Saturday

It's January 26th and there's been snow on the ground for two weeks now which is a good thing cause December was dry as hell and the reservoirs are down... We had snow two Fridays in a row, then this past Thursday again and it's hanging around a bit. Gretch and I got out for a walk into the Bear Creek State Park. Was plenty blustery; we decided to drop in along a little creek from Morrison road, just to do something different, really. Cold and windy enough that not many birds were out that I could see or hear but then on the backside of the lake-- we walked across, then back around, with ice fishing groups posted up on either side-- we ran into an extended group of sparrows flitting around in the brush and brambles near the cottonwoods. Same spot where I saw the Prairie Falcon a few weeks back, cruising just above the waves of grass looking for his supper.

Anyway, yes, Bear Creek Lake is frozen good and solid for the time being which is a good thing cause it's January after all-- the up and down temps of the first half of winter this year haven't allowed the ice to really firm up and the ice fishermen have probably been getting antsy as hell, but it's all good now...

So we walked back westwards on the south side of Bear Creek and at one point I tried to go ahead and cross the creek and my left foot pushed all the way through which was a little annoying but not so bad really, I just backtracked and then of course my foot pushed through a second time and Janx following me pushed through completely with her body, so we were both a bit wet. And decided to continue to the bridge, which is where we bumped into the American Kestrel again-- very cool little guy. I thought to myself maybe my favorite Raptor but no, that's not really true-- I like the Great Horneds and the Prairie Falcons and all the different hawks I've seen in the past month that I can't yet differentiate. But it was nice to see this guy again nonetheless-- think we've maybe seen him before, but maybe not; he seemed smaller than I remembered.

Gretch and I parted ways so I could strike out cross-country up a hill to angle back towards where we'd left the car. I'd knew it'd be a bit of a grunt so we agreed I'd swing back and pick her up at the ranger station. And I started running along the irrigation ditch cause I knew she was only a quarter mile from that station, and I was a good mile and then some from the car across the way. Janx came along behind and we were just dropping down to the road when a shadow flitted across in front of me, and coming to a stop and looking back around there was this big beautiful hawk just settling in the dead pine right behind me. And why? Man and dog running together, making noise and movement, and he flies right in behind them and settles, and didn't mind at all that I was there 10 yards away checking him out, and even when I raised the binocs. Seems like lots of hawks DON'T like it so much when they see you raising your binocs-- just that movement is enough to tip them off, as if they're saying "man... another dang white man bird tourist-- I'm moving on". But this one didn't mind at all and so I brought him into clear view and for the first time perhaps was having a good luck at a raptor's eye-- looking at me. Bright, shiny black it was-- his eye. And his chest and entire underside wonderful fluffy snow white, with a brown/black head, curved beak-- all the usual stuff. But the underside completely white, and the eye that shiny black.

And I thought now that I'm intentionally noticing birds more, maybe they're noticing me more as well. Sure didn't seem to be any real reason for him to settle there right near the road, with so many other trees back across the field in more open space to choose from behind him. Kind of like the cowbird three weeks or so before-- maybe the lines of communication are opening up a bit, or connection, at the very least.