Saturday provided a short respite from the snowfall, with some very comfortable weather (low to mid-30’s for highs, very little wind, and even some sun in the morning) and it produced a very productive birdwalk. Later in the day, Jeannette and I enjoyed a flock of about 10 Pine Grosbeaks gorging on crabapples outside the store’s window.

Three inches of snow had accumulated in Pownal by Sunday morning, as I set off for my 6-mile “neighborhood loop.” The highlight was a Northern Shrike along Hodgson Road, my 20th of the winter in Maine. I was also impressed by the overall activity from resident species this morning – Tufted Titmice, Black-capped Chickadees, and White-breasted Nuthatches were especially vociferous, and many were singing up a storm.

Temperatures quickly rose to around 40 degrees by mid-day, before the second half of the latest storm system arrived. Last night’s snow was from warm-air advection ahead of a warm front, while this afternoon’s activity was associated with the trailing cold front. Speaking of afternoon activity, the feeders here at the store were quite busy today - plus quite a few robins in the bushes, but nothing out of the ordinary, except for the Meadow Vole that was busy under the snow-encrusted brush pile. This was definitely my longest, and best, view of this secretive – yet extremely abundant – species. Meanwhile, our resident Carolina Wren has been especially frequent of late – especially since we added a dish of dried mealworms (in addition to the offerings of live mealworms that get gobbled up immediately each morning) to the smorgasbord outside.

While on the subject of feeders, a new study that was just published details "the first large-scale experiment to prove that extra food put out in winter not only helps these birds to survive harsher weather but also enables them to have a more successful breeding season."

So, anyway, at 1:30pm in Yarmouth, the temperature was 41 degrees, there was a small patch of blue sky, and the winds were dead calm. Then, the snow began to fall once again, and I decided to pack it in and head home before the real nasty stuff arrived. The snow was accumulating quickly, and the wind picked up. Strong gusts ripped off a few pine branches and slapped them against the house, and whiteout conditions ensued (I’m really glad I left the store when we did!). There were even a few cracks of “thunder-snow.”

It was hard to figure out how much new snow had fallen yesterday evening, due to all of the blowing, but in Pownal, it seemed to be another 3 or 4 inches. Meanwhile, this morning’s temperature was 30-degrees colder than yesterday afternoon! And, once again, I was snow-blowing the driveway.

After completing the driveway, I only had about an hour before opening the store, so I took a quick swing through Freeport. 36 Bohemian Waxwings were at the Pine Tree Academy, and a single drake Barrow’s Goldeneye was off of the South Freeport Town Landing. A couple of small groups of American Robins were encountered as well.

Then, in the afternoon, I took a quick jaunt over to the Lower Falls Landing in Yarmouth to check out what gulls were roosting there at high tide. About 350 Herring Gulls, 95% adults, and about 15 Ring-billed Gulls were all that were present this afternoon, and all three species of mergansers continue as well.