In the sun and out of the breeze, this red squirrel was having a snooze. He woke up long enough to give me a look, but showed no sign of distress. I took only two shots though and moved on. Reds were pretty noticeable today at the garden, in all their usual (dare I say "traditional") haunts around the garden.

Squirrels, both grey and red, but mostly the latter, will hang up mushrooms to dry for later consumption. This one had been stuck into a tiny hole in a tree.

This pair of mallards was sitting in the sun by the BYG feeder where a grey (black) squirrel was feeding. They sat there for a little while and then flew off over the Arboretum. Last winter, we also saw mallards under the feeder, sometimes in pretty good numbers!

Diane was at the FWG and was happy to see this white-throated sparrow, perhaps fooled into lingering by the warm winter that occurred before Christmas. Occasionally these guys spend the winter in Ottawa, but not in big numbers. As long as he has food and shelter and no hawks get him, he should be OK.

A gorgeously bright red male house finch fluffed up against the -17celsius temperatures.

Diane said that while it was very cold at the FWG, it was also sunny and looked like a winter wonderland. It was quiet at first in terms of bird life, but after a little while she ended up seeing mourning doves, chickadees, a robin, cardinals, and this adult cooper's hawk!

One of several house finches around the BYG. They were fluffed up against the -10 temperatures, and either feeding at the feeder or huddled in some of the nearby shrubs.

A feisty and amusing little guy who always comes racing, so it seems, when anyone approaches his nest site!! And scolds them too. Another photo of him follows.

Long, long ago red squirrels took over this old nest box, which was just fine, because it was not in a great spot for birds we realized! But for squirrels, it is ideal being close to two great food sources. It has been used for years, obviously not by the same red squirrel, not unless he (or she) is the Methuselah of the squirrel world. Notice all the grasses and fibres stuffed into this. This creates a lovely warm nest, protected by the wooden walls of the nest box.

This is an old birch snag that, during the late spring was first excavated by chickadees. If you look closely, you can see at the top of the opening, where a nice circular hole goes right back into the snag. However, the chickadees ended up not using this cavity. Much later, woodpeckers took turns enlarging the hole, looking for insects, and even possibly contemplating this as a nest site. But it was much too low down and was not used by them either!

Even in winter, this plant can look very pretty when it has a snowy cap.

As you can see, there is an open patch of water right near where the old beaver burrow is.

The BYG feeder was the busiest, birdiest spot in the garden today. A couple of starlings, about 6 house finches, a mourning dove, a male cardinal, and at least 10 chickadees. Underneath the sunflowers and coneflowers on the south side of the centre, was a lone dark-eyed junco, feeding on seeds fallen from those plants.