eagle nest, March

The eagle nest near the pond has been a quiet site while the birds wait for eggs to hatch. 

We can see a white head of the Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus sitting in the nest.  Since she is hunkered down in the 'bowl' the pair formed among the branches, the eggs (or young, if hatched) cannot be seen from the ground.

robin likes suet

 

This bird has been coming to the suet feeder near the pond for several days. American Robins usually eat insects, invertebrates, and berries.  This suet has seeds in it. They must be tasty to the Robin.

'homing' Mallards

Mallards can stay through winter in Minnesota if they can find food near open water. Now that the solid shore-to-shore ice on the pond is melting, a pair showed up here. This is probably the same pair that nested near the pond last year, since Mallards are known to 'home' where they have nested previously.

Even though a fractured layer of ice floats nearby, these ducks find food beneath the water. This might be what is known as a 'cold lunch'.

color

A tiny bit of color inside!  

Outside -- among the vast white of the snow on the pond -- the Goldfinches, rose colored House Finches, and red caps of the Woodpeckers.

icicles

March this year promises to be, as usual, a roller-coaster of weather. 

Rain turned to sleet overnight as the temperature dropped.

This morning everything outside was coated with icicles, including bird feeders near the pond.