12° when got up at 6AM. Had warmed to 16° when started my AM walk to the river. Overcast, fog in distance & the snow making one of favorite sounds…whoomph-whoomph…with each boot step. Down along the river found groups of Trumpeter Swans bankside. A Bald Eagle perched up in an old cottonwood snag watching for trout in a deep pool. And, best bird of the AM, perched at the very tip top of the same eagle tree, was a Northern Shrike. 

Back at house, was just in time to watch the resident Sharp-shinned Hawk scatter the BC Chickadees, House Finches & DE Juncos from the feeder. The hawk missed this time, but last week found it at edge of backyard feasting on a hapless junco.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot