I counted 11 robins in two small flocks, at the garden. They were moving around looking for food. When I first saw one group they were in the ravine, 7 of them. Later I saw them in a crabapple near the service road to the Arboretum. Finally, I found them on this crabapple by the old field, and they didn't bother flying as I walked by, probably too focused on the all-important job of getting enough fuel into them to stave off the bitter cold. The other small flock of four birds was by the ash woods. This bird was in the process of grabbing a crabapple.

Huddled into a spruce, this was one of about 3 cardinals I saw as I walked around the garden today. Taken in the ash woods, near the bird feeder which was not as busy as one would think on such a cold day. There was a white-breasted nuthatch, several chickadees and a cardinal at the feeder.

It was very cold today. When I arrived at the garden at about 1:30, the outside reading on my car's thermometer was -17. This frost pattern occurred on a few windows, something that doesn't occur in balmy weather of say -5!

The Backyard Garden feeder was very busy this morning, with 5 or 6 house finches, the same number of chickadees, this downy woodpecker, a small flock of juncos, and surprisingly, two white-throated sparrows. A common species, especially in spring and fall migration, this species is not often encountered in winter, though you may recall a couple were seen last winter in the garden.

Both individuals ignored each other as they looked for seeds under the feeder in the Backyard Garden. The sparrows prefer feeding on the ground, but will fly up to the feeder if no seeds are available below.

This is an Accipiter, one of the falcon-like hawks in our area. Falcon-like because they have long tails, long wings and long bodies, similar to a peregrine falcon. They are woodland hawks, their shape designed to help them navigate at speed through treed areas. They nest in the area, occasionally even at the Arboretum/FWG, though not for some years. The cooper's hawk feeds on large prey such as rock pigeons and I've seen them with red squirrels too.

Robert Berry was intrigued with this odd seed pod - that of wild cucumber, an annual vine that can be seen growing up several trees at the edge of our ash woodlot. This was a particularly good year for this native vine, growing in places I've not seen it before around the FWG, and in an abundance I haven't seen for a few years. This plant relies on the many seeds it generates for next year's growth. Each plant produces scores of seedpods, and each pod about 8 large flat, disc-like seeds. You can see in this photo, how the bottom of the pod is open to allow the seeds to drop to the ground. They are easy to grow. I sometimes spread a few seeds around my garden in the fall, and bingo!, next year up they come and grow and grow, producing clusters of pretty white flowers. Although they clamber over shrubs and trees, they are a relatively frail vine, and being annual, do no damage.

If you hear a loud gnawing sound, you can be sure that a red squirrel is nearby, walnut to hand! As I stood near the ravine this morning, I heard that distinctive sound and sure enough, this little guy was busily extracting the meaty interior of this nut. He was oblivious to me.

Plenty of these guys around and visible now, with the black (melanistic) phase much more common. I watched several refurbishing their nests, busily ferrying, by mouth, great clumps of leaves to their nests high up in the trees. Others were gathering manitoba maple seeds, and in some places in the garden, you'll find quantities of shredded keys under the trees, evidence of industry!

This is under one of our norway spruce trees, where for years and years, generations of red squirrels have cached the big cones, feeding on them throughout the winter, until the stash is depleted.