Ice Skating and Redpolls

What do they have in common? Well, while the boys all ice-skated on the pond a Common Redpoll chirped at me in dismay because I was standing too close to the thistle feeder for his liking. It sounded like a loud Goldfinch call, the questioning one that rises at the end. This bird must have been asking me if I was going to move away from the feeder anytime soon. I did, as soon as I finished getting pictures of all the action on the pond. Oh, and I filled the feeders too.






After the boys started shoveling snow off the pond our cousin across the street came over with his 4-wheeler to help out. He got it all cleared off very nicely. Too bad we got another inch or so last night and the ice is once again covered! Oh well, I'm sure they'll get out there again today to skate some more.







Here's a good shot of Derek having fun on the ice. His feet and mine are the same size right now so I wore his skates the other day and went skating for the first time in 13 years! And I did pretty good too, I must say!






And in the next shot he's using some of his fancy shmancy hockey footwork.





























Next he's being chased by Jim.

Oh, and a big bonus find last night at work. We found some boxes that look like half-finished duck/screech owl nest boxes. All they will need is a floor, a hinged roof, a wire ladder for the duck boxes and the proper sized holes drilled in them. I have four of these heavy wood boxes and the hard part is done already. They are the perfect size for screech owls and I think ducks would like them too although they might be a bit too small inside. We'll see. If they don't use them some bird surely will.