Wonderful White Bird

Yesterday, my sister, my mom, and I went looking for snowy owls. There have been a number of sightings in and around the Twin Cities this winter, so about a month ago, I decided to go "hunting" since some of the birds were seen not too far from my home. The first two times I went looking, I got to see a snowy owl, but it was quite a distant away, sitting on top of one of the powerline transmission towers. My pictures were less than stellar.

But yesterday I won the gold medal - I got to see a snowy owl up close. Not so close that I disturbed it, but close enough to see details. The bird had brown stripes on its brilliant white body. It was eating something, but kept looking up to watch what was going on around it. What a beautiful bird.

The posting from the other day showed a pattern in the snow and asked you to guess what it was. Here is what caused the pattern. Nature is amazing... 

It's time for the Great Backyard Bird Count!

This weekend, bird-watchers across the world will be counting birds as part of a citizen science project looking at bird populations. All you need to do is watch for birds for at least 15 minutes each day or only one day. You count how many birds of each species you saw. Then log into www.birdcount.org and share your data. The count runs from February 14th through the 17th. It's fun - get the family involved! And you are helping scientists determine what is happening to birds. Get watching now!

What is it?

Yesterday, one of the Dodge naturalists was walking in the woods and spotted an unusual pattern on the snow. She brought a group of us out to the site to see if we could explain what made the pattern. Can you figure out how these circles were made? Leave a comment with your guess! Good luck!