterest in driving north through it at night, or trying to race north Thursday morning to catch my plane in Portland – squashed that idea.

Local birding and some cross-country skiing would have been just fine, however, but an awkward attempt at opening a garage door that turned out to be frozen Monday morning rendered me almost completely useless on Tuesday, thanks to a surprisingly painful muscle injury in my lower back. (Although I have to admit, I have been pleasantly surprised by the effectiveness of those disposable heat-wraps.) Nevertheless, I didn’t do a whole lot on Tuesday except watch hockey and football, except for a trip into Freeport to pick up said heat wraps, and to have the bindings mounted on my new skiis – which I really wanted to get out and try in the falling afternoon snow! This trip did produce a few good birds, however, with 25 or so Pine Grosbeaks in the crabapples in front of the Pine Tree Academy on Pownal Road, 6 Pine Grosbeaks perched in a tree along Main St. near the LL Bean headquarters, but no Barrow’s Goldeneye were visible from the South Freeport Town Landing.

The yard’s feeders were quite active again on Tuesday, especially as the snow began to fall – again. Two Common Redpolls joined our growing flock of 16+ American Goldfinches, the first redpolls of the winter at our feeders here in Pownal. The Wild Turkeys were busy as well, and we were quite amused at the accumulation of snow building upon their backs as they busily scratched under the feeders.

Another 10 or so inches had fallen by the time the latest snow storm came to an end this (Wednesday) morning. The fresh coating of the fluffy white stuff beckoned me to christen those new skiis, but my aching back decided otherwise. Luckily, it felt well enough to push the snowblower up and down the driveway once again!

Later today, I head out for the International Bowl in Toronto for my first of three trips in January (the others are our trade show in Atlanta, followed by 2 days of birding mid-month, and then my 8-day WINGS trip to New Mexico – which, by the way, there is still room on; visit the Travel, Tours, and Workshops page of our website for more info). I’ll be spending Thursday birding with a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend who has graciously offered to take me out for the day, and I’ll likely get some birding in on Sunday as well. I’m also very much looking forward to revisiting the Hockey Hall of Fame, especially to pay homage to Scott Stevens, who was inducted this year, and is my favorite NHL player of all time).

In between, my friends and I (a dozen of my college friends are driving up from NJ) will be rooting our hearts out for our Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Saturday, as we head to our third bowl in three years. The game is on ESPN2 at noon on Saturday (12/29). Look for me – I’ll be the one in red!

Meanwhile, I urge everyone to make at least one New Year’s Resolution to help birds. Whether it’s purchasing only shade-grown coffee, writing an advocacy letter, reducing fossil fuel consumption, keeping your cat indoors, planting a tree, or one of any of the number of simple things that each and every one of us can do to help, I implore all of us to do at least one more thing to make a difference in the new year. Why? Well, a recent CBC story reports that tens of millions of birds are disappearing across North America.