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Monday, November 2, 2015

SNOW BUNTINGS

SNOW BUNTING (Google image)

SISCOWIT RIVER
MONDAY MORNING DAWN

Monday, 8:00 AM.  44 degrees F at the ferry dock, 41 on the back porch.  Wind variable, light.  The sky is cloudy and overcast but looks like it will clear.  The humidity is 93% after a trace of evening rain. The barometer is rising, currently at 29.8".
   We took a little Sunday afternoon drive yesterday, out to Cornucopia, via Star Route.  We continually came across flocks of snow buntings, which are interesting birds the size of a large sparrow or small meadow lark, about seven inches in size.  We always watch for them along the roads as winter approaches.  They have white feathers on wings, belly and breast and when they fly off they look like snow flakes driven in the wind.
   Snow buntings are common winter residents, spending their annual vacation on the balmy Bayfield Peninsula  rather than on the Arctic tundra. The are hard to photograph, as their current plumage appears mostly brown unless they fly. They pick seeds along the open, windswept roads. They will not let one approach very close, even in a slow moving vehicle.  I spent about twenty minutes trying to do so and finally gave up, so I later downloaded a free Googled image.
   In the process we drove past the pretty little Ciscowit River, which empties into the Cornucopia marina.  It was quite swollen from the past few days of rain.

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