Saturday morning I stopped at the Chat Trail for the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC). It had dropped into the 20's overnight, so the snow was hard and there was a lot of ice. No way to sneak up on anything as the snow was crunchy, but a good morning anyway. I'll upload all of my GBBC sitings soon, but the special event was the hunting kestrel. I heard a small bird's alarm call and looked around in time to see a small bird burst from the trees. A kestrel was in hot pursuit. A kestrel does pretty well in a sprint, and was gaining on the smaller bird, but the kestrel couldn't quite catch up with the little guy before he ran out of steam. The little bird got away.
I also almost put out my eye trying to take a picture of the nest pictured at the left. The grasses are woven together and wrapped around the branches to hold it in place. I have no idea what bird made the nest, but it is fascinating how different birds put their nests together.
Good birding!
