Snow Day

The first real significant snowfall of this Winter provided an interesting change to the scenery. As I wandered around the North Woods at mid-day, there was all sorts of subdued bird activity. Mostly there were picturesque scenes throughout the Woods, despite the deep overcast.



As I rounded the Great Hill, the bird activity grew to a fevered pitch. Apparently its hard to find food in the snow, and a very noisy flock of White Throated Sparrows was tilling the leaf litter, searching for bits!


Apparently I wasn't the only one who noticed. A huge adult Cooper's hawk took up a position overlooking the sparrow pitch.


It flew off to get a closer look...

But then suddenly, a huge immature RTH swooped in overhead!

Im guessing that it had been watching the Cooper's just out of sight, and thought it might steal a kill.
Anyway, the Cooper's eyed the RTH suspiciously, then sulked off to the understory. The RTH then flew toward the Loch, where it was promptly harrassed by some crows and grackles.
A study in contrasts!