Rasberry Juice and Around Loon Lake - February 25

This little guy is one of a flock of thirty-five that we have staying with us this winter. They are particularly beautiful when they get a perch in direct sunlight.

Roger Tory Peterson once described the Purple Finch as "a sparrow dipped in raspberry juice"!

The Purple Finch loves to eat seeds, buds, berries and insects. While they love to eat black oil sunflower seeds and shelled roasted peanuts on our tray feeder, they also spend considerable time eating on the ground. In our situation, I suspect that's because we have so many birds staying with us this year.

The winter conditions at the lake are not the best in the world right now with slushy patches on the lake and a two inch thick crust on the snow. There's also a lot of ice from a week ago still on the ground - even under the snow. Anti-slip grippers are best worn on your boots while outside.

A pressure crack about one foot wide on the lake has been reported, so be watchful if you go out sledding. And we have a pressure crack almost at the shoreline in front of our place.

The Gregory Lane is plowed from the highway to the end of Moccasin Trail and the Loon Lake road remains plowed to the turn around.

We were somewhat lucky with this week's storm in that the freezing rain thawed and there was not any tree damage; despite the high winds. 

And on a real positive note; we saw a crow flying overhead this week with a branch in it's beak - for nest building!