Bald Eagle reflected on thin ice on Sand Lake Westport
It looked as though three Chickadees and two White-breasted Nuthatches would be our dismal total for the Westport Christmas Bird Count in our neck of the woods, because the thick layer of ice everywhere on the hilly roads prevented us driving. But by 11 am the sand trucks had been around and two Pileated Woodpeckers began to call each other ... and things were looking up. Dividing up our section with the rest of our group, we covered the area in the limited time left till the next wave of freezing rain, and before darkness fell on nearly the shortest day of the year. The final total for our area was 23 species, with highlights being an adult Bald Eagle, reflected in the ice, on Sand Lake, and a flock of two hundred and ninety Canada Geese on the farmfields nearby.